18
The room wanted to swirl around him, but Randall held himself still, willing the dizziness away. He didn’t know why the news should be so unexpected, because in that moment, something within him recognized there was far more to the story than he’d ever believed.
“Tell me what happened,” he said, and now he knew he sounded more controlled, the harshness from a moment earlier gone. He’d heard the news about his twin sister — and he’d go back to pick up that thread soon enough — but he wanted the narrative finished. It was entirely possible that Susan Latimer didn’t know all of it, but she needed to tell him everything her mother had related to her.
Susan’s hands clasped on her knee. Her fingernails were painted a deep iridescent plum to match her lips, an irrelevant detail he noted bec
