Annalise Starke had known her mother was going to die eventually; she just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
At fifteen she had moved with her mother back to her home country of Australia with half a heart (metaphorically, of course) and her mo...
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I was still torn about Meredith. The one time I'd met her so far, she'd seemed nice enough but there was something there, deeper, lurking beneath the surface that I hadn't quite rooted out.
Now, she almost seemed like the least of my worries since Dad was having her, Cambrie—her daughter, I'd been told—and the rest of our extended family over for a two-birds-one-stone situation. When Aunt Estella was in the room, Meredith seemed like an ant in comparison.
So, I plastered a smile on my face. For Dad. I didn't want to go into this dinner with a bad attitude, or expecting it to fail, Dad deserves to be happy again. It's what Mom would've wanted, I reminded myself.
Though, I'm sure they'll do plenty of failing on their own. If Meredith is really his first girlfriend since Mom left, then she's little more than a rebound to help him get comfortable in the dating scene again.
I just have to smile and put up with her while she's here.
I looked down at the outfit I had chosen—as always, my favorite pair of jeans, a burgundy lace top (with a matching burgundy bra, just in case), and matching heels that went astoundingly with the jeans, since they were the perfect length. It was very chic, as Sylvie put it. I smoothed my palms down the jeans, searching for any signs of wrinkles.
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"You look great, stop worrying," Sylvie brought me out of my thoughts.
I sighed and said, "I don't want great, I want so perfect that Estella can't find anything to complain about." I motioned over my shoulder toward the closet, "Should I go ahead and change now, or wait for her to tell me to?"
Sylvie rolled her eyes and let out a grunt. "Sorry, let me rephrase—you do look perfect, so perfect that your evil aunt won't be able to find anything to nag about."
I shot her a smile. "Thank you," and then, "for being here. I'm sorry I dragged you into this," but I don't think I could do it alone.
Though, perhaps God was on my side today, because now I get my brother, my best friend, and my...I don't know, but I refused to ponder of the question of'what are we?' right now. I have Jacks by my side, and for that I am eternally grateful.
