Page 92 of The Facade

“Did you say that the twins’ mom will be there, too?” I asked, realizing belatedly that he’d slipped her in there.

Had he invited her himself?

I mean, I liked Ava and Elyse and was slowly adjusting to them being my half-sisters now, but it was just kind of weird to include their mom in what had always been a family tradition.

We didn’t know her.

At least,Ididn’t know her.

Dad obviously knew her well enough to have a fling at their high school reunion back in the day.

“It wasn’t my idea.” Dad held up his hands, like he understood exactly where my mind was going. “Miriam will be in town that week to visit the girls, and so your mom said we should include her as well.”

“How would Mom even know that?” I frowned. She wasn’t exactly queen of the social scene like she used to be. She barely knew what day it was, let alone had the energy to keep up with the comings and goings of random people.

“I guess your mom and Miriam have been in contact ever since things came out, and I think she just wants her to feel welcome here with us. Thinks it will help the twins feel better about spending more time with us and possibly moving in for the second semester.”

“What?” My body stiffened with the shock of this news. “The twins are going to move in?”

What the heck?

“It’s just something we’ve talked about,” Dad hurried to say. “I was planning to tell you about it.”

He had? Because it seemed like a lot of things were happening these days that I didn’t know about.

My dad had always been more of a practical thinker. Didn’t get too emotional over things, so I’d guess the logic was there. Lose one female in the household and add two more to fill the hole.

Not that I really believed he was thinking like that. I knew he loved my mom, that he was just as devastated as I was at the thought of losing her, but the idea of him moving on with the twins and also having their mom as part of the picture just rubbed me the wrong way.

Like, couldn’t we have one last Thanksgiving with just us? Just my mom, my dad, and me like it had always been?

Couldn’t one thing in my life just stay the same for once?

Did we really have to make all these changes so quickly? Couldn’t we just take a minute to breathe?

I shook my head. “Well, I guess I should be grateful that I found outbeforeall their things were moved in.” I laughed humorlessly. “Maybe I should move out when Mom dies so you can just start over with your new family.”

The hurt was instant in Dad’s expression. As if I’d just slapped him in the face.

“I’m sorry all of this is really inconvenient to you, Mack,” my dad said in a low voice, like he was barely restraining the emotion threatening to spill out. “But Ava and Elyse are my daughters. They’re my family, too. And I know the timing sucks for everything. But…” He shrugged. “I’m not trying to replace you and your mom with them. I just know that I missed out on the first seventeen years of their life and there’s only so much time when they’ll be living in Eden Falls, and I want them to feel like they have a family here.”

I knew deep down that this was as hard for him as it was for me, but in this moment, it felt like he was already moving on.

“It’s fine,” I said, even though my tone didn’t match my words.

Dad rubbed a hand across his face, looking exhausted. I was about to head to my room when he spoke in a soft voice. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to find a cure, Mack.”

I looked at him again, a chill racing down my spine.

He scooted his chair back and held his hands out at his sides helplessly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your mom.” When our gazes caught, his golden-brown eyes were hollowed out. “I thought we had a chance at keeping her here for longer. At least until you graduated. I mean, I went to school for this.” He looked blankly at the kitchen island behind me. “I save people’s moms and dads and kids every week when I go to work. I save people who are decades older than your mom.” He swore and pressed the heel of his hand into his eye. “But I can’t save my own wife.” His voice wobbled, and when he looked at me again, there were tears in his eyes. “I can’t save her like we all wanted.”

I could feel the helplessness that he was feeling, because even though I wasn’t a renowned neurosurgeon like he was, I was just as powerless as him to save the person we loved more than anyone else in the world.

After just forty-one years on this earth, my mom’s time was up.

She really was dying.

And the decades I’d have to live without her were starting faster than I’d planned on.

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