The Identicals(85)

A text arrives from Teddy a few days after Ainsley told him about the shoplifting that says: Did you hear the latest about Emma?

Ainsley’s insides turn cold. Has Emma been hurt? Has Emma been in an accident? Has Emma died? The thought is, frankly, horrifying—which also shows how much Ainsley has evolved. A few weeks earlier, Emma’s untimely demise seemed like the only answer to ending Ainsley’s agony.

What? she texts back.

Dutch is sending her to boarding school, Teddy says. In Pennsylvania. The George School.

Ainsley shrieks. Emma is going to boarding school! In Pennsylvania! Ainsley can’t believe how ecstatic this news makes her. The prospect of finishing high school without having to deal with either Emma-the-enemy or even Emma-the-friend is like a golden sunrise. Ainsley can start fresh; she can reinvent herself. She can be good.

I wish her well, she texts.



It’s a Tuesday, and Ainsley is working with Caylee when Candace Beasley walks into the boutique. Ainsley gasps. Candace has cut off her hair; her long, shiny strawberry-blond locks have been hacked into a blunt bob that barely clears the back of her neck. She still wears the grosgrain headband, however. Today’s is black with tiny white polka dots, and it matches her simple outfit of white Current/Elliott boyfriend shorts and a scoop-neck black T-shirt. Once Ainsley recovers from the surprise of Candace’s haircut, she grows wary about why Candace is here. Maybe she has come to finish what Emma started. Maybe there’s a snub-nosed revolver in Candace’s straw clutch.

Caylee reaches out to touch Ainsley’s shoulder. She must recognize Candace. “Can I help you?” Caylee says.

“Oh,” Candace says. “I came to talk to Ainsley.”

There are three other women browsing. One is a woman named Lisa Hochwarter, who has spent more than five thousand dollars in the boutique so far this summer. She religiously follows Caylee’s Facebook posts and nearly always comes in to try on and then buy the outfit of the day. She also bought a vintage men’s watch because she loves the way Harper wears Billy’s watch. Ainsley, Caylee, and Harper all fawn over Lisa—not just because she’s their best customer but also because she’s irreverent and funny. She’s a reading specialist in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and she has a rottweiler/black Lab mix named Potter who has become best friends with Fish.

Ainsley says, “You can help Lisa. I’m okay.”

“You sure?” Caylee says.

Ainsley steps out from behind the register to help Candace. “Your hair.”

“My mother forced me to donate fourteen inches to Locks of Love,” Candace says.

“Forced you?” Ainsley says.

“I had to make amends,” Candace says. “I’ve gone way off the rails this summer, according to my parents.”

Ainsley shrugs. “You hang out with Emma. Emma invented off the rails.”

“Did you hear she’s going to boarding school?”

“I did,” Ainsley says. “Teddy told me.” She says this as a jab, but Candace remains unfazed.

“Teddy and I broke up,” Candace says. “It was never that serious.”

“Well,” Ainsley says. “It seriously hurt my feelings.”

“I know,” Candace says. She wanders over to a rack holding several Roxie dresses in a rainbow of colors and fingers the obi of the one in peach. “I came in to apologize to you. I should never have gotten mixed up with Teddy or with Emma. I guess…” Her voice trails off, and Ainsley sees her eyes shining with tears. “I was hurt back when you… when we stopped being friends. I didn’t understand it. You dropped me because I wasn’t cool enough. And now I understand that I wasn’t cool enough. I matured more slowly than you did. I couldn’t have kept up with you and Emma.”

Ainsley blinks. “I was cruel to you. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

“No,” Candace says. She shakes her head, and her short hair shimmies. “Let me finish. I wanted to be friends with Emma, and I wanted to date Teddy… not because they were suited for me but because you had them.”

“It’s okay, Candace.”

“I egged your house with Emma.”

“I know.”

“I get sick when I think about it,” Candace says.

Ainsley gives her a sad smile. “Me, too.”

“Part of me believes that with Emma leaving, you and I can be friends again.”

Ainsley thinks about this. “Maybe we can,” she says. “But I’m holding off on having a boyfriend for a while, and I’m also holding off on having a best friend.”

“Fair enough,” Candace says. She stuffs her hands into the front pockets of her shorts and tilts her head. “Is it true that your mother left for a while and her twin sister came to take her place?”

“Yeah,” Ainsley says. “But that’s not as crazy as it sounds.”



Or maybe it is as crazy as it sounds, Ainsley thinks later. When she’s finished at work, she checks her phone. She has been so absorbed in her own drama that she’s lost track of her mother. The last time Tabitha called was… five days earlier. Is that possible?

Ainsley sits on a bench on Main Street near the place where she has chained her bike and does the unthinkable: she voluntarily calls her mother.