“Right,” I said, not knowing how I would get through the day.
I had been hoping that when Mother heard about the theater, she would tell us to go somewhere closer, and that might scare off or at least discourage Anthony, but Haylee’s luck was riding a high wave. Mother had a new date with Laura Demarco’s brother, Simon Adams, who had lost his wife in a terrible car accident a year and a half ago. Apparently, he was finally ready to date, and Mother was to be his first since the tragedy. Laura had introduced them, and he had asked Mother to dinner. As it turned out, the restaurant he had chosen was only five miles from the movie theater to which Haylee had insisted we go.
When Mother first told us about her dinner date, I was hoping that would mean she would either tell Haylee we had to go the following weekend and that Anthony would be upset or get cold feet and that would be that, but instead, Mother thought it was all serendipity, “as if planned by the angel who protected us.”
Haylee chose one of our sexiest outfits to wear to the movies, a black sweetheart-neckline romper outfit. It made us look more busty and left little to the imagination about our rear ends, because it was tighter on us now than it had been when Mother first bought it. I thought that would send a signal and Mother would start her usual cross-examination, so I didn’t object, but she almost didn’t notice at all. She was engrossed in what she was going to wear herself on this very special date, a date she said carried more responsibility.
“Simon is very vulnerable and sensitive now,” she told us. “I have to be more of a therapist than a date. I’ve got to dress a little more conservatively than usual. When you meet him, be extra friendly.”
“We will,” Haylee promised.
“Yes,” I said.
I waited to see if she would add anything, squint at what we were wearing, and send us back upstairs to change into something more appropriate for a night at the movies, but she seemed to look right through us. She didn’t even notice the extra makeup Haylee had put on and insisted I copy, the mascara and the glossy lipstick. I did it all willingly, expecting to send signals.
Oh, Mother, I cried inside myself, can’t you see what’s happening? Can’t you look at us the way you used to when we were younger and see every one of our thoughts? Are you so blinded by your own little romances?
It was discouraging. If Mother wasn’t so involved with her own life, she surely would have picked up on what Haylee was doing or at least sensed that it wasn’t something she’d like her to do. As Haylee successfully slipped past Mother’s usual scrutiny, I realized there was nothing more that I could do to stop it.
We were both surprised when Simon Adams arrived to take Mother to dinner and us to the movies. He was a good two or three inches shorter than she was and not very good-looking. His nose was too big, and his eyes were a dull brown, with drooping eyelids that made him appear sleepy. He wore a dark gray jacket and a black tie, but he looked like he could use a haircut. His dark brown hair was a little unruly at the sides and fell lazily over his forehead. He knew about us being identical twins and pleased Mother by immediately saying that he had never seen a pair of twins so indistinguishable.
Before we left, Haylee leaned close to me to whisper, “This is Mother’s charity date, for sure. He looks like one of Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs.”
“Charity date?”
“She wants to help him get back into the world and will prove to her friends and especially Daddy that she is strong enough to do it. She wants to make the point that if she was suffering, she wouldn’t be able to help someone else.”
I looked at her askance. “How do you know all this?”
“You just don’t know her as well as I do, Kaylee. You just don’t,” she said.
Maybe she was right. She was the one capable of fooling her all the time, especially now.
Simon Adams was polite and did seem more like someone indebted to Mother than someone romancing her, and all during the ride to the movie theater, she talked to him the way someone would talk to a child, comparing her divorce with his tragedy to justify her advice.
“To me, Mason Fitzgerald is the same as dead. I wouldn’t have resented receiving sympathy cards the day the divorce was finalized. He’s as good as dead to my girls,” she emphasized.
Simon nodded after everything she said, never challenging or questioning anything. Haylee kept poking me and smiling. The only good thing about it was that it was keeping me from thinking about what she and I were about to do. A cold chill passed through me when Simon pulled up to the movie theater. For a few seconds, I nearly cried out and confessed. Mother, we’re lying. We’re not really going to the movies. Haylee’s going to sneak off
and meet a man much older whom she met on the Internet!
The words flew through my brain and smashed against a wall of hesitation and fear, crumbling before they could get anywhere near my tongue.
Haylee opened the door quickly.
“We’ll be right here waiting for you,” Mother said. “Don’t go wandering about if we’re a little late. I’m not familiar with this area.”
“We won’t,” Haylee said. “Thank you, Mr. Adams.”
“You’re more than welcome,” he said. “Enjoy the movie. I’ve been thinking about seeing it, too.”
“Maybe Mother will want to see it. We’ll tell you how it is,” she said.
Mother turned quickly to look at her, and I hoped she was angry at Haylee for saying that, but she surprised me. She smiled.
“C’mon, Kaylee,” Haylee said. “We don’t want to miss the start of the film.”
She got out. I didn’t move. Stop her! I heard myself screaming inside my head.