Page 7 of The Family Guest

“What about your father?” I asked Tanya, pretending I didn’t know.

“Didn’t your mum tell you?”

“No,” I lied. “I honestly don’t know much about you.” That at least was true.

She didn’t look up from her feet. “Papa’s a diplomat. He travels all over the world. That’s why he put me in boarding school.”

“What about your mother?”

She shrugged. “Oh, she’s dead. She died in labor, giving birth to me.”

“I’m sorry.” Those were the only words that came to mind. The barest nicety.

“Don’t be. I never knew her.” A beat. “It’s nothing like you losing your sister. That must have been awful.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Your mum told me.”

My blood curdled. What pack of lies had she shared? Even I didn’t know the truth behind my sister’s death. “What did she tell you?”

Tanya examined her toes; one foot was done. “She didn’t want to talk about it.”

Good, because I didn’t want to talk about it either. Had my sister lived, she would have likely been a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. Confined to a wheelchair and dependent on others. Being the free-spirited, social animal she was, for her that would have been worse than death. So maybe it was a blessing she’d died. A blessing in disguise.

Thankfully, Tanya stopped me from flashing back to that fatal day and changed the subject. “I’m looking forward to meeting your brother, Will.”

“He’s annoying,” I responded, not wanting to share him with her. Not one teensy bit.

With a flourish, she splashed a dot of the polish on her left pinky toe. “It’s going to be so nice to be part of a family. And to have a mother for the first time in my life.”

She’s not your mother, I wanted to tell her, but kept my mouth shut, happy she was done.

“Do you want me to do your nails?” she asked sweetly.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“No worries. Maybe another time.”

Setting the nail polish on my night table, she carefully climbed off my bed and stood on her heels, her painted toes pointing to the ceiling.

“Hey, do you have some flip-flops I can borrow? I don’t want to mess up my nails.”

I’m sure I had a pair hiding somewhere, but I didn’t want to share anything more with this girl. I said no.

“No biggie. I’ll add a pair to my shopping list.” I watched as she headed to the door to the bathroom that connected our rooms, walking stiffly on her flexed feet.

“I’m going to take a nap. I don’t want jet lag to get in the way of dinner. My first family meal in ages!” She waved to me with a flutter of her fingers. “Ta-ta. See you later.”

As soon as she disappeared, I ran over to the bathroom door and locked it. Click. I didn’t want her wandering back into my room. Then, I darted to the other door and attempted to lock it too. But the damn lock, which was probably as old as this house, was jammed. My brother, Will, could fix it. He could fix anything. I bet he could even install a new doorknob that allowed me to also lock the door from the outside. A trip to the hardware store in nearby Larchmont Village couldn’t come soon enough.

And a new doorknob wasn’t the only thing I’d be buying.

A wicked smile curled on my lips.

FOUR

NATALIE