Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“ W hat’s going on between you and Max?” Ivy asked Sloane as soon as they were out of hearing range of Max’s house on the way back to their apartment after pastrami sandwiches.
Should Sloane dodge Ivy’s question? Or tell the truth?
She supposed she should go with the truth since as a matter of principle and policy, Sloane really did try to set an example of honesty for Ivy. “Max has informed me that he’d like for us to date one another.”
“You’re kidding!” Ivy screamed, going straight to the hysteria level Sloane would have expected had Ivy spotted Bruno Mars in the flesh.
“No, not kidding.”
“Did you tell him yes? That you’d date him?”
“I did not.”
“ Why?! ”
Two hundred million reasons , Sloane thought. “I’m not convinced that we’re suited for each other.”
“He’s so great, though! He’s funny and nice and smart and rich. And he’s your friend from way back.”
“I challenge the assertion that he’s nice.” Nice was way too weak an adjective for Max.
“Most of all, you two are spark-y! You always were. I knew he liked you and I knew you liked him, and I knew this would happen! He’ll settle down for you, I bet. And then you’re going to be so happy together!”
They mounted the stairs to the apartment.
“He said you were grace personified,” Ivy gushed.
“I didn’t hate that compliment,” Sloane admitted.
“Remember how I said back when we moved in that he looks at you like a panther who wants to eat you? Well, he still looks at you like that. But now I know it’s not because he hates you and wants to kill you.”
The day of Ivy and Corrie’s secret road trip to Massachusetts had finally arrived, and today Ivy would meet her twin, Anna Thomas.
Corrie’s Subaru zoomed along the highway below a sky marked here and there with giant, bright clouds that reminded Ivy of scoops of whipped cream. They sang along to Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift, Corrie’s messy blond top knot bobbing to the beat.
Corrie seemed really relaxed. As far as Ivy could tell, her friend didn’t mind deceiving her parents. Ivy was only pretending relaxation because she kind of hated deceiving Aunt Sloane. All morning, she’d been feeling nervous and excited and guilty. A few times, she’d been tempted to tell Aunt Sloane but then the excited part of her convinced her not to worry about the nervous and guilty part and simply to go ahead with the plan. Everything was set up! Anna would be waiting for them.
It was a shame that parents underestimated what teenagers could do. If Corrie’s parents and Aunt Sloane would have been open to letting them make this trip, they would have asked them. They wouldn’t have had to hide it. After all, Corrie had gotten her driver’s license two whole months ago. Other than the one time when Corrie had almost changed into a lane at the same time as another car almost changed into the same lane, and the other time when Corrie had realized she was going ninety-two miles per hour—she’d been super good on the highway.
They reached downtown Newburyport five minutes before their meeting with Anna. Right on schedule! But then neither of them could figure out where to park. Ivy ran searches on her phone and Corrie circled around blocks, looking. It was a Saturday. Everyone was downtown. Adults handled parking. Ivy had never had to think about it before and didn’t know what to do.
Anxiously, Ivy watched the clock tick past their meeting time. “There, there!” A car was exiting a spot on the side of the street.
Corrie wasn’t the best parallel parker. She kept squealing and Ivy had to get out to direct her. Working together, they finally got the Subaru into the spot. But then the parking meter did its best to confuse them. Who carried coins these days? They did not. They finally figured out how to pay on an app using Ivy’s debit card, then rushed to the frozen yogurt shop they’d driven by twice already.
“You did so well,” Ivy said. “Thank you for driving me here.”
“You’re welcome. Sorry we’re a little late.”
“It’s okay.” In truth, she didn’t like being eight minutes late. She was not irresponsible and the idea that Anna might think she was made her jumpy.
“Eee! I’m so excited.” Corrie’s wide face beamed. “Can you believe this is really happening?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Ready to meet your twin sister?”
“So ready.”
“She’s going to love you.”
“I hope so.”
Corrie swept the shop door open. Ivy hurried inside and spotted Anna right away, waiting to one side. Her sister wore jean shorts and a cute, striped, scoop-neck tee. She’d parted her long brown hair down the middle.
“Are you Anna?” Ivy asked.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi! I’m sorry we’re late. We drove from Maine.”
