Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Samantha—or rather Tonya—reached Auntie Athena’s an hour after she’d crawled out of the dumpster behind her apartment.
She’d ducked into a little donut shop along the way to use their restroom so she could examine herself in the mirror. Thankfully, she didn’t get dirty or stained during the dumpster diving. Her fake boobs had held up, too.
Now, she was ready to end this little charade once and for all.
Part of her would miss Tonya. She’d been a way to escape a life that wasn’t so great. In a weird way, she felt like a friend now.
But Tonya also brought lots of guilt. At least now she wouldn’t be carrying all that around.
Plus, if things worked out with Kendrick, her new life would be far better than the imaginary life she lived as Tonya.
It was definitely time to turn a page.
First, she had to get through today.
Trevon was waiting on the other side for her as she approached the gate.
“Good morning,” his deep voice said. “Welcome back.”
“Thank you, Trevon,” she said in that faux voice she used when masquerading as Tonya. It was sort of a mix of Valley Girl with a snooty, uppity quality to it. It was also a little higher than her normal tone. It did a pretty good job of masking her Kentucky drawl.
Trevon hesitated before opening the gate. But he finally did so, allowing her to pass.
He probably hates letting me in, she thought. He doesn’t really like me, and I can’t necessarily blame him.
Guilt momentarily flashed through her. She’d sure made a mess of things as Tonya. But that didn’t matter now.
New chapter. Just get through this, Sam, and turn the page.
Her shoes clacked on the walkway as she walked toward the front door. She stopped when she heard Trevon say, “Ma’am.”
Turning around, she found him standing near the gate, looking sternly at her. “There won’t be any trouble today. Right?”
Samantha gulped. “None at all.”
He smiled and nodded. “Good. Just making sure. Lots of folks here for the holidays and I hope everyone is on their best behavior.”
“Of course.” She almost told him that he wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore. But nerves dictated she wrap up the encounter as quickly as possible.
Trevon smiled warmly. It seemed genuine.
“Good. There are lots of holiday activities inside. Some of the Littles are making Hanukkah cookies. They’re going to play dreidel, too.
Some are making Christmas cookies. And whole lot of other stuff.
Some guys even brought a snow machine and it’s running in the backyard. Go have fun, honey.”
Walking inside, Samantha found a festive atmosphere, almost like a holiday party.
A familiar voice called out, “Hey. Glad you made it.”
She turned to her side to see Iris and Cami coming out of the kitchen. They both wore aprons streaked with icing.
It didn’t make any sense to her why Iris and the others continued to be nice to her. She’d been such a brat to all of them!
But they were just so nice and seemed determined to give her chance after chance.
As much as she was growing to appreciate that, she couldn’t let them hang around her too long. Not now. That would only increase the odds that they figured out her secret once they met Samantha tonight.
Looked like she’d have to be rude a few more times. It wouldn’t last long.
Why do you care so much now, Sam? It’s not like you’re part of their little group that lives in that fancy mansion. You’re not one of them. A sister.
She assumed the answer to that question was because they were important to Kendrick.
It just all of a sudden felt wrong to be such a brat.
Hmm. Maybe Kendrick was a good influence on her and inspired her to be better.
That would come later. Right now, she had to get them away.
“Sorry. Can’t talk. My real friends are waiting for me somewhere around here.”
Iris and Cami both looked hurt, but it passed quickly.
“Well,” Cami said, “if you decide you want to cook, Auntie Caroline is going to show us how to make pecan pie.”
Auntie Caroline was a sweet woman who worked at the nursery along with Athena. She was another southern transplant, too, having moved to L.A. from Georgia.
As much as Samantha would have liked to learn pie-making, she couldn’t right now.
Not as Tonya. Perhaps she could later on as Samantha…
If your little ruse holds together.
“Thanks, but don’t count on it,” she said haughtily.
She kept walking through the house without so much as a second glance at them.
In the backyard, she found a snow machine had indeed been set up, blowing the cold, white powder into a spot in the middle of the yard. Littles frolicked in it, made snowballs, and tossed them at each other.
That was about as close as they’d come to a snowstorm in Southern California. A white Christmas only happened in the movies or the songs.
“Hey, there she is,” a woman said.
It was Monica. Like Samantha, she was about twenty-five years old. Also like Samantha—but unlike Tonya—she had brown hair.
Her bestie, Marissa, might have been closer to thirty and had auburn hair. Both were about the exact height, sort of on the tall side with long, model-like legs, and bore enough of a resemblance that one might think they were related.
Samantha had asked them once; there was no relation.
“Hey,” Samantha said, doing the two faux kisses on each cheek to Monica and then repeating the greeting to Marissa. “I’m glad you two are here. I need to talk to you both.”
“It can wait,” Marissa said abruptly. “Iris, Lana, Annika, and Cami are here. We’re just about to lure them outside and then pelt them with snowballs.”
Samantha nearly froze. Oh boy. This was going to turn out bad.
Her mind raced, thinking of any possible excuse she could as to why she couldn’t take part in the devilish plan.
“Well, what I have to say is really important. Maybe we should just talk.”
But it was clear the other women weren’t listening to her.
Damn, they really are brats, she thought to herself.
“Come on!” Monica said. “Get some snow ready. I’m going to go tell them you want to play with them. Then, when they come out, we’ll get them!”
She was running toward the house before Samantha could protest any further. It wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Monica and Marissa were clearly intent on acting snotty to Iris and her pals.
And it looked like Samantha—or rather Tonya—was going to be right in the middle of it.
As always.