Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125117 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Thanks.”
Greta sat cross-legged on the bed facing Carys and blew smoke at the ceiling. Carys wiped off her lipstick and they passed the pipe back and forth.
Above the bed hung an enormous painting of a horse rearing against a backdrop of choppy waters. On the horse’s back was a figure, her hair flowing around her nude form but failing to cover her ample curves. It was glorious.
It was…
“Is that, um, you?” Greta asked.
Carys grinned and handed her the pipe and lighter.
“Yeah. My friend Edward painted it for me. The horse is supposed to be—”
“Teacup! I can tell.”
“Yep. I helped him propose to his boyfriend by doing this personalized ghost tour based on spots they’d been on dates around town, and this was his thank-you.”
“His thank-you was to paint you naked?”
“Well,” Carys said, blowing smoke elegantly toward the painting, “I requested the subject matter.” She grinned.
“Is it, uh… Never mind.”
Greta shook her head and closed her mouth. She gazed at the painting, then wondered if it was rude to gaze at a nude painting of Carys. Then she figured if Carys put a picture of herself nude on her wall, she was okay with people looking at it.
“Did I pose for it?”
“Huh?”
“Were you going to ask if it’s based on real life?”
Carys had a wicked gleam in her eye, and she pushed her chest forward, posing like the figure in the painting.
“Erp.”
Carys laughed. “Maybe you’ll find out.” She winked and handed Greta the pipe. “Edward added the ocean. I really think it makes the whole thing more dramatic.”
Greta giggled.
Carys cocked an eyebrow.
“Sorry, I was just… Edward.”
“Hmm?” Carys asked, taking the pipe.
“It’s like Ed-ward. Like, going in the direction of Ed.”
Greta dissolved into laugher and Carys snorted.
“I never thought of that before. Are there other -ward names?”
“Uh… Howard?”
Carys snickered. “You’re high. And a nerd.”
“A little,” Greta admitted. She flopped back on the bed and ran her fingers up one of the posts of the heavy frame. “How’d you get this thing through the door?”
“It was in here when I moved in. Isn’t it amazing? There are moon phases carved into the posts on the insides. Not sure if they’re original or added later, but.” Carys shrugged and blew a series of perfect smoke rings. “Lesbian lunar bed of my dreams.” She grinned, and Greta grinned back.
“Are you into astrology and that stuff?” Greta asked.
“I like things that give us shorthands to tell other people about ourselves. Do I believe where the planets were the moment you were born makes a code that determines your personality? No. But I think anything that makes it easier to do self-reflection is useful.”
“I should make my sisters get into the zodiac, then.” She imagined asking Sadie what her sign was and snorted.
“What’s the deal with your family, dude?” Carys asked, lying back on the bed next to her.
“Well, my sister Tillie got married last year to this guy she works with. Adelaide—that’s my twin—and Sadie, my oldest sister, work with my parents. They have a real estate business. I’ve been working there for the last year too. Maggie’s still in school.”
Carys nodded, listening, but said, “I more meant, what’s their deal. Like, what’s your issue with them?”
Greta sighed. She’d kind of known that was what Carys meant. “You know how when you’re little and there’s a thing your family does, like drink milk with dinner or buy a certain kind of toothpaste, you just think that’s how the world is? And then you meet other families and they drink water with dinner and use a whole other flavor of toothpaste?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, my family’s just always been really involved in each other’s lives. And when we were younger, it was probably pretty normal. Normal enough that I didn’t notice much difference when I saw other people’s families. And when Sadie, my oldest sister, went to college, she would still call home most days at dinnertime to say hi, and she came home for every break.”
Greta hadn’t thought it was strange. Sadie had always loved their dinnertime go-arounds telling about how everyone’s day was. She always volunteered to go first.
“Then Tillie didn’t go to college. She did an internship with a veterinarian on the mainland near the ferry, so she kept living at home. When it was my and Adelaide’s turn to think about school, Addie just assumed we’d go to the UMaine closest to home, like Sadie did. But I…I wanted something else. I wanted the opposite of Owl Island. I wanted to go to school in Portland. Maine,” she added quickly, since everyone outside Maine thought Oregon when they heard it.
“When I got in, my mom couldn’t even muster fake happiness before she said You’ll be so far away! Just FYI, Portland is, like, a three-hour drive plus a ferry ride from Owl Island.”
Carys snorted smoke out her nose.