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Chapter eighteen

AGE 14

After Taylor got out of the shower, she started ru and I lay on my bed and watched her She pulled out three different sundresses--one white eyelet, one Hawaiian print, and one black linen "Which one should I wear tonight?" she asked me She asked the question like it was a test

I was tired of her tests and having to provedinner, Taylor We're not going anywhere special"

She shook her head at oing to the boardwalk tonight, though, remember? We have to look cute for that There'll be boys there Let me pick out your outfit, okay?"

It used to be that when Taylor picked out irl transforood way Now it felt like I was her clueless ht any dresses with ht to I only had two dresses at hoht raduation Nothing see in the crotch or too tight in the waist I had never thoughtat hers all laid out on the bed like that, I was jealous

"I' dressed up for the boardwalk," I told her

"Letover to " I gestured at my cutoff shorts and Cousins Beach T-shirt

Taylor made a face, but she backed away from my closet and went back to her three sundresses "Fine Have it your way, gruhed "The black one," I said, closing my eyes "Now hurry up and put sous When my mother cooked, it was always soetable Every time Susannah only cooked every once in a while, so besides the first night, which was always bouillabaisse, you never knehat you were going to get Shearound the kitchen,I'd never had before, like Moroccan chicken with figs She'd pull out her spiral bound Junior League cookbook that had buttery pages and notes in the ht make American cheese omelets with ketchup and toast Us kids were supposedly in charge of one night a week too, and that usually hts, we ate whatever anted, whenever we felt like eating I loved that about the suht at six thirty, like clockwork Here, it was like everything just kind of relaxed, even my mother

Taylor leaned forward and said, "Laurel, what's the craziest thing you and Susannah did when you were our age?" Taylor talked to people like she was at a slumber party, always Adults, boys, the cafeteria lady, everyone

My mother and Susannah looked at each other and s My mother wiped her olf course one night and planted daisies"

I knew that wasn't the truth, but Steven and Jere know-it-all kind of way, "You guys were boring even when you were teenagers"

"I think it's really sweet," Taylor said, squirting a glob of ketchup onto her plate Taylor ate everything with ketchup--eggs, pizza, pasta, everything

Conrad, who I thought hadn't even been listening, said, "You guys are lying That wasn't the craziest thing you ever did"

Susannah put her hands up, like, I surrender "Mothers get to have secrets too," she said "I don't ask you boys about your secrets, now, do I?"

"Yes, you do," said Jeremiah He pointed his fork at her "You ask all the time If I had a journal, you would read it"

"No, I wouldn't," she protested