Twin Roses: A Beau Rivage Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

toward the air conditioner at the backof the kitchen. “It’s cooler over here. The kitchen gets so hot in the summer.”
    “It’s nice here with you,” he said.
    “Thanks.” She paused to take it in, to wallow in that niceness. Being with Theo gave her a feeling like she was smiling with her whole body. “I wish I could go wherever you’re going today. But Mom needs us at the café. I have to bake a zillion more cupcakes and make some brownies or something. I haven’t decided yet.”
    “Do you need an assistant?”
    She smiled. “Why? Are you interested in assisting?”
    “I’d like to help. To learn how to do it. That is, if you don’t think I’ll slow you down.”
    “Doesn’t your family want to see you?”
    “They do, but—it’s awkward. My parents act like they’re afraid I’ll disappear again. When I’m home they watch me nonstop. If I leave the room and don’t come back in five minutes, one of them comes looking for me. And then there’s Thurston.”
    “Your brother’s acting weird, too?”
    “Yeah … like he doesn’t know me. It’s hard to talk to him. I keep feeling like I must be doing something wrong, or not acting human enough.”
    “You’re one hundred percent human, Theo. You’re not doing anything wrong.”
    “I don’t know what it is, then. We were really good friends before the curse. He used to beat me up occasionally, but that was normal brother stuff. I really missed him. As much as I missed you and Ruby. Maybe more. He’d known me when I was my real self, so all my memories of being human weretied up with him. Playing video games, betting who could get across the monkey bars faster. Pretending to drive my dad’s boat—like we were spies or pirates. I used to love being with you and Ruby because the way you were together reminded me of me and my brother. Except you guys never punched each other. You beat up on bears instead.”
    Pearl flushed. “I think that was because we liked you. Well—I can only speak for myself. But I think I liked you so much that … it scared me a little. In my diary I used to write about ‘my love’ for the prince—”
    “You did?”
    She laughed, then winced. It was so embarrassing. “When you weren’t around it was easy to think like that. It all seemed clear, and obvious, and romantic. But when you were actually in the room—when you were real—it was scarier. The possibility of being loved back was almost too exciting. I had to push that away. Or kick it away, as the case may be.”
    “Or beat its fat, furry ass with a broom.”
    Pearl laughed. “I did that to get the leaves off your coat!”
    “So you said.” But Theo was smiling. She leaned her head against his shoulder and wondered if that was okay. If she should ask Ruby if it was okay. She wondered—
    “It makes me happy, knowing that,” Theo said quietly. “That you—that I was important to you. You and your sister were so important to me.… When I left, it was because—well, I guess I was scared, too. The way you described. Liking you so much, and wanting you to like me, but being afraid to want it, too. Because I wasn’t human. And I didn’t know then if I ever would be. It wasn’t like the fairy who cursed me sat me down and explained everything.
    “All I knew was that that guy with the beard told a fairy I’d stolen from her. I was on my way home when I saw him. He’d gotten his foot caught in a hole and tripped, and there was a sack in front of him. It’d spilled open and all these jewels and coins were in the grass. I couldn’t stop staring. My mom had a lot of jewelry, but I’d never seen gold coins and giant diamonds and stuff. You probably know what happens next.”
    “The fairy.”
    “I didn’t know she was a fairy at first. I just knew she was angry. She ran up to us, screaming about her treasure, how dare we steal from her—and I started denying it. But I was a kid and I was pretty afraid of her. I guess I didn’t sound convincing.