Chapter 17 #2
Casey couldn’t imagine a world where she didn’t see Nate and the kids over Christmas.
“Of course not,” her brother replied with a joviality so forced that Casey wondered how her counterpart couldn’t hear it.
“Are you going to Sylvie and Ken’s for Christmas?”
“Yeah. Ken’s attempting a three-bird roast this year.”
Something was wrong; Casey could hear it in the lackluster tone of his voice, but Other Casey only said, “Blimey.”
“So, anyway, I just thought I’d check in with my baby sister before she begins another day in paradise.”
Other Casey snorted. From a little distance away from the phone, both Caseys heard a small voice call out for Daddy.
“Hey, Ellory, what are you doing up, little lady?” Nate asked.
“It’s really late.” Down the phone Ellory could be heard saying that she couldn’t sleep, followed by the sounds of Nate carrying his daughter back up the stairs.
“Who are you talking to on the phone?” Ellory asked.
“Aunty Casey. Do you want to say hello?”
There were some shuffling sounds, which sounded to Casey like Ellory nestling her head into the dip between Nate’s shoulder and chin. It was her signature snuggle move; she did it often with Casey too.
“Who’s Aunty Casey again?” her niece asked sleepily, and Casey felt it like a gut punch. Across the room Other Casey winced.
How could there be any version of her life where her niece didn’t know who she was? Horrified, Casey turned to Margo. “She doesn’t know me?”
Margo shrugged. “You left England before she was born. She saw you at Grace’s funeral, but you know what kids are like at that age, they forget.”
“You remember Aunty Casey,” said Nate, sounding embarrassed. “She sent you the Cinderella dress for your birthday?”
“I don’t like Cinderella, I like Tiana.”
“You like all the princesses.” Nate chuckled.
“What does Aunty Casey look like?”
Other Casey shifted awkwardly against the pillows but didn’t look anywhere near as upset as Casey felt.
“I’ll show you a photo tomorrow. But for now, it’s time you were back in bed, my little munchkin.”
“Oookaaay,” Ellory said, yawning.
“Do you want to say good night to Aunty Casey?”
“No thank you, Daddy.”
“Bye, Ellory,” Other Casey whisper-called down the phone, though she got no response from her niece.
There were the muffled sounds of a duvet being tucked and a lamp being flicked off.
Casey could picture Ellory’s bedroom down to the last detail: the pink organza canopy that hung down above the headboard, the daisy nightlight that stopped her from being afraid of the dark, the fluffy rug in the shape of a unicorn that she liked to scrunch her little naked toes into, and the three bookshelves beside her bed, so that she could look at books when she inevitably woke up two hours before the rest of the household.
Other Casey wouldn’t know any of this and the thought saddened and angered her.
Didn’t she know what she was missing out on?
“Sorry about that,” said Nate.
“Don’t worry about it,” Other Casey replied. “Maybe I should FaceTime with the kids.”
“That would be nice.”
A pregnant pause ensued that sounded crushingly loud to Casey, like sirens blaring and cymbals crashing, but her counterpart seemed not to notice. Or she didn’t want to notice.
“Listen, Case, I, um…” her brother began, but Other Casey cut him off.
“Sorry, Nate, I’ve got to get a wriggle on. Love you, bro.”
“Sure. Absolutely. Merry Chr—” The sentiment was cut off by Other Casey putting her phone face down on the bedside table.
“What’s going on with me?” asked Casey.
Margo offered a slow blink. “There’s no meme. You are free. No need for you to hide yourself away.”
Other Casey gave the lump next to her a gentle shove.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” The lump groaned and sat up.
The sheet fell away to reveal a version of Ajay with a tangled mass of black shoulder-length curls.
He was sleep crumpled but still handsome enough to take her breath away with a lazy smile that would inspire any woman with a pulse to push him back down onto the bed and ravish him immediately.
“What is happening?” Casey gasped.
“It would appear that you and Ajay have been doing the horizontal mambo,” Margo replied, waggling her eyebrows.
Ajay ran his hand through his long black curls and quirked an eyebrow at Other Casey, who was already gathering up her things to take into the shower. “Shall we have breakfast together?” he asked.
“Sorry, I have to work. But this was fun. Thank you for a great night.” Ajay pouted theatrically at her words, but Other Casey only smiled. “You can see yourself out.”
Realizing that he was being dismissed, his expression changed from cheeky to hurt. “Can I at least get your number?” he asked, pulling the sheet up to his chest.
Other Casey smiled at Ajay and said, “I don’t think so. But maybe we’ll see each other around sometime.” She turned to leave the room.
“I thought we really connected,” Ajay said, and she turned back around.
“We did. It was fun.”
“You don’t think it felt like, I don’t know, the start of something?”
Other Casey looked momentarily contrite, “Listen, um…”
“Ajay!” he said, looking crushed.