The Sister-in-Law by Pamela Crane (great books for teens txt) 📗

She extended her hand across the threshold, but I ignored it.

‘I’m Harper – Lane’s sister.’

So this was Harper. My new sister-in-law. ‘Oh, hi. I thought you looked familiar.’

Her hand dropped to her side. ‘Yeah, we’ve met before. Over dinner. It’s Candace, right?’

Oh yes, the awkward interrogation dinner of a million-and-one questions, all aimed at me. ‘Wow, that’s quite a memory you have.’

Her gaze felt intrusive. ‘Yep, I don’t forget things easily.’

Harper had an unmemorable face to match her unmemorable personality. Now she was the kind who made her bed every morning – sometimes even before coffee. Her red hair brushed against her chin. I hadn’t remembered her being a ginger.

‘You look different from when I last saw you.’

Her hand flew up to her hair, touching it self-consciously. ‘New haircut. I needed a change, you know? It was either this or a pixie cut.’

‘A pixie cut is great if you want one day of feeling cute and three months of regret as you grow it out.’

Her smile flicked on, then off, and her judgment traveled up and down my body. ‘You’re quite tall, aren’t you? I didn’t remember you being so tall … and thin.’

I was well aware of my five-foot-eleven height. ‘I suppose.’

‘Lane never dated anyone so … modelesque before. I mean that as a compliment. You’re quite stunning. And young. A little young for Lane though, don’t you think?’

‘Age is just a number, as they say.’

Her lips rose in a grin that didn’t look natural. ‘As long as you’re happy together, that’s all that matters, which I’m sure you are.’

Clearly Harper liked flattery, but she doled it out futilely. It was all so unsettling, her obsessing over my looks and age. I muttered a questioning ‘would you like to come in?’ for lack of anything more interesting to say.

‘I was wondering when you’d offer,’ Harper said for appearance’s sake, as she was already inching her way through the door.

‘Sorry. How rude of me.’ How rude of her to show up unannounced. I stepped aside, only now seeing the two tiny creatures that had been hiding behind her hips, all elbows and knees.

The little boy encompassed every creepy child in every horror movie ever made – oily black hair and pale skin. I wondered if when he smiled he’d reveal a mouth full of fangs … though he didn’t appear to be the smiling type. A grin would probably crack his face.

‘I’m not sure if you remember Elise and Jackson. Guys, come in and introduce yourselves. This is Uncle Lane’s girlfriend, Miss Candace.’

The three shuffled into the narrow foyer, the kids still clinging to their mother like I was about to eat them.

‘Hi,’ Elise whispered. She flashed a meek smile, avoiding eye contact. Definitely shy and annoyingly timid. I wanted to yell at her to speak up, but instead I grinned back at her. Based on the snug, sparkly Purrfect in every way kitten T-shirt she wore, I guessed her to be about seven. A platinum blond, her hair looked borrowed from a Barbie doll, with knots all through it, as though her mother never brushed it.

I pegged Harper with my gaze. ‘Wife.’

‘Excuse me?’ Her face wrinkled in confusion.

‘I’m Lane’s wife, not his girlfriend.’

Her mouth dropped, and pink splotches rose up her neck. Aw, I had embarrassed the poor thing.

‘What? You’re kidding, right?’

Lifting my hand, I flashed her my ring finger, adorned with a platinum band. ‘It’s true!’

‘You were b-barely d-dating …’ she stuttered. ‘When did—’

‘How old are you, Ellie?’ I asked, cutting Harper off before she tossed out another question. His family was his territory to handle, not mine.

‘It’s Elise,’ Harper corrected.

‘I’m eleven, ma’am.’ Elise’s voice was as tiny as she was.

‘Holy shit, no way! I guessed seven, based on that shirt.’

Harper cast me a glare. ‘Language, please.’

I rolled my eyes and mumbled a ‘sorry’ that I didn’t mean. The kids had to grow up sometime. I would have bet my last dollar that Harper was a helicopter parent, always hovering. She probably still dressed Ellie – I mean Elise – and cut her hotdogs into minuscule pieces.

‘I’m small for my age.’ Elise’s lips puckered in a pout. She tugged out her shirt, examining it upside-down. ‘What’s wrong with my shirt?’

‘It’s just a bit … babyish, don’t you think? A kitten … really? Maybe one of these days I can take you shopping for a girls’ day out and update your wardrobe. Would you like that?’ That earned another scowl from the sister-in-law.

‘I don’t think so,’ Harper cut in.

I turned to the creepy kid. ‘And you’re Jack?’

‘Jackson,’ Harper corrected again, then knelt down at his eye level. ‘Sweetie, say hi.’

Raising his gaze from the floor, he looked at me with inky eyes that bolstered my suspicions. Two abysmal black pools rung with bluish half-moons that even a cool cucumber and the world’s best eye cream couldn’t fix. His face hung like a white curtain, weary and sad. I saw distance in his eyes, like he was detached from this world. I definitely didn’t want to be alone in a house at night with this kid.

‘Sorry, he’s shy,’ Harper explained, resting her hand on his head.

So that’s what mothers called their weirdo kids – shy.

He looked like a child who appreciated horror stories. Hell, he could star in one. Maybe we could connect in that way, one thriller lover to another. It gave me an idea.

‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ I asked him. I wondered if he knew some personally.

He shrugged. ‘I guess.’

‘Did you know that an old lady died in this house? It took three days before a neighbor found her body after the mail started piling up. Sometimes you can hear her pacing the upstairs, haunting the rooms.’ It was mostly true – except for the haunting part. I wasn’t totally fond of the idea of an elderly corpse rotting away in my spare bedroom, but as long as I didn’t wake up to see her skeletal specter hovering over my