The Secret Diamond Sisters

chapter 6:

A bellboy had dropped off their bags after they’d finished talking to Damien, and Courtney now stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room, frowning. What should she wear when meeting her father? Her jeans and T-shirts didn’t fit in with everything she’d seen in Vegas so far, which was loud, flashy and sparkly. Meaning the opposite of Courtney. She had only three dresses—the ones she wore to church before her mom had started drinking so much that she was too hungover on Sunday morning to drive them. Hopefully one of those would be acceptable to wear to dinner. The nicest restaurants she’d been to were Applebee’s and Macaroni Grill, and she suspected the ones in the Diamond were a few steps above those.

She took off the flowery blue dress and replaced it with a pink one that had white lace on the top and bottom. She normally wore this dress with a jacket, and the spaghetti straps made it the most revealing one she owned even though it fell two inches above her knee.

Would it be acceptable to wear to a fancy dinner and a club in Las Vegas? She had no idea. But she did know that her flip-flops weren’t going to fly. Flip-flops were pretty much all she owned, though. She was already taller than most of the guys in her grade, so wearing heels made her feel like a clumsy giraffe. Then there was the practical issue that heels hurt. It didn’t make sense to wear shoes that blistered her feet when flip-flops were a more comfortable solution.

She studied her reflection and sighed. No way did she look ready to go to a fancy dinner. She needed Savannah’s help. Savannah studied fashion magazines and was great at finding similar-looking items for practical prices.

She headed to Savannah’s room for advice, amazed at the magnificence of the condo as she walked through it. Was this real? She felt like an intruder, unable to shake the feeling that the actual person who lived there would walk in at any second and ask her what she thought she was doing snooping around somewhere she didn’t belong.

In their apartment in California, the furniture had been crammed together, the rooms dark and dreary. Here, the windows overlooking the Las Vegas Strip let in tons of sun, the ceilings were fifteen feet high and everything inside sparkled like it was brand-new. It was so airy and spacious, with furniture that looked too expensive to use without worrying about messing it up. She couldn’t believe she would be living here. That she was living here.

Then she realized she was acting like Savannah—so enamored with their new life that she could forget everything she’d left behind. Hopefully their mother was doing well in rehab. Her throat tightened at the thought. She missed the days before her mom had started drinking all the time. She remembered one Saturday night in particular, when their mom had stayed up with them for hours watching a DVD of Savannah’s favorite CW television show. They’d ordered in pizza, and their mom had used her curling iron to style their hair, pinning them into elaborate updos they could have worn to prom.

Their mom had always drunk more than other people’s parents, but before she’d lost her job, she’d managed to go a few days at a time without getting trashed. That’s when they would have fun nights like that, when they felt like a normal family. But that had stopped in the past year. As their mom’s drinking spiraled, it had made her look sick on the outside, too—she’d gained weight, her eyes, which used to be bright blue, became glassy and bloodshot with puffy dark circles beneath them, the skin on her face had turned wrinkly and red and her dark blond hair had become dull and limp. As hard as it was, Courtney knew rehab was the best choice. Once their mom got better, they would have that other woman in their lives all the time—the one who watched TV with them and fixed their hair like they were about to attend a magnificent ball. If that were possible, it was worth enduring a few weeks, or even months, in Las Vegas.

Courtney blinked away tears and knocked on Savannah’s door. The radio blared from inside, and Savannah was singing along, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. She had a beautiful voice—it was too bad she was terrified to sing in public. Her dreams of being a famous singer would never come true if she didn’t get over her stage fright. But no matter how much Courtney encouraged her by complimenting her talent, Savannah insisted she was only saying those things because she was her sister.

“Come in!” Savannah yelled, lowering the volume as Courtney walked inside.

Savannah stood in front of the mirrored wall, admiring the flowy aqua dress she had on, which was short enough to be a long shirt. The high waistband reminded Courtney of the style popular in the Regency era, and the V-neckline dropped low, but not so low that it looked inappropriate on a fifteen-year-old. Not that Savannah had much in the upper region to show off.

“Hey,” Savannah said, as she attempted to tease her hair. “I wish we had time to go shopping before dinner—I had the hardest time picking out what to wear tonight. I can’t wait to get a new wardrobe.”

“What about the stuff you like?” Courtney asked. “You’re not going to get rid of it, are you?”

“I’ll find stuff I like better.” Savannah plucked a tube of pink lip gloss from her vanity and leaned closer to the mirror to apply it. “Now that we can buy what we want, it doesn’t make sense to shop at big discount stores anymore. It’ll be great to get real designer clothes instead of imitations.”

