Hamish gritted his teeth and puckered his mouth. A moment later, he spoke. “Okay, Saturday is the big birthday celebration.”
Erin exhaled slowly and tried to harness some civility and calm.
Hamish smiled. “We have a few things to finish up before then. You know what I mean, Pippa.”
Their conspiratorial nod suggested they would be baking a birthday cake. Erin thought back to her last birthday celebration; whatever was in store for Felicity, it had to be better than that.
“Limo’s here,” Claire yelled up the stairs. She was still pissed but clearly was ecstatic about Erin’s fun date night in a limo.
Erin descended in a Rent the Runway gown Ben had helped her choose. It was the precise shade of Erin’s juniper eyes.
“You look amazing!” Claire said. “Where the hell is Ben? It’s not like him to be late. Is he hungover, too?”
“We’ll pick him up at his house,” Erin lied. “He didn’t need to drive over.”
“Oh, good plan!” Claire spoke loudly and slowly to the limo driver: “She’ll give you directions to another house before you drive in to Chicago. Can you do that?”
“Of course, ma’am,” he said in perfect American English.
Erin slid into the black leather seat where she and Ben had planned to make out.
Her chauffeur rolled down the opaque divider. “Address, miss?”
Erin directed him to Lalitha’s house and asked him to wait.
She rang Lalitha’s doorbell for two full minutes before withdrawing the spare key from the turtle statue. She found her friend swathed in blankets on the basement sofa.
“Come on my birthday date with me,” Erin said.
“Shhhhh,” Lalitha said. “Hangover.”
“Li, Claire is furious and I am grounded for months. My personal life of hell is all over the Internet. I’m off the swim team. Ben just dumped me. You are coming out with me. Take an Ibuprofen, and let’s go.”
“Restaurants are too loud. Concerts are way too loud.”
Erin agreed. Anyway, the Chainsmokers were Ben’s band, not hers. And her hangover stomach wanted grease, so she could skip her Topolabampo reservation, too.
Erin whispered, “I promise to be quiet. You don’t even need to change your clothes.”
Lalitha glanced from her pajamas to Erin’s ensemble. “Sweet dress.”
“You wouldn’t want it to go to waste, would you? Come on. I promise you a night of tears and tissues, greasy pizza, and ice cream. Girls’ night out … in a limousine.”
Lalitha crawled off the sofa. Erin grabbed Ibuprofen from the kitchen and filled two water bottles. Five minutes later, Erin emerged from the house with Lalitha, who reeked of alcohol and still wore her pajamas.
Their chauffeur opened the door without batting an eye.
“What time are we supposed to be back tonight?”
“11:30, miss.”
Seven hours. “Change of plans. Can we just drive around tonight?”
“I don’t understand, miss.”
“We’re not going into the city. We’re not going to dinner or a concert. My friend and I would like to pick up a greasy pizza and drive around. I’m buying. For you, too. You in?”
“You’re the boss,” he said, closing the door after her.
TWENTY
As Erin helped clean the table—together, naturally—Felicity touched her arm. “Do you think you’ll be happy here, dear?”
“Sure!” Blatant, blatant lie.
Felicity ducked into Erin’s gaze to look her in the eye. “You should let me know—let any of us know—if there’s anything we can do to help. That’s why we’re here. We’re family.”
This was Erin’s chance to pull the exit cord: tell Felicity the house was too tiny and too cold and New Zealand had cheap clothes and the stupid school wouldn’t let her wear her grandmother’s ring and makeup was out of the question. That her independence had been stolen from her. That she felt like a child. That eating together every night made her itchy.
But beating a hasty retreat to Wheaton wouldn’t be unique. She must press on. “I’ll let you know.” Felicity handed Erin a plate of crusts and leftover mince stew. “Into the organics bin.”
Erin eyed the silver container on the counter. “This one?”
“Indeed. All food scraps, bones, meats, by-products into there. Christchurch composts it all.”
A half hour later, Erin and Pippa sat across from each other doing homework in front of the woodstove.
“What are you working on?” Pippa asked.
“Calculus.”
“What’s that?”
“Math.”
Pippa’s eyes gleamed. “I love maths. Mrs. Frisby taught us how to make hexaflexagons today. Want to see?” She pulled out a paper hexagon. “I folded this paper into a hexagon, see?” Pippa colored it red on one side, blue on the other.
“Nice.” Erin returned to her book.
“No, no, no!” Pippa said. “Look.” She flipped the paper inside out and had another folded hexagon, both sides white. “I’ll color these purple and green. And do you think I’m done?”
“Yep. Sweet,” Erin said.
“No! I’m not.” Pippa turned the paper inside out a few times.
Felicity put her hand on Erin’s shoulder. “Pippa, Erin wants to do her homework. Can she tell you when she’s free?”
“Sure!” Pippa said, holding up another white hexagon. “But look! Still blank!” She colored that side orange before going back to her homework.
To Erin, Felicity said, “She will talk forever. When you need space, tell her you need space. It’s kinder to everyone.”
“Okay,” Erin said.
Pippa worked for another thirty minutes, packed up, and left the table for the cold side of the house. Erin finished the last of her homework before accidentally walking in on Pippa brushing her teeth.
“You can come in,” Pippa said.
“I can wait.”
“I left the door open so you could come in when you were ready. That’s what sisters do, right?”
Erin shrugged. It was a silly thing, brushing their teeth together. Pippa was very careful to get around all her crooked, gapped teeth.
While Erin was flossing, Pippa said, “So about Kapa Haka? My performance? It’s traditional Ma-ori dance. We have a performance fourth term. Maybe you’ll come watch?”
Just in time, Felicity announced that she was ready to read to Pippa.
Not tired enough for sleep, Erin sat
