Page 34 of The Mirror Sisters (The Mirror Sisters 1)

Mother looked at us, looked at her flowers, and then stepped back for us to walk out. “Have a good time,” she said.

“Thank you, Mother,” we replied in our usual synchronized way. I saw Matt smile.

Haylee hurried out ahead of me, moving like someone who was making an escape.

Matt waited for me. “Good evening, Mrs. Fitzgerald,” he said. “And don’t worry.”

“That’s impossible,” Mother told him.

“I know,” Matt said. He smiled at her and closed the door behind us.

“Let’s get out of here before she changes her mind,” Haylee said, and continued to rush ahead to get into the back of Matt’s car, a black late-model SUV.

/> He went around to open the front passenger door for me and then got in, smiled at me, and started the engine. My heart was pounding. Were we really going on a date? I kept my eyes on our doorway as he backed out, anticipating Mother charging out and putting her hand up to stop us and say she had changed her mind. But she didn’t come out, and moments later, we were off to Jimmy Jackson’s house.

“Did you tell him to bring Mother the flowers?” Haylee asked me.

“No.”

“Good move, Matt,” Haylee said. “I think you’ve done this before.”

“Done what before?”

“Stroked some girl’s mother,” she said.

“I wasn’t stroking her. I was telling the truth,” Matt said, without taking his eyes off the road. “Get used to it.”

“To what?” Haylee said.

“The truth,” he replied, and I laughed. He did, too.

“Oh, that’s hysterical,” Haylee said, not liking that she was outside the small circle Matt and I had begun to create around us, a circle that looked as if it would get even smaller tonight.

“So what was that about helping to organize the party?” Matt asked.

“My mother thinks there are more kids coming to Jimmy’s house,” I said.

“Oh, I see.”

“Our little lies are just temporary,” Haylee declared. “We have special circumstances these days.”

“I know. I’m sorry about your parents divorcing.”

“We don’t want to dwell on it. We want to have a good time. We deserve it,” she said.

He looked at me and smiled. “Deserve it?”

“Yes. It’s not our fault our home has become the Titanic,” Haylee said.

“Okay,” Matt said. “We’ll avoid icebergs.”

“It’s too late. Just concentrate on being a lifeboat,” she said.

I looked back at her. That was very clever, I thought. Maybe Haylee was smarter than I was in important ways.

She smiled and reached for my hand. “Our first double date,” she said.

I looked at Matt. He glanced at me just long enough for me to see that he was really happy, too. He also kept checking his rearview mirror.