Chapter Two

Laurel's POV

"Laurel, your sister's camera came in. Go pick it up with her tomorrow."

After dinner, Mom stood at the sink doing the dishes and didn't even turn around. She said it the same way she'd ask me to take out the trash.

My grip on the dish rag got tighter and tighter.

"I already have plans tomorrow."

"What plans could be more important than your sister? She hardly ever gets to come home. Can't you just give in to her for once?"

Give in to her.

I'd heard those words more times than I could count over the past fifteen years.

I gave up my seat, my clothes, my room. I even gave up Mom's hugs and Dad's attention, one thing at a time.

Now they wanted my time too.

"The store's all the way on the west side. She doesn't know her way around, and you do," Mom added, like it was already decided.

I had no idea whether Vivian knew her way around. All I knew was that she had three navigation apps on her phone.

"Okay."

That word slipped out before I could stop it, just like always.

The next morning, I drove her across half the city.

Vivian slouched in the passenger seat with her legs crossed, watching videos with the sound blasting. The noise made my temples throb.

"Look at this one. Think it'll go viral?"

She shoved her phone right in front of my face. It was a vlog of her birthday party, titled "Birthday girl, spoiled rotten by the whole family."

Everyone in it was smiling, and I didn't show up once.

"It's good."

"There you go again." She pulled the phone back, brushing me off without a second thought. "It's always 'it's good,' 'okay,' 'sure' with you. Do you ever have an opinion of your own?"

I kept my eyes on the red light and didn't answer.

Kids with opinions get sent away. Didn't she remember?

At the camera store, Vivian tried out lens after lens for half an hour before settling on a mirrorless camera that cost thirty-six hundred dollars.

When it came time to pay, she dug through her wallet, then looked up at me.

"My card's getting declined. Can you cover it for now? I'll send you the money in a couple days."

Thirty-six hundred. Everything I had across all my accounts added up to less than four thousand.

"I don't think I have that much..."

"Then just put two thousand on yours and I'll cover the rest. Deal?"

The sales clerk stood off to the side with a polite smile, waiting without a word.

I pulled out my card and paid two thousand dollars.

Vivian paid the remaining sixteen hundred herself. She grabbed the camera bag and strolled out of the store, looking pleased with herself.

"I'll pay you back in a couple days, okay?"

The second she said it, she was already posting a picture of her new camera on Instagram with the caption "Treated myself."

When we got home, I went into the kitchen for a glass of water.

Aunt Sharon hadn't left yet. She was sitting in the living room chatting with Mom. As I walked by, I heard her lower her voice.

"Diane, Laurel's gotten so thin. Is work stressing her out?"

Mom waved it off while peeling a tangerine. "She's always been like that. She eats like a bird."

"Then you should be keeping a closer eye on her. You've got two daughters, you know."

Mom gave a little laugh. I knew that laugh way too well. It meant she thought Aunt Sharon just didn't get it.

"Laurel's not like Vivian. Vivian's needed babying since she was little. Ignore her for a second and she'll tear the whole house apart."

"But Laurel? She never fusses, never throws a fit, never asks for anything. She's no trouble at all."

No trouble at all.

Because I never caused trouble, nobody thought I needed looking after. Because I never cried or complained, nothing ever came my way.

She'd lived by that logic for fifteen years and never once thought there was anything wrong with it.

Aunt Sharon opened her mouth to say more, but Mom had already changed the subject.

"Oh, where'd you get those vitamins you were telling me about? I want to get some for Vivian too. She's been looking a little pale lately."

I took my water back to my room and shut the door.

The flight details were saved in the notes on my phone.

October fifth, departing at 2:15 p.m.

Leaving this city, connecting in Copenhagen, and landing in Stockholm.

In a little over ten hours, I'd be standing in another country, breathing different air. I'd heard the winter nights there were so long it felt like morning would never come.

Just then, a bank alert popped up. Balance: $1,860.

Vivian hadn't sent back a single cent of that two thousand.

I pulled up our texts. Before this trip home, the last message she'd sent me was from three months ago, asking me to pay her phone bill.

She never paid that back either.

Dinner was a full spread, as usual.

This time my mom's brother had lugged over a whole box of steamed crabs. Two each, he said, and there was plenty.

Mom handed them out one by one. When she got to me, her hand didn't even pause before moving on to the next person.

"Laurel doesn't eat seafood," she explained to Aunt Sharon.

I did. I'd loved it since I was a kid.

The one who couldn't eat it was Vivian. Too much shellfish and she broke out in a rash.

At some point, Mom had mixed up the food I loved with the food my sister couldn't touch.

Or maybe she hadn't mixed anything up at all. Maybe she just needed an excuse so there'd be enough crab to go around.

"Mom, I eat seafood."

She stopped short, like I'd said something completely ridiculous.

"You do? Didn't you throw up every time you ate it as a kid?"

I wasn't the one who threw up. My sister was.

"That was Vivian," I said.

The table went quiet for two seconds.

Vivian looked up at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.

Mom let out an awkward laugh. "Well... then here, take mine. I'll just have one less."

She pushed a crab in front of me, looking hurt, like I'd forced her to give up her own dinner.

I didn't take it.

"Forget it. I'm not hungry."

I got up and went back to my room.

Behind me, I heard Mom's voice. "See? I give it to her and she doesn't even want it. I honestly don't know what she wants from me."

Vivian laughed. "She's always like this. Just let her be."

Just let her be.

Don't worry. After tomorrow, you won't even get the chance to think about me.