“Yes, Daddy’s so impressed with Bea. Editor of the school paper. Copyeditor for the yearbook. Valedictorian. Georgetown. That handsome boyfriend too.” Savannah taps one pointy mint-green nail against her dimpled chin. “It must be hard for the rest of you, having such a perfect sister.”
Des blinks. She isn’t sure where Savannah’s going with this, but Des certainly isn’t going to give her anything quotable. “Like I said, we’re very proud.”
“But how can any of you compete? I mean, look at you. I don’t blame you for deciding not to even try. Not everyone’s cut out for college,” Savannah says, so condescending that Des has to resist the urge to slap the smile off her face.
“Well, you know, with my dead parents and all, I felt some obligation to stay home and help Gram with my sisters and the bookstore,” Des says through her gritted teeth. It’s rare that she plays that card, but Savannah deserves it. “Also, I happen to love working at Arden. A bookstore is such a vital part of a community, don’t you think? It’s important to me—to all of us—that we’re fulfilling my mom’s legacy.”
“I’m sure it is. You poor things,” Savannah coos.
Des’s fists clench around the rubber gloves. Planning a murder is starting to sound awfully appealing.
The door opens, and a tall, scruffy guy with dark-blond hair caught up in a bun walks over to the old-fashioned soda fountain. Des has never seen him before, but Savannah’s face lights up.
“Excuse me, my date is here,” she says, hurrying in his direction right as the line finally moves forward.
Des sets her gloves and bleach on the counter. Poor guy, she thinks. He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.
Chapter Fourteen
BEA
When Bea stumbles bleary-eyed into the bathroom on Wednesday morning, the first thing she notices is blue. Watery blue spots polka-dot the white-tiled floor. The towel crumpled in the corner is stained blue. Bea yanks the shower curtain back and finds blue streaks all over the tub. It looks like somebody murdered a damn Smurf in there.
It is too early to deal with this. She brushes her teeth and then marches downstairs to the kitchen. “Des? I think maybe Kat dyed her hair. Have you—?”
She stops short in the doorway. Her older sister is sitting at the kitchen counter, eating her bowl of Cheerios, drinking a mug of tea, with her planner and Tombow pens in front of her and NPR on the radio, exactly as expected at eight-thirty on a weekday. Totally, completely unexpected? Des’s hair is bright blue.
“Jesus Christ,” Bea gasps. “What did you do to your hair?”
Des pulls back some of her curls, revealing more blue beneath. “Do you like it?”
“I—” Bea swallows. “I don’t know yet.”
“I like it.” Des smiles shyly. “I really like it.”
“Good. It’s probably going to take a while to wash out.” Bea grabs the last browning banana on the counter and starts to peel it, still staring at her sister.
Des chuckles. “You thought it was Kat!”
“I definitely didn’t think it was you.” Dyeing her hair on a whim isn’t like Des, but the blue suits her.
Des shrugs. “Paige helped me dye it last night.”
Of course. Des has a total new-friend crush on the purple-haired waitress over at Tia Julia’s. Half of her sentences lately have started with Paige says. Frankly, Bea finds Paige more than a little pretentious, but she’s hoping Paige will give Des a sense of direction. Not that being a bookseller isn’t amazing. Bea loves books, especially nonfiction (and, secretly, the occasional hot Regency romance). But Des has real artistic talent. After she drew an illustrated Tom Stoppard quote for Bea’s graduation gift, Bea told her she should start her own shop on Etsy or Society6. Des totally blew off the suggestion. Maybe if Paige tells her, she’ll consider it.
“You were out late,” Bea says. That’s new too; usually Des is in bed with a book by eleven. “Even I was asleep, and I haven’t been sleeping much.”
She regrets the words as soon as they’re out of her mouth. She doesn’t want to draw attention to her late-night stress baking, although the banana bread on the counter is a bit of a giveaway. Maybe she’ll take it to work. Is trying to bribe one’s boss with baked goods against the rules? It can’t be any more against the rules than nepotism, she thinks, glaring at the very idea of Savannah Lockwood and her stupid blog. Gossip is not real journalism.
“Is everything okay?” Des asks.
No. For a minute, Bea thinks about confiding in her sister. I almost kissed another boy on Saturday night. And when I said I wasn’t feeling well, what I meant was that the idea of going to Georgetown with Erik makes me want to throw up.
“Bea?” Des prompts, her brown eyes worried.
Bea focuses intently on her banana. Des is already doing so much. Too much. Bea knows she should be helping out more at home and at Arden instead of spending hours down at the marina, staring into the river. But being around her family is hard. It feels like she’s lying to them every second she doesn’t confess her growing doubts about the future.
What if she did confess? If she said the words I’m not sure I want to go to Georgetown anymore out loud? They would freak out. Gram has sacrificed so much for her. She paid for Bea to go to journalism camp four summers in a row, and that was not cheap. She’s delving into her savings so Bea doesn’t have to take out too many loans for tuition. She has read every single one of Bea’s papers and articles. And Des—Des has taken Bea’s shifts at Arden and her chores at home, uncomplaining, so that Bea could focus on school. Des would have every right to be furious that she’s sacrificed all of that for nothing.
Bea feels like the worst, most selfish girl in the world.
“I’m fine, but the bathroom is a mess. Are you supposed to wash your hair this soon? You should Google that,” Bea says. “It looks like a Smurf homicide in there.”
Des’s shoulders go stiff. “Sorry. I’ll clean it up later.”
“I’ve got to get ready for work,” Bea says, and she rushes back upstairs.
• • •
At the newspaper, Bea delivers the banana bread to her editor, who compliments her on her baking and on the article she wrote last week about Mrs. Ellinghaus, the owner of Remington Hollow’s flower shop, In Bloom. They review Bea’s assignments for the next week: in addition to her usual proofreading, she’ll be interviewing Mrs. Lynde about her yarn shop, Unraveled; writing a book review of a new memoir; and doing a movie review of the latest Marvel blockbuster. She and Erik are supposed to see it tonight.