The Sisters' Secrets: Reen

by Katlyn Duncan

  Once she finished brushing her teeth, she tossed the toothbrush into her bag and dropped it on the table. It was time to go. Her humiliation might follow her from town, but she didn’t intend on coming back to see the outcome.

  The effects of the aspirin and hydration invigorated her, and she went to the refrigerator to see what Rose had to eat.

  A picture caught her eye, held against the surface of the freezer by a magnet. She swallowed. One summer, their neighbors snapped a photo of their family on the beach. Reen was ten at the time. Mom and Dad stood behind her and Rose, Mom’s hands on Reen’s shoulders, squeezing them and making sure she didn’t stick her tongue out. Reen couldn’t help a ghost of a smile crossing her lips. The sight of her family, together and happy, brought back so many memories for her. Years of them flooded her mind. She didn’t dare touch the photograph, reminding her of a different time in her life. It seemed like eons ago that she and her family were together on the beach.

  Reen glanced around the rest of the room and peered into the small living space. There weren’t a lot of photographs, but most of them were of their family. Mom and Dad’s wedding photo sat on the coffee table. Scattered across the room on other surfaces were the few portraits they’d taken together at the mall around the holidays when Mom used to be obsessed with making memories with their family. That had come full circle, as she’d ended any photographic proof of their family after Dad passed. It was as if Mom didn’t care about anything after that. As if he were the string keeping their family together.

  Reen’s stomach churned, and she wasn’t hungry anymore.

  The ghosts of her past clung to this place, even though it wasn’t where she’d grown up. It was as if Rose had transplanted the memories to this confined space.

  She had to get out.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Even though Rose’s place was air-conditioned, the throwback to her past made Reen’s entire body prickle with sweat. She had to get out. She sent a quick text to Rose, letting her know she was leaving.

  Rose replied right away as if she’d had her phone in her hand already.

  ‘I’m at The Siren. Come by to say goodbye.’

  She hadn’t thought to ask Brody where he was going to work that morning. If he was going to The Siren, Reen wasn’t up for seeing him again so soon after their goodbye.

  Instead of typing a response, she checked flights on her phone, and there was a seat open on one in four hours. It was just enough time to get to the airport and out of The Burrow for good.

  Reen typed her reply. ‘Is Brody there?’ She wasn’t up for another awkward encounter.

  ‘Is something wrong, dear?’ Mrs. Collins called from the front doorway.

  Reen moved her hair off her face and glanced at the woman. ‘No, Mrs. Collins.’

  When had standing outside become a crime? She got into her car and turned it on, blasting the air conditioning, hoping Mrs. Collins got the hint. The older woman went inside her house, but Reen saw the fluttering of her curtain against the front window.

  Reen’s phone pinged.

  ‘No,’ Rose responded.

  Reen tapped her phone against the steering wheel before hearing another text tone.

  ‘Five minutes. I want to say a proper goodbye to my sister.’

  Reen chewed on her lip and debated leaving the key in Rose’s mailbox. The Burrow wasn’t a high crime place. With all the nosy neighbors, no one would break in without someone giving a full description.

  The typing dots appeared below Rose’s text. They disappeared before another text.

  ‘Please, Reen.’

  ‘OK,’ Reen typed back. Five minutes. She’d say goodbye, and that was it. Reen released a breath and buckled her seat belt. She plugged in her phone and turned on her traveling playlist before backing out of the driveway.

  #

  Reen took the quickest route to The Siren. Even though the town moved by her in a blur, the flickers of memories from her past filled in the gaps as she kept her eyes on the road. As she passed the pier, she grinned, remembering how many times she and Dad had fished off there. Then, there was the lighthouse. Tingles rippled up her arms. Brody and Reen used to sneak over there after hours and watch the water in the distance, only lit by the rotating light above them. They hadn’t gone as far as to break into the locked building, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. In the summer, the mosquitos were enough to drive them away quicker than they came.

