Page 24 of The Identicals
“Why?” Teddy says.
“Why?” Ainsley says. “Is it Emma? Did you take Emma with you to see G. Love at the Jetties?”
“I didn’t go to the Jetties, and G. Love never showed anyway,” Teddy says. “And this has nothing to do with Emma. I like someone else.”
Ainsley sucks in her breath. “Someoneelse?” she says. “Who?”
“Candace,” Teddy says. “I like Candace.”
Candace?Ainsley thinks.Candace Beasley? Measley Beasley?Ainsley thinks Teddy must be kidding, but then he launches into a monologue about how he needs positive influences in his life. He can’t get caught up with the drinking and the smoking. If he gets in trouble and Graham kicks him out, he’s looking at foster care or a group home. Candace is an A student and an altar girl at Saint Mary’s. She and Teddy were the only ones at Ainsley’s party who stayed sober. Teddy called her on Sunday, and they met for a walk on the beach. They talked. He tried to kiss her, but she wouldn’t let him until he’d properly broken up with Ainsley.
“She doesn’t want to hurt you,” Teddy says. “She doesn’t want you to be able to say she stole me from you, because it isn’t like that.”
Ainsley is speechless. She is stuck back on the phrasepositive influences. Isn’tAinsleya positive influence? Was she not the one who befriended Teddy when he first arrived on Nantucket? He could have been an outcast, a weird loner from Oklahoma, but Ainsley had introduced him to all her friends. She had included him. And then soon afterward, once they started dating, she had given him her virginity. She understands that he doesn’t want to mess up and get in trouble. He doesn’t have to drink or smoke; she has never pressured him to do so.
Maybe Ainsley isn’t on the honor roll. Maybe Ainsley isn’t analtar girlatSaint Mary’s—her mother never had her baptized, much less confirmed—but she has a heart, and her heart loves Teddy.
Candace Beasley!Backstabber,Ainsley thinks. She will destroy Candace Beasley. She will destroy Candace and Teddy together. They can be good people, but they will be alone.
Ainsley recognizes those last few thoughts as those of an evil, vengeful person—which is exactly what pushed Teddy away. Ainsley takes a deep breath. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to hurt me. Candace and I used to be best friends, then we drifted apart. When I invited her over on Saturday, it was because I wanted to try to get close to her again.”
“That’s what she told me,” Teddy says. “She also told me that you and Emma have been pretty mean to her.”
“We have been,” Ainsley admits.And now she’s exacting her revenge. “I’m sure you guys will be happy together. Happier than you and I were. I wish you the best.”
“Ainsley—” Teddy says.
“Good-bye, Ted,” Ainsley says, and she hangs up.
Ainsley stares at her phone for a few seconds. She’s proud of herself for not kirking out; she handled herself exactly as her grandmother might have.
But wow, she hurts. Tears sting her eyes. She’s upset about Teddy and Candace, she’s worried about her grandmother, and she is so, so sad about Billy. The only good thing that has happened is that she got to see Aunt Harper, but even that visit was cut short.
Ainsley picks up her phone to call Emma. But Emma isn’t good at commiseration; she doesn’t know how to be comforting or supportive. Neither do BC and Maggie and Anna. Ainsley has chosen friends who are too cool for any kind of genuine human emotion.
Should she call her father? Ask him if maybe she can spend the summer on the Cape? She could work as a nanny for her half brothers. Right now she’s supposed to put in forty hours a week at the ERF boutique, but Ainsley would love to tell her mother she’s found a better job. Tabitha probably doesn’t want Ainsley to work at the boutique anyway. If Ainsley goes to the Cape, Tabitha will be able to hire someone reliable and competent, someone she will be able to trust rather than doubt.
What does it say when your own mother doesn’t believe in you?
Ainsley dials her father’s number, but after six rings it goes to his voice mail. Ainsley hangs up. She’s not sure whether Tabitha has told Wyatt about Ainsley stealing the car and throwing the party, but if she has then it’s safe to say a summer on the Cape is out of the question. Becky, Ainsley’s stepmother—or, more accurately, Wyatt’s wife—hates Ainsley. She doesn’t allow Ainsley within five feet of the boys.
Ainsley’s phone rings. It’s her mother.
“Grammie broke her hip,” Tabitha says.
Ainsley exhales. “But she’s okay otherwise? She’s alive?”
“She’s alive, but the break is bad, and they’re flying her to Boston on the MedFlight helicopter. I have to fly to Boston, too. I would have you come with me, but I don’t want you to miss any more school. So… what do you think? Can you stay home by yourself tonight? There’s cash in the tea tin if you want to order a pizza for dinner, or there’s a hunk of low-fat Gouda in the deli drawer. No rice crackers, though. We finished those up last night.”
“Will you be home tomorrow?” Ainsley asks.
“I’m not sure, sweetheart, but I have to go with your grandmother. She doesn’t have anyone else. Please,pleasejust be good until I get back. Do your homework, take the bus to school. No smoking, no drinking, no parties—okay?”
“Okay,” Ainsley says. “I promise.”
She hangs up. Broken hip: not the worst news, but still serious; Ainsley gets that. Why do old people always break their hips? It’s like a thing.
So now Ainsley has the house to herself—overnight and maybe longer. Three hours ago, this was exactly what Ainsley dreamed of, but right now… well, she feels more miserable than she has in all her life.