“That’s okay.”
Ivy introduced herself and Corrie.
Corrie beamed back and forth between them. “I’ll go get us yogurt.”
“I’m buying it for everybody,” Ivy hurried to say. “As a thank-you.” She pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her pocket and handed it to Corrie, who asked for their orders and moved off.
Anna was very pretty, confident, and surely more popular than Ivy was in school. It had seemed like that on Anna’s Instagram. A cute ex-boyfriend. Lots of friends. Drill team. And it definitely seemed like that now that they were meeting in person.
Into an awkward silence, Ivy blurted, “Want to sit outside?”
“Sure.”
Outdoors, a patch of stones supported a rusting metal table and three chairs. Motion surrounded them. Cars moving past. Shoppers. Parents pushing baby strollers past The Black Dog General Store across the street.
Anna set her phone on the table, keeping her French-manicured fingers clasped around it. “So you still think we’re related?”
“I do.”
“Cool! How?”
“Um. So.” Ivy bit her bottom lip. Now that Anna was looking at her and waiting for her to explain, she was having trouble remembering exactly how she’d decided to say this. “I was adopted when I was five months old. I have a great family—a mom, dad, and three older siblings. But lately, really just this summer, I’ve been, um, wanting to learn more about my biological family. I got to meet my biological dad.”
“Oh my gosh. What was that like?”
“Good. I mean, kind of strange and good. He never told his family about me and doesn’t want them to know. So that part was a little weird. But it’s his right not to tell them, if he doesn’t want to. I understand that. So, yeah. Mostly, I was thankful I got to meet him. His name’s Seth. He seems like a nice person.”
“Have you met your biological mom?”
“Yes, I knew her from the start because my adoption was an . . . open adoption? Her name was Harper Madison. Unfortunately, she died four years ago.”
Anna’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
“It was an overdose. I still have my Aunt Sloane, though. That’s Harper’s sister. Aunt Sloane and I are close. In fact, I’m staying with her this summer.”
Corrie came out of the shop, holding a tray with three frozen yogurts.
“Thank you so much,” Anna said.
“You’re welcome!”
They all went to work on the food.
Ivy’s was vanilla-flavored with crushed Oreo topping. Self-consciously, she licked her teeth because she knew Oreos often left behind tiny black crumbs. She wasn’t sure if she was glad or not that Corrie had come outside right when she was about to hit Anna with her big news. But then Corrie gave Ivy an encouraging nod and she realized that she was glad to have Corrie at her side for this. “I was just about to tell Anna how I think we might be related,” she said to Corrie.
“’Kay.” Corrie swirled a big bite of creamy yogurt onto her spoon, then popped it into her mouth.
Glancing down, Ivy noticed that she and Anna both wore flip-flops and had painted their toenails yellow. A sister similarity? “When I met with Seth, I learned that I have a twin sister.” She swallowed. “And so Aunt Sloane and I checked this thing called the Adoption Reunion Registry and found out my twin sister is named Anna Thomas.”
Anna went still, except for her eyes, which turned big and round.
“Anna and I would both be fifteen and sophomores this school year. I think . . . I’m pretty sure you’re her. My sister.”
Anna set both palms on the table, face smooth with shock. “You’re saying you think I’m your twin sister?”
“Yes.”
“That would mean I’m adopted, too?”
“Right.”
Anna’s mouth hung open. “No one’s ever told me that I’m adopted.”
“Oh.” Ivy didn’t know what to say to that. Why did adults like Seth and Anna’s parents keep such huge secrets?
“You think,” Anna said, “that this Harper and this Seth you’ve been talking about are my biological parents, too?”
“Right. And we’re fraternal twins.”
Anna seemed more astonished than upset. Ivy had had days to think about all of this, but this was new for Anna, and it must be way weird for her. Especially because, unlike Ivy, she hadn’t known she was adopted.
Of the three of them, Corrie was the only one still eating.
“ Oh my gosh! ” Anna pressed to her feet. “Come with me. My house is a ten-minute walk from here. Let’s go talk to my mom about this.”
“What about our yogurt?” Corrie asked.
“We can eat it on the way,” Anna answered.
Uneasiness settled over Ivy like a rain cloud. “You want us to talk to your mom with you?”