  Some of the shops were different, but many were the same. After school, she and Rose would stop by Mr. Talbot’s convenience store and spend their allowance on candy and ice cream, filling up their bellies with sugar before swimming it off when they got home. That was until Rose stopped swimming altogether. Reen had tried so hard to change her sister’s mind, but it was impossible, and it broke apart the secret language the girls shared with their mom. There were no more hours together playing and splashing in the surf, or seeing how far either could hold their breath underwater.

  Instead of pushing through those feelings of anger and hurt at breaking their bond as children, Reen sat in them. They were going to help get her out of here that much quicker. Her shoulders tensed, nearly reaching her ears. All the Barros women had the uncanny ability to root themselves in something they were passionate about. Reen wasn’t any different. She’d left at eighteen and hadn’t returned since. Mom refused to acknowledge her children after Dad died, and Rose remained, caring for the shattered remains of their family.

  Somehow, she’d stirred the remnants of the mess inside of her and the only way to stop it was to leave. The goal of her visit was to see Mom, and she’d done that. A wisp of guilt tightened around her stomach, but she was determined to leave as soon as possible. Mom wasn’t the woman she remembered, and she didn’t remember Reen. There was no use sticking around to watch Rose finally move on with her life. Her sister didn’t need Reen getting in the way. Rose had everything under control, with or without her.

  Three texts came in rapid fire on her phone, and she groaned, already knowing who it was. Jeremy tended to write out every single thought he had the second he had one instead of crafting one larger, cohesive text.

  She pulled into the lot at The Siren and parked by the entrance. He asked her again when she was returning to work. Replying with her flight schedule would get him off her back, but she thought better of it. He could wait a little while longer for her response. She’d blame ‘catching up with family’ as her excuse for not getting back right away. She debated on taking her phone inside, but she didn’t want to bother with him anymore, so she left it in the car.

  The salty sea air washed over her. In her travels, she’d been careful to stay within landlocked states, so the memories of her past wouldn’t tempt her. The infinite horizon reached into the distance behind the restaurant. She’d miss the view when she left. Since she’d leaped over a huge hurdle, maybe she’d open herself up to unfamiliar places with water views when she moved next.

  The Siren looked almost the same as she remembered from the outside. The inside, however, had been completely overhauled. The structure of the room had changed. Instead of the ripped booths outlining the place, there were only four in the center, and the rest were tables with chairs. The pale blue walls were the same, but the pictures and trinkets around the place had increased tenfold. Netting covered one corner of the room with an assortment of plastic sea life attached to the rope. Mermaid tails popped through several of the wooden slats while colorful shells covered much of the surfaces.

  ‘Reen,’ Rose said, coming from the kitchen. She held a tray of wet glasses in her hands.

  Reen turned her attention to her sister, even though she had the urge to keep exploring. Seeing something new in The Burrow surprised her more than she’d thought.

  ‘How was your night?’ Rose placed the tray on one of the tables and crossed her arms.

  Reen blinked, wondering if her sister knew where she’d slept the night before. ‘Fine.’

  ‘I hope
my bed was comfortable enough for you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said, eyeing her sister.

  ‘Can I buy you lunch?’ Rose asked.

  ‘You said five minutes.’

  Rose shrugged. ‘Airport food is expensive. I could get you something to go.’

  ‘I really should get going.’

  ‘When are you leaving? Are you going back to see Mom? I can give you the code—’

  ‘Now,’ Reen said. ‘I need to get back.’

  Rose shook her head. ‘Oh. I—’

  ‘Don’t do this,’ Reen said, as the ache in her chest bloomed. It was the same every time she had texted Rose. The part of her that still belonged to this place.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything?’

  Reen hadn’t eaten much other than the toast at Brody’s. Her hangover cures tended to be of the greasy variety.

  ‘Can you make something quickly?’ She had some time to spare and at least if she gave Rose a proper goodbye, she wouldn’t hear about it for the rest of her life.

  Rose’s smile beamed. ‘Great, let me get you a menu.’

