“She’s not in the movie theater bathroom.”
“You checked?”
“I didn’t have to, Mother.” I took a deep breath. “Kaylee left to meet a man very soon after we got here, but she was supposed to return before the movie ended,” I blurted, and continued to cry.
“What? What man?”
“What’s going on?” Simon asked, hurrying up to us. He looked at the theater entrance. “Where’s the other one?”
The other one? He wasn’t sure which twin I was. I nearly stopped crying and started laughing.
Mother looked at him, annoyed, but ignored him. I couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t exactly what anyone would describe as a strong-looking, take-charge man. He had lost his wife just more than a year ago in a traffic accident, and either the tragedy had made him meek and helpless or he had always been that way. I had referred to him as Mother’s “charity date,” because she had told us she was his first date since his wife’s death and she was going to take extra care with him. I had told Kaylee that it seemed more like emotional and psychological therapy than a romantic evening. Mother had gone out with at least half a dozen men since her and our father’s divorce, but none of them were good enough for her to continue dating. I doubted Simon would be.
“What’s the matter? What’s going on? Where is she?” Simon asked again.
“I’m trying to find out. She says Kaylee left the theater to meet a man,” Mother told him.
“A man? Who? What man? Did you know about this?” He grimaced, making it seem like this was her fault.
“Of course not! That’s what Haylee was about to explain.” She grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Talk, and stop crying,” she said.
I took a deep breath, wiped away my tears, and began with “I’m sorry, Mother. I should have told you, but Kaylee would have hated me.”
“What are you saying? What should you have told me? Hated you for what?”
“Kaylee was carrying on an Internet relationship with some older man. I told her she could get into big trouble, that men like that are dangerous, but she insisted he was all right. According to her, they were talking almost every night for the last month or so on her computer, and she liked him very much.”
Mother stared at me in disbelief. She shook her head as if my words were shower water caught in her ears. Every part of her face seemed to be in motion as she reluctantly digested what I was saying.
“She met someone on the Internet? These things can be bad,” Simon said. “S
o where is she?” he asked me, stepping forward, suddenly more aggressive and manly. “As you can see, your mother and I are very concerned.”
He was showing off for Mother, I thought, and smiled to myself. He was still pathetic.
“Talk,” Mother ordered. “Quickly.”
“She said she and this man finally decided to meet, but she knew you would never approve of it, so she came up with this idea to pretend we were excited about the movie,” I said, the words rushing out of my mouth like water bursting through a dam.
“Pretend?”
“It was her plan. After you took us here, she left the theater to meet him somewhere. She promised to be back way before the movie ended. Right up to the time she left, I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen.”
Mother looked up and down the street. “Which way did she go? What else do you know?”
“That’s all I know. I went along with it because she said she would hate me forever if I didn’t. I couldn’t have her hate me. I couldn’t. We’re too much a part of each other. I’ve been so worried.” I started to cry again.
“We’d better call the police,” Simon said. Mother didn’t respond. She stood there almost frozen in place now. I was afraid to look at her. Sometimes I thought she could read my thoughts. “I’ll call the police,” he said.
He took out his cell phone and stepped back toward the car.
“How could you let her do this? How could you keep it a secret from me? Didn’t we talk about when either of you should come to me to tell me about the other getting involved with someone dangerous?”
I nodded but kept my head lowered. “She made me promise,” I said. “I couldn’t betray her.”
“Her? What about betraying me?”
I raised my head. “I told her that, Mother, but she said we needed to believe in each other if we were to be forever special sisters. I was afraid of breaking her heart.”