Read Online Return to Sullivans Island by Dorothea Benton Frank - Free Book Online

vicious and talk about you. Especially if you deserve it.”
    “That’s every family, sweetheart. Anyway, Allison has me worried lately.”
    “Why’s that? Not that she doesn’t seem even more bitchy than ever. Excuse me.”
    “Right? No, I agree with you. She’s practically insufferable.”
    “So what’s new?”
    “Well, when we started our business, the workout studios were one thing, then it was infomercials selling DVDs and that’s still a good source of revenue for both of us. But now that we’re getting into these herbal supplements, Allison is popping more pills of unknown and unapproved substance than I think is healthy for her. Her boyfriend, Geoffrey with a G, thank you, is her new guru. I mean, she’s the company guinea pig and it’s obviously taking its toll on her. She’s got mood swings like the one you saw tonight, and—”
    “Maybe it’s stress.”
    “Yeah, no doubt. But she’s become insanely ambitious, and once we launch Vita-Supp, she’s talking about taking our whole business public. Don’t tell that to anyone, though, okay?”
    “Who am I gonna tell? Lola?”
    “Still. Anyway, she told me she wants to be a billionaire. A billionaire. Who in their right mind thinks we can make a billion dollars doing this?”
    “Geesch. Pretty crazy.”
    Sophie said, “Well, that’s the thing. She might actually be crazy. But enough of that. Tell me how you are.”
    “Reasonably miserable in my boring pathetic existence wondering why I actually deferred my scholarship to babysit this crazy house for a year.”
    “Well, that’s obvious. This house needs a sitter because if some responsible person wasn’t here the haints might take over.”
    They both giggled about that. Whatever haints occupied the Island Gamble were, in the family’s opinion, reasonably harmless and just something else to talk about late at night on the porch.
    “Seriously, right?”
    “You’re awfully good to do this, Beth. Your mother is half out of her mind with excitement over going to Paris.”
    “I know, I know. That’s why I’m doing it. But you know what?”
    “What?”
    “I worry that this is a slippery slope. I could wind up with frosted hair wearing little sundresses covered in tiny flowers if I don’t watch myself. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I don’t want to be that girl. I’m pretty sure I don’t want this life.”
    “Gotcha. You want to be yourself, is that right? An individual with your own mind? Your own taste in things?”
    “Exactly.”
    “So what do you think it’s like to have an identical twin?”
    “Weird, but I’m just guessing.”
    “Weird like you can’t imagine. We even have freckles in the same spots.”
    “Really?”
    “Really. So you want to know what I did? I got a tattoo. Even Allison doesn’t know. So if you tell, I’ll have to kill you.”
    “How cool are you? Let me see it!”
    Sophie stood up and pulled down the waistband of her skirt. There, in the darkness of the porch, Beth could make out a tattoo of a butterfly on her left hip.
    “Branded! When did you do this?”
    “Like ten years ago. I was pretty sick of being exactly—and I mean exactly —like someone else.”
    “Wow.”
    “Yep. There you have it. I feel your pain. So, is the other reason for your unhappiness that you’re not headed to graduate school?”
    “Yeah. I’m itching to try and write a novel.”
    “About what?”
    “I don’t really know yet. I mean, I’ve got some ideas.”
    “Well, honey, I love you more than anyone except your momma so I’m gonna give you a tip.”
    “Shoot.”
    “There’s plenty of plot right here, so start taking notes.”
    “Maybe.”
    “And get a job to keep yourself busy.”
    “You’re right about that. Otherwise I’m going to lose my mind.”
    “Well, whatever you do, don’t complain about your awful lot in life. You won’t get a lot of sympathy from anyone that you have an all-expenses-paid vacation on this island for a year.