  It was early enough that all the seats were open. Reen slid into a chair at the corner table. In eighth grade, when her crush on Brody began, she’d always sit in the corner booth and watch him wash dishes through the kitchen window. He’d sneak her mermaid milkshakes when his father wasn’t looking.

  Suddenly, Missy sat at her table. Her eyes – Brody’s exact match – narrowed. ‘Hey, Reen. Welcome back. How long are you staying for?’

  Reen sat up straighter and looked over her shoulder for Rose. As Brody’s older sister, Missy had joined with Rose in taking on the roles of overprotective siblings. Rose and Missy had been best friends since preschool. It worked in her favor when Reen got in trouble at school and had two older kids to help her out. But after she and Brody started dating, Missy dropped that part of the relationship. It could have partially been Reen’s fault since she and Brody didn’t care much for rules when they were together.

  ‘I’m leaving today.’

  ‘You saw my brother last night,’ Missy said.

  Reen glanced over her shoulder into the kitchen, trying to keep her face impassive. She wasn’t about to let Missy get the better of her.

  ‘I did.’ Reen looked over her shoulder again, and saw Rose was still in the back. Missy’s eyes locked on hers.

  ‘I know you stayed with him,’ she said.

  Reen recoiled. Nothing stayed a secret around here. ‘I—’

  ‘He doesn’t kiss and tell, but you remember how small this place is? I’m curious about how many more lives you want to unearth before you leave again. I had to clean up two messes last time.’

  Reen tensed, twining her fingers together in her lap. ‘I said I’m going today.’

  ‘As long as you mean it this time.’

  Rose approached the table. ‘What’s going on?’

  Missy smiled brightly and winked at Reen. ‘Not much, Rosie. Just catching up with your sister.’ She headed toward the kitchen and Reen said nothing until the quiet whump of the doors leading out of the dining room signaled her departure.

  Rose placed a menu in front of Reen. ‘It’s a little different than when you were here last.’

  ‘I see that,’ Reen said.

  ‘What did you do last night?’ Rose asked.

  Apparently, Missy hadn’t shared her information about Brody. Yet.

  ‘I got a drink at Brews.’ Keeping it vague and nonchalant might keep her secret. Though she was talking to meddling Rose. The sister who never let Reen go when it was what she wanted most – well, next to having a mother again. But it was too late for that.

  Rose chewed on her bottom lip.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Did you see Brody?’ Rose asked as if she were the one to run into her high school ex.

  ‘I did,’ Reen said cautiously.

  Rose propped her chin on her hand. ‘How was that?’

  Shrugging her shoulders, Reen said, ‘Fine. He seems to be doing well for being in a place like this.’

  If Rose noticed the dig, she didn’t say anything. ‘We all are.’

  Reen frowned. Sure, she’d left, intending for the world to move on without her, but hearing about it was different. Especially coming from Rose. Her sister had asked Reen to return so many times.

  Being back home, she couldn’t help reliving it. The first time was almost a year after Dad died. It was the first time Mom came out of her depression and rejoined society. She’d apologized over the phone and in several lengthy letters. Reen didn’t reply to any of them. She wanted her mother to make up for closing her out of her life.

  Eventually, the calls and letters came less often. Mom seemed to reserve those for birthdays and holidays.

  When Mom started to lose time and her memory, all communication halted once again. At first, Reen thought Mom had given up, until Rose informed her of their mother’s condition. Reen thought Rose was pulling every stop to get Reen back, but she should have known better. Rose wouldn’t lie about the horrible disease riddling Mom’s brain. But at that point, it was too much to come back.

  Until now.

  Sickness and dying were two different things. Reen couldn’t help feeling like shit blowing into town and then out within a day. Rose had called her for a reason. Other than Mom, nothing was keeping her in The Burrow. If she’d returned and Brody wanted her back, she’d probably run screaming out of the state. But he’d moved on and so had she. And Rose had a guy now, so she didn’t need Reen.

  The longer she stuck around, would it make it harder to go back to her life somewhere else?