Courtney didn’t like how Savannah was so willing to leave her old life behind. “I can help you go through your clothes so you can decide what to keep,” she suggested, since Savannah wouldn’t get through such a meticulous task without Courtney sitting by her side to keep her focused. “Then we’ll find the local Goodwill and donate what you don’t want.”

“Good idea,” Savannah said. “Let’s go shopping this week, and when we’re done you can help me sort through my stuff.”

Courtney nodded, although she hoped Savannah wasn’t going to go too crazy with buying things. Then she remembered why she was here. “Do you think this looks okay?” she asked, motioning to her dress. “I usually wear it with a sweater.”

Savannah stepped back and examined Courtney’s outfit, raising her index finger to her chin like this was the most important assessment in the world. “It’s fine, and you definitely don’t need the sweater,” she finally said. “We’re going to dinner in Vegas—not church at home. And flip-flops? Really? Please tell me you weren’t actually thinking of wearing those. I’ll find something else.” She ran to Courtney’s room, coming back a minute later holding the pair of shiny white pumps she’d forced Courtney to buy at a clearance sale at Payless last year. Courtney had tossed them into the back of her closet, so they were still brand-new. “These would be much better.”

Courtney put them on and looked into the mirror. She hated the extra height, but Savannah was right. The white pumps transformed the dress. “I guess it does make a big difference,” she said, practicing walking a few unsteady steps. Hopefully her feet wouldn’t be covered in blisters by the end of the night.

“More than that!” Savannah insisted. “It makes you look like a supermodel. Anyway, what’d you think of Damien? He’s hot, right?”

Courtney shivered at the memory of the conversation they’d had with him earlier. They hadn’t talked with him for long, but she’d gotten a bad vibe from him. He seemed too...smooth. It was rare for someone that attractive and overconfident to have good intentions. Courtney wasn’t an expert with guys—she’d never had a boyfriend—but the way he’d eyed Savannah when he’d mentioned seeing her tonight unnerved her. She didn’t want Savannah getting in over her head with him.

“He’s attractive,” she said. “But you need to be careful. The guys here aren’t like the ones in Fairfield.”

“What do you mean?” Savannah asked.

“There’s just something about him I don’t trust.”

“Well, I thought he seemed nice.” Savannah picked up her straightener from the vanity and ran it through her hair. “And you don’t know him, so it isn’t fair of you to judge him.”

“It’s just a vibe I got,” Courtney said.

“You and your vibes.” Savannah rolled her eyes. “But he seemed into me, right?”

“He was giving you more attention than Peyton or me,” she said truthfully.

“Good,” Savannah said. “I thought so, too, but I wanted to make sure. I hope he doesn’t have a girlfriend. But it didn’t seem like it from the way he was talking to us. I mean, he was practically asking me out. Don’t you think?”

The doorbell rang before Courtney could respond. She’d have to deal with Savannah’s infatuation with Damien later—preferably after she gathered more evidence of how he was not the type of guy that Savannah, or any girl with self-respect, should swoon over.

“Omigod.” Savannah dropped the straightener down on the vanity, her eyes wide as she looked at Courtney in the mirror. “That has to be him.”

Courtney’s stomach swirled, the morning’s anxiety returning. She wrapped her arms around herself and took a few deep breaths to calm down. It didn’t work. She felt more nervous than ever.

“You ready?” she asked.

Savannah nodded, and together, they gathered enough courage to walk out of the room. Courtney wanted to grab her sister’s hand for support, but she didn’t want to seem like she couldn’t handle the situation and was panicking about meeting her father.

Her father. It sounded so strange.

Peyton walked into the foyer at the same time as Courtney and Savannah. She was wearing one of her signature “going out” outfits—a short leather skirt, a tight black tank and stiletto knee-high boots. Normally Courtney would suggest she put on a jacket to make the outfit less provocative, but now they had something bigger to worry about. The three of them looked at each other, and Courtney knew the wide-eyed anxiety and straight-lipped worry on her sisters’ faces were mirrored on her own. Their lives were about to change forever, and she didn’t feel close to ready.

She stepped forward to open the door, but the handle moved before she got a chance, and it swung open.

A man walked through, and there was no doubt he was their father. His medium blond hair was clean-cut, and his eyes were the same blue as theirs. And he was tall. The navy suit he wore and his strong, high cheekbones made him look like an aristocrat from an old movie who knew what he wanted and the right way to get it.

“Peyton, Courtney, and Savannah,” he said, looking at each of them as he said their names. “Did I get it right?”

Courtney nodded, unsure how to reply. “Hi” felt too casual. Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed again, trying to think of something to say.

