“Oh, go up and choose whatever you wish,” Mother said. “Surprise us.”
Haylee raised her eyebrows and looked to me for some confirmation.
“Yes, why don’t we do that?” I said.
“Thank you for bringing me home, Daddy,” Haylee said.
“I’ll be here at ten tomorrow morning,” he reminded her sternly.
“Why so short a visit?” Mother asked, her face wrinkling with displeasure.
“Baby steps,” my father said. “That’s how her psychiatrist, Dr. Alexander, described it, Keri. Let’s not do anything to sabotage the efforts.” That warning carried many different meanings, the primary one being Don’t return to the way things were.
Mother nodded quickly and turned to Irene. “We have so much to do,” she said.
My father gave me one more look to assure me he would stay on high alert in case I needed him.
“C’mon,” I told Haylee, and we started for the stairs.
I heard my father leave. We walked up quickly. I was most eager to see Haylee’s reaction to her room.
The moment she saw it, she dropped her bag and stood in the doorway, astonished. “What the hell . . . Is this some sort of punishment?” she asked me.
“Don’t ask Mother that. She thinks it’s beautiful and perfect. She had the help of a professional decorator.”
“Did she do this to your room, too?”
“Oh, no. Mother’s been in therapy, remember? She’s trying to be different, treat us differently.”
“It looks like a room made of candy. How am I going to fall asleep in here? I’d be ashamed to bring anyone to it. Maybe when I’m back, I can get it changed.”
“Maybe,” I said, shrugging.
“You like that she did this to me, don’t you?” she asked, her whole demeanor changing, returning to what I expected it to be.
“She’s doing her best, I guess. Just wear sunglasses,” I added.
She stared at me a moment and then burst into laughter. “Very good. You are different. You’ve got to tell me everything about your new school, the girls there, and the boys, of course. Did you meet anyone? I mean a boy, of course.”
She entered the room and dropped her bag at the foot of her closet.
“Before you start, I’ll tell you why my life has changed, and it has nothing to do with the dumb treatments or Dr. Alexander, either.”
“Really? What changed it, then?”
“I met someone I really like,” she said, her eyes wide. She ripped the comforter back and flopped onto the bed. “I know I’ve said that many times before, but this time I really, really mean it, Kaylee. But let’s make a pact first, just the way we used to. A pinkie promise,” she said, holding up her hand. I looked at it suspiciously. “You can break the promise if you just can’t stand keeping it.”
I moved slowly to the bedside and entwined my pinkie with hers.
“I promise not to talk about the terrible thing I did to you, and you promise not to talk about what it was like or how you suffered.”
“No wonder you came up with that one. That’s all good for you,” I said.
“No, no. You must have been told, just as I’ve been, that reliving the past, the gruesome past, does neither of us any good now. I’ll just say I’m sorry. I was stupid and selfish and never realized how serious it was. It started out as a joke and just exploded into something so terrible I was terrified of anyone discovering that I was responsible. And when they did, I went a little nuts. That’s an explanation, not an excuse,” she added.
“Whether I believe you or not is another thing.”
“Okay. Let’s leave it at that. You’ll decide, but in the meantime, let’s be sisters again.”