Page 78 of The Blonde Identity

“Love scientist?” He really hated how much he wanted to laugh.

“How do you know? Tell me.”

It shouldn’t have been so hard to say, “I didn’t know Alex had a box there. No. But—”

“Then they probably don’t know either!”

Sawyer couldn’t look at her smirking mouth without wanting to kiss it. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.” He glanced down at the clothes on the table. “Where did you get black leather pants? Correction.Whydid you get black leather—”

“I’m trying to look like a spy.”

“Spies don’t actually...” But he trailed off and shook his head. “You know what, never mind.”

He dropped into a chair. Sure, he’d had more consecutive hoursof sleep in the past day than he’d had in the past year, but he was the kind of tired that sleep itself wouldn’t fix. And Zoe was too. He could see it in her eyes and the set of her shoulders, in the way she had picked at her fingernail until it was red and sore.

“Ihaveto do this. Don’t you see? If the world is trying to kill me because they think I’m Alex, then, narratively speaking—”

“That’s not a real thing—”

“—the only way out is for me tobe Alex.”

She couldn’t have been more serious. And, worse, a part of him was terrified she was also right. “How are you supposed to be a sister you don’t even remember?”

“Easy. You’re going to teach me.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Her

How to Be Your Own Twin Sister

A List by Zoe Whatsername

Don’t smile unless you’re flirting.

Don’t flirt unless you’re desperate.

Don’t enter any room you don’t have three different ways to exit.

Don’t walk too quickly.

Don’t walk too slowly.

Always know what’s behind you.

Never, ever check your tail.

If you have to shoot, it’s probably already too late.

So, whatever you do, don’t miss.

As Zoe drew a deep breath and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she couldn’t help but think about Paris. She remembered staring through that darkened window, watching Alex on TV—the way their faces had overlapped and all she’d seen were the ways they were alike. But three days later, she was acutely, terribly, overwhelmingly aware of how much they were different.

So she was more than a little nervous as she tucked a strand of too-red hair behind her ear and opened the door.

“Hey!” Sawyer called from the kitchen. “I was thinking, since we don’t know what kind of cover Alex was using, we should...”

He trailed off.

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