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘What can I get you?’ Rose asked after a few moments of silence. ‘The food here is delicious. Better than it used to be.’

  ‘A burger is fine,’ Reen said, still stuck in her thoughts.

  Rose smirked. ‘Coming right up.’

  Reen glanced out the window. The sky was almost cloudless except for the few streaks of white in the distance. Through the crack in the window, the sound of the crashing waves brought her home. A pit formed in her stomach, widening by the second.

  The thought entered her mind, as it had many times before. When she lived outside of The Burrow, it was always easier to let go. But now that she was already there she wondered what it would be like for her to return home for a little while.

  She wasn’t satisfied with her visit with Mom yesterday. Could she leave, knowing it might be the last time she saw her alive? She could see Mom, and reconnect with Rose, with boundaries. Treating her visit to The Burrow like a stay in any other place would be easy enough. She already knew everyone in town. She could reconnect with old friends and neighbors. The idea thrilled her. It was a new adventure in an old place. She could get rid of the itch and move on for good.

  The thought settled in her stomach. She wanted to have a sick feeling, her gut telling her it was a stupid idea. But it never came. Instead, she relaxed into her chair, knowing something about the idea was right.

  A few days, a week at most. She’d call Jeremy and say she needed to stay longer due to a family situation. If he fired her, it wasn’t a big deal. She wasn’t a stranger to finding a new job and she never fully committed to these jobs anyway. She couldn’t. Disappointment followed anything she attached herself to. It was inevitable, and she’d found a way to avoid it.

  There were plenty of people she’d met through jobs and other activities who had relatives across the country and world.

  By the time Rose returned with the burger and a pile of fries, Reen had made her decision.

  ‘I think I’m going to stay,’ Reen said.

  The plate pitched to the side, and Rose fumbled to keep it steady. Almost half of the fries fell onto the table and floor. ‘Sorry. What did you say?’ Her hands tightened around the plate.

  ‘I’m going to stay here for a little while.’

  ‘Really?’ A smile split Rose’s face.

  ‘
Yes,’ Reen said, grabbing a fry from the plate, and popping it into her mouth. It tasted like her past. She melted into the chair.

  ‘Wow, I, uh, I wasn’t expecting that,’ Rose said.

  ‘Is that all right?’

  Rose sat on the opposite chair and reached her hands out to Reen as if she expected her to take them. She didn’t. ‘Of course I want you here. You can stay at my place.’

  ‘You don’t mind?’ Staying at Rose’s meant she could save some money.

  Rose shook her head. ‘As long as you don’t mind a roommate.’

  Reen choked on her next bite. ‘You’re not going to stay with Shane?’ Reen wasn’t sure she was prepared to be around Rose that much yet.

  ‘I’m not sure we’re ready for that.’

  Reen would have jumped at the opportunity to live at their childhood home again. Rose’s fear of the water had forced her out of the house as soon as Mom went into the nursing home. Reen never understood it, but also didn’t care to dig deeper into Rose’s motivations for the move.

  ‘You mean, you’re not ready.’

  Rose’s forehead wrinkled, and she clasped her hands. ‘There’s something I need to tell you. About the house.’

  The bell above the front door jingled, and a group of older women walked inside.

  Rose sighed. ‘Can we talk about this later? Over dinner? It’s a long story. We won’t be interrupted.’

  ‘Sure,’ Reen said, wondering how quickly she’d regret staying with Rose. At least at their childhood home, there was space to keep their distance, and an ocean – a place where Rose refused to go so Reen could get away.

  While Rose worked, Reen ate. As much as Missy was overprotective of her brother, she made a fantastic meal.

  There was a lot to consider about staying in The Burrow. She had to get her affairs in order with Jeremy and inform her landlord, Salvatore, to take in the mail and water the plants. She had enough in her savings to survive for a while, after learning early on to be frugal. Rose wouldn’t charge for rent, so it would all work out in her favor.

  It was a good plan. At least she hoped so.