“Yeah. Come on.” Holding her yogurt, Anna stepped onto the sidewalk and motioned for them to follow.
Ivy wasn’t sure about this plan, but she couldn’t tell Anna no at this point, right? It would be rude to announce that they were sisters and then refuse to go to Anna’s house and talk with her mom.
The three of them set off.
“I honestly can’t believe this.” As they walked, Anna talked about her older sister and her younger brother, wondering aloud if she was the only one who was adopted. She remembered her parents bringing her brother home from the hospital but maybe they’d really been bringing him home from an adoption center.
She said that her parents could be crafty. Like the time they planned a trip to Disney World but didn’t say a thing about it until they surprised their kids thirty minutes before they needed to leave for the airport. Or the time they’d said they were going to a PTA meeting but had come home sort of drunk and Anna had later found out they decided to get margaritas and Mexican food with friends instead. “This, though, is by far the craftiest thing they’ve ever done, and I am going to kill them if they did not tell me that I’m adopted.”
Discomfort mounted higher inside Ivy. She’d just met Anna. She didn’t know Anna’s parents. If this turned into a family battle, it was going to be terrible to stand there in the middle of it. Her stomach squeezed and she wasn’t capable of eating any more yogurt. She and the others tossed their bowls in a trash can they passed.
They entered an old neighborhood full of beautiful trees and houses. And too soon, before Ivy was ready at all , they reached the Thomas home. It looked like it had cost a fortune. Four stories tall, huge front porch, painted white with black shutters.
“Come in.” Anna held the door for them politely. Then she yelled, “Mom!” in a very impolite voice.
“Yes?” came the answer from somewhere on the same level. Anna’s mom did not sound at all concerned by her daughter’s tone.
“Come out here, please,” Anna called. “I have someone for you to meet.”
Ivy stood with the other girls in the foyer, wringing her hands. The inside of Anna’s house was a mix of new furniture and antiques. Tidy, with a little bit of family clutter.
A woman came out from the hallway, dressed in a Lululemon shirt and leggings. Her long brown hair formed a ponytail through the hole at the back of a pink ball cap. She took in the sight of Ivy and Corrie with a welcoming expression. “Hello.”
Before Ivy could respond, Anna spoke. “Mom, I’d like for you to meet Ivy and Corrie. Ivy is my twin sister .” She followed that up with an accusing frown and urgent gesture toward Ivy.
Ivy dreaded Mrs. Thomas’s reaction.
But Mrs. Thomas only gave them an amused smile. “I’m surprised to learn that you have a twin sister, Anna, seeing as how I don’t remember having had twins.”
“Ivy’s adopted. She’s saying that I’m adopted, too. So if you failed to tell me that, now is the time to tell me. Because this girl, right here, is proof.”
Mrs. Thomas laughed. “Now is the time?”
“Yes.” Anna crossed her arms.
“Brace yourself,” Mrs. Thomas said to her daughter.
“I’m braced!”
“You are not a twin. And you are not adopted . . . though I do myself wonder where you came from whenever you sing in the choir because the rest of us aren’t musical. Even so, I assure you that your dad and I are your biological parents. And the story I’ve always told you about your birth is the truth. My water broke on the stroke of midnight. Your father ignored all traffic laws driving me to the hospital because I was screaming at him to get there faster so that I could be given an epidural. A few hours later they handed you to me, all red-faced and mad at being dragged into the world. And your dad and I fell in love at first sight.”
Anna’s body language didn’t relax. “Ivy’s twin sister is fifteen and named Anna Thomas.”
“I see. Ivy, is your birthday October eighteenth?”
“Oh,” Ivy whispered, as the air left her lungs. “No, my birthday is December ninth.” Why hadn’t she thought to ask Anna what her birthday was? She’d been so sure that she’d found her twin, that she hadn’t even thought to ask her birthday. “Is your first name Stephanie?”
“No, it’s Erin.”
“And I guess you didn’t put information about Anna into an Adoption Reunion Registry?”
“No,” she said gently.
Ivy’s shoulders sagged. She’d gotten it all wrong. This Anna Thomas was not her sister.
