Unlucky in Love

“Hello?”

I had been playing with Emma and the puppies when my phone rang. I reached over and grabbed it, and then flipped it open to answer the private number.

“Is there an Ember Devereux available?”

Did no one know I was married?

“Speaking,”

“Hello, Ember, this is Headmistress Knightly with Westmont Academy,”

Why did that sound familiar?

“Yes, and?”

“You have a sister named Isabel, right?”

“Yes,” I said.

She cleared her throat on her end. “Well, it appears that she has no one to take her in for the summer. Your father’s secretary informed us that he’s on vacation for the summer, and told us to contact you.”

I was seriously speechless. “Um, what do you want me to do?”

“We were hoping that we could send her to you for the summer, or if you could give us permission to send her to our summer program.”

“Wait, so, you want me to take care of Isabel for three months?”

She sighed. “I completely understand…a young girl in college, starting a life…there’s no room for little annoyances.”

What did she say about my sister? “Isabel is not an annoyance,” I argued. “And yes, I’d be more than happy to take her.”

“Well good! We’ll put her on the next flight out to Sacramento.”

I sighed. “Could you send her to Portland, actually? I don’t live in California anymore.”

“I’m sorry, we’re not permitted to send her other than the state she resides in.”

“Okay, just tell me when I have to get her.”

* * *

“Why do you have to go get Isabel?”

I sighed, grabbing my purse. “Because the school called me. It seems our dad forgot that school doesn’t run for the summer, and his secretary told me he’s in the Bahamas until the end of August.”

Dominic just stared at me. “So where is she staying?” I just looked at him as if it were obvious. “No, no way,”

“Where the hell else is she going to go?” I cried. “In case you forgot, Dominic, we don’t have a mom anymore—we have a dad who’s fucking some twenty-two year old bitch named Margeaux and spending all of his money! I’m the only person Isabel has.”

“What about Camille?”

I bit my lip and sniffled, realizing I had started to tear up. “She hasn’t talked to us since I moved here. It’s like we’ve been cut out of her life.”

Dominic grabbed the keys. “When are you going to be back?”

“At around nine Monday morning. We’re going to stay at my dad’s house and pack up some of her stuff. Also I kind of just want to spend a couple days there with her—it’s been almost a year since we’ve been home.”

He nodded. “How are you going to get around?”

“Your dad hired a car to take us around…it’s pretty sad my father-in-law cares more about me than my own father.”

* * *

Looking at the window, I couldn’t help replay scenes and images.

This was the place I had my first kiss, where I had my first break-up, where I got married, where I got pregnant, where I got Poppy, where I lost my parents…

It was just too much.

I didn’t even want to be here.

I recognized the neighborhood of identical-looking homes and palm trees before the driver even pulled up to the curb of my former home. He got our bags out of the trunk, and I gave him a twenty-dollar tip.

Yes, he was already paid for, but there was no harm in being a little more courteous.

“Ready?” I asked Isabel when we got to the front door.

“Not at all.” She replied.

I sighed and unlocked the door, and then swung it open. We walked in and I closed and locked the door behind us. I followed her upstairs and we separated to go to our rooms.

Mine still looked exactly the same, and I felt seventeen all over again. I set my bag down and lay on my bed, feeling the silky bedspread underneath me. It wasn’t until then that I realized how much I actually missed.

This room—more than anywhere else—had so many memories.

I got back up and went into my closet, where everything was perfectly organized where I had left it—the only difference being my yellow Homecoming dress on the ground.

Oh yeah, I thought. Chase had tried to force himself on me in that dress.

Everything was in here.

My tap dance outfit from God knows how long ago. My school uniform was here. Every single party dress, even the gorgeous red one from my eighteenth birthday party. My skanky Halloween costume, my lingerie as a bachelorette party gift from Autumn that not even Dominic knew about.

It seemed like forever ago.

I walked out and into Isabel’s room. She was lying on her bed, staring up at her glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling. I sat down next to her.

“Want to talk about anything?”

She shook her head.

“Are you hungry? I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” I offered.

Then she looked at me. “You sent the driver away.”

“I have a license now,”

“How long have you had it?”

I smiled. “Three days.” Isabel cracked a smile and sat up. “Come on, I know where Dad hides the keys to the Mercedes.”