She relaxed as she thought about my
suggestion.
"If I had a younger sister here, it would certainly make everyone believe me even more," she thought aloud. "That's right, it would," I said nodding.
"You can only call me Sis or Gina. You can't even forget and call me Haille."
"I never did, Mommy."
"Mommy!"
"Well, there's no one here right now," I said quickly. "Archie's not going to like this. He'll be furious with me," she said with a shake of her head.
"He has no right to be furious with you. You've done everything he wanted, haven't you?"
"Yes, yes I have," she said. She stared at me and then she smiled. "He won't be unhappy when I tell him he has another prime client anyway," she said.
"Another prime client?"
"You, silly. You're beautiful. You can become a model and an actress, too. We'll tell everyone I called you out here to develop your career. Just like me. Then we really will be sisters!" she exclaimed. "Maybe we'll even get to do something together." I shook my head.
"I could never--"
"Sure you could. It's so easy. You smile when they want you to smile and you bat your eyelashes when you have to and before you know it, you have an assignment and they're paying you hundreds of dollars an hour just to pose."
"I don't know if I can do that," I said, recalling what I had learned from Spike already about the business.
"Believe me, you can do it," she said. "Okay, you can have the second bedroom and we'll try it. If it doesn't work out, you have to promise you'll return to the Cape and go back to school. Well? You wanted to be with me, this is how you can be with me. Make up your mind."
I stood there, speechless for a moment. Could I really turn down a chance to be with Mommy again? To wait for the perfect opportunity to find out who my father was? Before I had a chance to really think about her suggestion, we heard the doorbell.
"Who the hell is that so early?" she muttered and rose to go to the door. It was Sandy Glee.
"I saw you," she sang looking past Mommy at me. "I saw you from my patio coming up the walkway. So, Gina. Aren't you going to introduce me to your surprise?"
"Melody," Mommy said turning to me, "you see why you can't keep any secrets here. Everyone's a snoop. This is my kid sister," she said, eyeing me warily.
"I knew it," Sandy remarked with a clap of her slender hands.
"She's coming to stay with me for a while and try her luck in Hollywood like the rest of us nitwits."
"Richard's going to represent her, too?"
"Yep."
"Good. Welcome to the fight," Sandy said. "I'm having a few people over tomorrow night for a pot luck dinner if you want to introduce her around," Sandy said. "About seven."
"We'll be there," Mommy promised.
"See you later, Sis," Sandy said waving. She left the apartment and Mommy spun around to me with a wide smile on her face.
"It worked. I knew it. I do look young enough to be your sister. In this town everyone believes everyone else's lies. It's a perfect place for people who hate the truth.
"Welcome home, Melody," she said sincerely. "I can finally throw my arms around you."
Even as she hugged me, giving me the affection I so desperately needed, I had to wonder: What had I gotten myself into?
7