“Please come in and tell me about yourself and what’s been going on.” Mrs. Thomas guided them to a small den that opened to the kitchen. “Sit down, sit down.” She waved them to the sofa.
The three girls sat.
From inside a closet, Mrs. Thomas pulled out a tub that had the name Anna on the front of it. She lifted out a book. “This is Anna’s baby book. I feel like everyone might need a little extra reassurance, plus it’s a joy for me to look at pictures from my kids’ baby books.” She flipped a few sheets. “Here’s a picture of me right before Anna was born. My feet and ankles were huge, so I made sure Brian only took this picture from the belly up. At this stage, every time I bent down to pick up something off of the floor, I’d have to stay down there for quite a while because it was really hard to get back up again.” She turned the book around, showing them the photo.
“You really were big,” Anna commented.
“Right. And it was all your fault,” she said with dry humor. She paged through more of the book before sliding a piece of paper from a plastic sleeve. She handed it to Anna. “Your birth certificate. As you’ll see, your dad and I are your parents. You’re stuck with us, kid.” She lowered into a chair across from the girls.
Anna passed the birth certificate to Ivy.
This Anna Thomas had indeed been born on October eighteenth and at a hospital here in Newburyport. Not Boston.
Ivy was mortified. If only she could rewind time and undo her actions. “I am so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Anna said lightly, wrapping an arm around Ivy’s shoulders and giving her a squeeze. Anna’s earlier flare of temper was gone, likely because she’d learned that her life was the way she’d always believed it to be. “I get why you thought I was your sister. She and I have the same name.”
“Yeah, but it was really dumb of me not to have asked more questions before meeting you.”
“Don’t worry about it for a second,” Mrs. Thomas assured her. “I was having a somewhat boring day. You’ve made it a lot more interesting.”
Corrie, too, wrapped an arm around Ivy, who found herself at the center of a three-girl group hug.
When they released her, Mrs. Thomas asked, “Do you have adults helping you find your twin sister?”
“Yes, I do.” She definitely should’ve told Sloane when she’d found this Anna Thomas on Instagram. But she didn’t want to tell Mrs. Thomas that she hadn’t included her adult helpers in this because Anna’s mom might insist on calling Aunt Sloane and Corrie’s parents. Then Corrie would get in trouble and so would Ivy and that would make everything worse.
Mrs. Thomas crossed her legs. “I’d love to hear more about you, and your story, and your search for your Anna Thomas.”
Ivy told them the basics.
At the end of it, Anna announced, “I’ll help you find your twin sister.”
“Yes,” Mrs. Thomas said at once. “I think that would be fitting. Ivy, Anna is a surprisingly good little sleuth. She can be very crafty.”
Anna laughed. “That’s exactly what I said about you and Dad on the walk over here. Crafty.”
“Craftiness can become a superpower when used for good.” To Ivy Mrs. Thomas said, “Stay as long as you’d like. You could head up to Anna’s room or play video games down here or chill out on the porch.”
“We have to go pretty soon,” Ivy told her. Corrie hated driving in the dark. When they’d planned this trip, they’d agreed to start driving back to Groomsport right around now, so they’d arrive home way before dark.
But Corrie said, “We’ve got time.”
Then Anna said, “Awesome!”
And before Ivy knew it, two hours had passed.
That meant that Ivy and Corrie were only halfway back to Groomsport when the sun set. After that, night came shockingly fast. Which scared Corrie. Which scared Ivy.
Ivy kept saying things like, “Just drive slowly and carefully. No hurry.” But her words didn’t seem to be helping.
Corrie’s knee jiggled. She was biting her lip.
It was completely black out and they were in the middle of nowhere when the car sputtered and began to slow.
“What’s going on?” Corrie shrieked.
“I don’t know.”
Corrie steered the car onto the bumpy shoulder. It continued to lose speed, then came to a stop.
Ivy’s heart was galloping. She’d been sure she and Corrie were old enough to make this trip without an adult. She didn’t think that anymore.
The engine died.
“Ivy! Oh my gosh. What happened?”
“I have no idea.” She wanted to cry.
Corrie tried to turn the key. Nothing. Staring with alarm at the dashboard, she gasped. “ Oh no . We ran out of gas.”