Chapter 4 - MY SISTER'S PERFECT LIFEFelicity arrived at my apartment that afternoon without asking permission.
She wore designer sunglasses and carried an expensive handbag. Her wedding makeup was gone, but her anger remained.
“You need to stop,” she said as soon as I opened the door.
I stepped aside.
“Stop what?”
“Digging through old paperwork. Asking questions. Making people think something terrible happened.”
“Someone used my name to withdraw my nomination.”
Her expression flickered.
“Maybe you changed your mind.”
“I didn't.”
“You don't remember everything you do, Jenna.”
The accusation was so familiar that I almost missed its significance.
That was how Felicity had always handled disagreements. She never simply denied what happened. She questioned my memory until I began questioning myself.
“I have the emails,” I said. “I have the dates. I have the account information.”
She removed her sunglasses.
“Fine. I helped with some correspondence. Mom asked me to handle a few things because you were always busy.”
“Why would Mom be handling my award nomination?”
“Because she was trying to help.”
“Then why did you pretend to be me?”
Felicity's jaw tightened.
“I didn't pretend to be you. I sent a message because I knew you wouldn't want all that attention.”
“You didn't ask me.”
“You hate being the center of attention!”
“I hate being humiliated. Those are not the same thing.”
She looked away.
For a moment, I thought she might admit something.
Instead, she crossed her arms.
“You don't understand what that nomination would have done to this family.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Felicity hesitated, then gave a bitter laugh.
“Everything always has to be about how good you are. How selfless you are. How hard you work. Meanwhile, I spend my entire life trying to make something of myself, and you get praised for showing up to work.”
I felt as though someone had opened a door into a room I had never known existed.
“I'm not responsible for how people see you.”
“You always say that.”
“Because it's true.”
She stepped closer.
“Do you know how humiliating it was when Daniel's family started asking questions about you? They wanted to know whether you would attend the award ceremony. They wanted to meet you. They wanted to tell everyone what you'd done.”
“So?”
“So my wedding was supposed to be my moment!”
There it was.
The truth, finally stripped of its excuses.
Felicity hadn't withdrawn my nomination because she thought I disliked attention.
She had withdrawn it because she feared someone else might receive recognition.
“You could have had your wedding and let me have my award,” I said.
“That's easy for you to say.”
“No. It's easy for you to take something that isn't yours.”
Her face hardened.
“You're acting like I stole money from you.”
“You stole my choice.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Felicity picked up her handbag.
“You always do this. You make yourself the victim, and everyone else has to feel guilty.”
She headed for the door.
Before leaving, she turned around.
“Be careful, Jenna. People don't like women who expose family secrets.”
The door slammed.
I stood alone in my apartment.
For years, I had thought the hardest part of being overlooked was the loneliness.
May you like
I was wrong.
The hardest part was discovering that someone who claimed to love you had been helping to keep you invisible.
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