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“Sit down.” Caroline pointed to the foot of her bed. Her face was sharp and stern. The twins were rarely on the receiving end of that look, and it made them lower their chins and obey. “Now talk.”
Lizzie and Josie exchanged a look. Lizzie kept her mouth shut, but Josie raised her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes.
“Just start from the beginning,” Caroline said impatiently. She couldn’t get to the bottom of what was going on between her daughters if she didn’t even know the top of it. “You two are sisters. You can’t run around fighting with each other like this. Dad might let you get away with that, but not Mom.”
Lizzie sighed. “Josie’s upset—”
“Mad.”
“—mad that I didn’t give her my pageant plan.”
“Why?” Caroline turned to her youngest daughter.
“Because I’m her sister,” Josie said. “And she never considers my feelings.”
Caroline frowned. “I thought you didn’t want to compete in the first place.”
Lizzie sat up straighter. Her mom understood. “That’s what she said but—”
“Let your sister talk.” She held up a finger, her eyes never leaving Josie.
“I …” Josie looked back and forth between them for a way out.
Caroline didn’t budge. She just raised her eyebrows. Tough love was her specialty.
“Well, I …” Josie tried again. She didn’t know how to explain that she hadn’t wanted to compete or win and still didn’t. She just didn’t want anyone else to compete or win that wasn’t her. “I was jealous.”
“Of?”
“Of Hope. Or Lizzie. Or of Hope and Lizzie.” Josie shook her head. “I …” She turned to look at Lizzie. “The pageant just really freaked me out because you didn’t need me at all.”
“What? Of course I did.” Lizzie always needed Josie. That was kind of the whole thing Josie had been throwing back in her face all day. She liked having her sister around. It was nice to have someone in her corner, someone she could laugh with. It was Josie who said that was suffocating.
“No, you had Hope. You went to her when you found out Dana’s mom was a judge. You went to her to fix your problem. Instead of me. And if I’m not fixing problems, I have no idea where I belong in your life.”
“I didn’t go to Hope to fix my problem. I went to Hope because I was fixing my problem. And not just my pageant problem.” Lizzie blinked away a few stubborn tears. “You lied to me about her, and because of it, I was so awful to her for years. I was turning over a new leaf. I was trying to fix what I broke.”
“Well, I was stupid and jealous because I was afraid there was no place for me,” Josie said. “When I saw you helping Hope … I wanted to make you hurt the same way I did. So I lied. I said I wanted to win so that you would feel guilty for not knowing. I just made up a problem to fix.”
Caroline’s face softened, but neither of her daughters were looking at her.
“I tried to make it up to you. I brought you breakfast. I made you a banana cream pie—well, I had Hope make you a banana cream pie because she’s so much better at bak—sorry.” There she went again, circling back to Hope when her own sister was sitting in front of her telling her how much it hurt. Lizzie took a deep breath and started over, “I apologized. I tried to fix it. It didn’t seem like you wanted me to.”
Josie shrugged. “I wanted you to earn it, I guess. I wanted you to think that I was something you should care about losing.”
“But you’re my sister. We’re twins. We shouldn’t be worried about losing each other.”
“I know. I just … that’s just how I am. I’m always codependent and ridiculous. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I lied about wanting to win pageant, I’m sorry that I just expected you to give me all of your research, I’m sorry for making problems just so I can fix them, and I’m sorry that I drove a wedge between you and Hope.”
Lizzie didn’t hesitate to pull Josie into her arms. “And I’m sorry I didn’t know you were that afraid of losing me. I thought it was obvious I couldn’t survive without you.”
Josie closed her eyes and leaned into the hug. “It was.”
Behind them, Caroline smiled, holding her hands over her mouth to contain the squeal of adoration she wanted to let out. She didn’t often get to feel pride over being a mom—being absent for a lot of her kids’ life meant so few moments like these—but she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Her girls needed her.