The Green Rising

Chapter Nine

“Are you sure you have to go back so soon, Lils? It feels like you just got here,” my dad said as he lifted suitcases into the trunk of my car. “Is there a young man you’ve neglected to mention to us over the past few weeks?” His hazel eyes twinkled as he stuffed Rosie’s duffel bag into the back seat.

“No, I’m not dating anyone, not that I would have been able to get in a word edgewise about him if I were dating,with Rosie’s perpetual wallowing for Alex,” I answered and let out a harrumph as Rosie’s elbow connected with my ribs.

“I wasn’t that bad,” Rosie said as she walked over to Dad and straightened the deputy badge pinned to his police-issued coat. “And besides, you won’t have to hear my pining again until summer break.”

Technically, Rosie was my identical twin, but her hair was cut in a bob, and its blonde color came from a bottle. She had gained about ten pounds last semester, had skin that was slightly bronzed, and she had pretty much gotten her wish: her very own face that she didn’t have to share with me. There was a familial resemblance, but no one would peg us as twins.

We were very close, but Rosie wanted her own identity and not to be forever known as one of the Clay twins. I could respect that.

“If I’d known that you were going to head back to Bloomington from the airport, I would’ve taken a vacation day to take Rosie there myself,” Dad said as he threw his arms around me in a bear hug that left me gasping for air.

“I know, Dad, but you and Mom have to work, so it’s not like you two are going to be around. This’ll give me a couple of days to kick back and relax before second semester,” I said once I could breathe again.

My mom had worked so much overtime during the holidays that I had barely seen her. She made a point to wake us at 5:30 this morning so we could eat breakfast with her. I had been considerably grouchy during the meal, but I was thankful for the extra time with her now.

“Rosie, your mom and I will see you in a couple of months. Please, no arrests this semester for underage consumption,” he warned as he gave her another hug. “The voters won’t think well of it come the election.”

It was easy for me to forget that Dad was running for sheriff when I was at school. He would make a wonderful one, too. He had paid his dues working as a deputy for the past twenty years and he led a life marked with stability. Stable wife who worked as a nurse, check. Twin daughters who were dependable and well-grounded, double check. Well, almost. He still wasn’t letting Rosie off the hook from when she was arrested during the summer before our Freshman year in college. And I hadn’t been outed as a “crackpot greenie about to ruin any chance of her father becoming sheriff.” Yet. That was thanks to Rosie being the center of attention and my mom working some extra shifts at the hospital.

I gave my dad another hug and climbed into the car. Rosie stared at me and pursed her lips as she cocked her head to the side. I braced myself as the key went into the engine. Rosie wasn’t going to let me off the hook so easily.

“You’re hiding something,” she said before we pulled out of the driveway. “Are you meeting up with some guy?”

“No. I am a little worried about the snowstorm they’re predicting for this weekend. I don’t want to risk driving through it, especially if it’s like the one a few years ago,” I answered. The meteorologists were calling for snow this weekend, but it wasn’t supposed to be anything like the blizzard when we missed nearly two weeks of our sophomore year in high school.

“That makes sense, but I still think you’re hiding something. No guy?” I shook my head. “A girl?” she asked with a cringe. “Not that I wouldn’t still love you, but if you’re dating a girl, I would wonder how that got by me for all these years.”