“You all look just like your pictures.” He glanced at the table in the foyer and ran his fingers over the glass surface. “I see you got your credit cards. Good. Have fun with them, but don’t do anything too extreme.” He walked through the foyer, his black leather shoes tapping against the marble floor. “I’m Adrian Diamond.” He cleared his throat. “Your father. Although I suppose you’ve figured that out already.” He laughed, but it wasn’t enough to take away the heavy awkwardness in the air. “Welcome to your new home. I trust everything is to your liking?”

Courtney had a million things she wanted to say to him, but she felt useless. It was like the world was spinning out of control, and she couldn’t figure out how to make it steady again.

“We did get our credit cards.” Peyton stared him down. “And then I threw mine in the trash.”

“Really?” Adrian actually chuckled, even though Peyton was still giving him a hate-glare. “Why would you do that?”

“She didn’t really throw it in the trash,” Savannah chimed in. “Well, she did, but nothing else was in there and I rescued it.”

“Good to know.” He still had an amused smile on his face, which Courtney guessed wasn’t the reaction Peyton had been expecting. “If you don’t want your credit card, that’s your choice—I don’t mind if you toss it in the back of a drawer in your room—but they can’t be thrown away due to security reasons.”

Peyton set her jaw and didn’t respond.

“It was kind of you to give them to us.” It was the best thing Courtney could think to add to the conversation. “We’ll use them as responsibly as possible, and only for emergencies.”

“That’s very mature of you, Courtney,” he said, and while she shouldn’t have wanted to earn the respect of the man who had abandoned her and her sisters, she felt proud of his approval. “But you can use your credit card for whatever you’d like—as long as you don’t do anything too extreme, like buy a yacht or charter the jet around the world. You’ll have to ask permission before doing anything like that. But most everything else—shopping, food, spa days or whatever else you want—is fair game.”

Courtney wrapped her arms around her stomach, unable to meet his eyes. She knew she should thank him, but this huge gift made her feel as if all the money she’d worked for around the clock over the years meant nothing now. All that time she’d slaved away mixing coffee drinks for minimum wage felt demeaned knowing that Adrian could have just handed her an unlimited credit card. A lump formed in her throat at the thought that it had all been for nothing, and she swallowed it away. That work wasn’t for nothing. She’d earned that money through her own means to help out her family. She would always be proud of that.

“So I can get a designer tote bag for school?” Savannah asked. Courtney wanted to tell her not to take Adrian’s generosity for granted, but she was glad the attention had shifted from her. “And designer sunglasses, and clothes and shoes?”

He smiled at her enthusiasm. “I know someone who will be more than happy to shop with you for whatever’s going to be popular next season,” he said, a knowing glint in his eyes. “But aside from that, we have a lot to discuss. I was sorry to hear about your mother.” He paused and glanced out the window, his thoughts seeming far away, as if he were remembering a time long past. Then he refocused and returned his gaze to Courtney and her sisters. “I didn’t know just how rough this past year has been on the three of you until your grandmother informed me. I’m sorry you had to go through what you did.”

“Why did you wait until now to do something?” Peyton crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

“I knew things were bad, but I wasn’t made aware of the extent of it until your grandmother called me,” he said. “After the divorce your mother forbade her to contact me, but I suppose that, given the circumstances, she decided to take charge. She always was a spirited one. I suppose that’s where you get it from.”

“I don’t mean months ago.” Peyton ignored his semicompliment. “I mean for our whole lives. We didn’t know if you were alive until now! And now we find out that you’re....” She paused, as if searching for the right words to describe him. “Well, that you’re you.”

“Mom always said you were bad news.... She let us think you were a homeless drug dealer or something,” Savannah added. “Why would she want to keep us away from all of this?” She motioned around the condo to show what she meant.

“Your mother never approved of the three of you growing up in this environment,” Adrian said thoughtfully. “And I didn’t disagree with her. The Las Vegas Strip is not the...safest place to raise children.”

“Couldn’t you have moved?” Courtney finally found her voice. “So you could be near us?”

“No.” He shook his head. “It’s best for my business if I live here.”

“And your business is more important than your daughters,” Peyton said.

“Some parts of my business are dangerous no matter where I live, especially for those close to me,” he said with what Courtney could have sworn was resentment. “But we’re already ten minutes late for our dinner reservation, so I’ll go more into detail about that once we’re seated. You three have arrived on a very important day. Not only is tonight the Fourth of July party at Myst, but today I had a meeting with a colleague regarding a proposal for a beneficial partnership.” He paused to look them over again. “You’re all ready to leave?”