“Exactly,” Mother said, and I gave Haylee a look that told her to shut her mouth.
It was weird at first to see how important our dressing for dinner with Daddy was for Mother. She supervised our hair and our makeup like the producer of some important television show. She changed the shade of our lipstick twice and completed our makeup herself, rattling on about some of the modeling shoots she had done and the little tricks she had learned to highlight her best features.
“Is Daddy going to take pictures of us or something?” Haylee asked.
“He’ll take a picture, all right, with his brain,” she said. “As will anyone who sees you. The man will realize what he has lost. It will haunt him for the rest of his life.”
When everything was completed, she inspected us one more time. Then she led us downstairs to wait in the living room. She wanted us practically as still as statues so we wouldn’t mess up our appearance. A few minutes before six, Daddy rang the doorbell, which immediately struck me as so strange—our father ringing the doorbell of what was his own home.
Mother opened the door and stood there for a moment without speaking, as if she was going to block his entrance or had changed her mind and would go against her attorney’s advice. Then, instead of stepping aside to let him in, she fixed her gaze on him and called, “Haylee and Kaylee!”
We rose and went to the front door, where Daddy stood waiting in a jacket and tie.
“Wow,” he said when he saw us. “You girls look beautiful.”
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“You probably just noticed,” Mother said.
Daddy looked at her, seeming to debate with himself whether to reply, and then stepped back. “Shall we go, ladies?”
I started forward first and paused in front of Mother. Haylee caught up, and Mother embraced us both.
“If you get uncomfortable, call me, and I’ll come for you,” she whispered.
Daddy had gotten a new car, a black Mercedes sedan.
“A new car!” Haylee couldn’t keep from exclaiming.
“Just to pick you two up,” Daddy said. “Who wants to sit in front? The other can sit there on the way back.”
“We’ll both sit in the back both ways,” Haylee replied, loudly enough for Mother to hear as she still stood in the doorway.
I glanced back and was sure I saw her smile. Daddy shrugged and opened the rear door. Haylee got in first, and I followed. He closed the door, looked back at Mother, then got in, started the engine, and backed out of the driveway.
“Of course, I knew you guys were beautiful,” he said. “You just look years older since I saw you last.”
“We are years older,” Haylee said. “Especially years older than the other girls in our class.”
“Oh, yeah? So tell me more about school. How’s it going?”
“We made the honor roll again,” I said.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Despite our family sadness, we went to a party last night,” Haylee said.
“Really? She let you go?”
“We didn’t sneak out,” Haylee replied. “Mother’s not an ogre.”
I knew what she was doing. She was going to be sharp and smart with Daddy, just to make Mother happy and get her to let us do more, but I couldn’t help feeling bad about how she was treating him, despite what he had done.
“What’s your new family like?” I asked. I was really just curious and didn’t say it to sound mean.
“They’re not really my new family. I mean, Cindy’s got two young children, a boy, Thomas, who’s ten, and a girl, Mercedes, who’s eight.”
“Was she named after a car?” Haylee asked instantly. “Mercedes?” She let out her characteristic ridiculing laugh.