Chapter One“Have you lost your mind?”
“Its a great idea.”
“Its a dumb idea. We havent done that since we were children.”
“And we always got away with it.”
Allison Leamon eyed her sister in exasperation. Except for the expression Anns was expectant, Allison could have been looking at her own reflection.
Ann was sitting Indian-fashion in the center of her sisters bed. Allison turned her back on Ann and began taking the hairpins from the bun on the back of her head. She shook out a mane of deep auburn hair that fell to her shoulders in thick waves that matched her sisters.
“Bette Davis has played twins who swapped places in a couple of her movies. Something terrible always happened.”
“Thats the movies; this is real life.”
“Doesnt art imitate life?”
Ann sighed in vexation. “Come on, Allison. Will you or wont you?”
“I wont. I cant believe youre serious about having this operation in the first place,” she said, pulling a hairbrush through her hair.
“I dont want to go through the rest of my life flat-chested.”
“Were not flat-chested,” Allison argued, assessing her own figure in the mirror.
“Were not overly endowed either.”
“Who wants to be? Theyll just sag in a few years, then youll wish you didnt have them.” Laying the brush on the vanity, she turned to Ann. “Please reconsider, Annie. Dont do this.”
Ann laughed. “Youre always so damned cautious and practical. Dont you ever have one frivolous thought? Just look at yourself now that youve let your hair down. Youre gorgeous. Dont you want to be?”
“Im not gorgeous. And no, I dont particularly want to be. Looks arent important.”
Ann pressed a hand over her heart and addressed the ceiling. “I know,” she said theatrically, “its what a person is like on the inside that counts.”
“Make fun of me all you want, but thats the way I feel. Id much rather be considered intelligent than a knockout.”
Ann frowned in aggravation. Her sister was hopeless. All Allison cared about was her laboratory, her electron microscope, her Bunsen burner, any old organisms that could be cultivated in a petri dish! “Are you going to do me this favor or not?”
“No. I dont want any part of it. Why cant Davis know beforehand?”
“Because I want it to be a surprise.”
“He likes you the way you are. Why else would he be marrying you?”
“Do you know one man who wouldnt like his woman to have large breasts?” The moment the question left her lips, Ann began shaking her head. “Forget it. I withdraw the question. You dont know any men.”
“I know quite a few men,” Allison said loftily.
“And theyre all brainy and weird!” Ann shot back.
“Theyre scientists.”
“As I said, brainy and weird,” Ann mumbled as she plucked at a loose thread on Allisons bedspread. The sulking lasted only a few moments before she lost her patience. “I want a breast enlargement. Its for my self-esteem. Davis will go absolutely bananas when he sees the improvement. Im asking my twin sister to help me out a little and shes making a big deal out of it.”
“No pun intended, I hope,” Allison said dryly. At Anns fulminating look she relented somewhat. “Youre hardly asking me to help you out ‘a little. Youre asking me to pretend to be you while you sneak off and have the surgery.”
“Only for a few days. Only until the bandages come off.”
Allison covered her own breasts, one with each hand, and shuddered. The whole idea repelled her, but it was Anns business. She only wished Ann hadnt involved her in it. “What about your job?”
“Im taking a weeks vacation. No problem there. Youll go to work as usual. Its only in the evenings when youll need to be with Davis.”
“What will you be doing, hiding in the back bedroom?”
“Im staying in the clinic. Its expensive, but Id rather stay there than at home.”
Allison pushed away from the dresser and began to pace. “Annie, this is crazy. You and Davis ... well, doesnt he expect certain, uh, you know...”
“You mean bedroom privileges?” Allison blushed. Ann laughed. “Ive covered you on that. I told him the gynecologist changed my birth-control-pill prescription and that we werent supposed to sleep together for three weeks until we knew they were going to take.”
“Thats absurd!”
“As a biologist in genetics you know that, and as a woman I know that, but Davis doesnt know it. He griped like hell, but he accepted it. So you wont have to worry about him trying to get you into bed. And for crying out loud, its only for three or four days!”
Allison nervously twisted her hands. Ann had always been able to do this to her, talk her into something common sense warned against. “Switching places was an amusing game to play on Mom and Dad, even teachers, but I have a premonition that something dreadful will happen.”
“Youre a fatalist. Nothings going to happen.”
“And you want me to move into your condo?”
“That would be the most convenient arrangement. Davis could always find me, or rather you, there.”
What remained unsaid, but understood, was that Allisons absence from her own apartment would go unnoticed. She had no one calling for her in the evenings. “Id have to wear your clothes,” she said unenthusiastically.
“Which will be a vast improvement over your wardrobe.” Ann eyed Allisons navy dirndl skirt and tailored white blouse with undisguised distaste.
“Ill have to wear my contacts all the time and they give me a headache.”
“Better a headache than those owlish glasses you wear.”
“And my hair...”
“Will you stop! Your hair looks terrific loose and natural instead of knotted into that old-maids bun.” She hopped off the bed and confronted Allison with both hands on her hips. “So will you or wont you? Please, Allison. This is important to me.”
Everything was important to Ann. She lived from crisis to crisis. She didnt do anything by half-measures. She plunged right into every critical event, usually dragging her unwilling, less adventuresome sister right be- hind her.
Allison turned to the mirror and gazed at her image. Could she pass for Ann? Ann who never met a stranger, but a potential friend? Ann who felt at home in any situation? Ann with the bubbling personality and more charm in her little finger than Allison possessed in her whole body?
Ann walked over to stand beside her. Since Allison wasnt wearing her glasses, and with her hair curling over her shoulders like Anns, they were identical.
And it was only for a few days. And Ann was her twin, her only sibling. And lifetime habits were hard to break.
Allison smiled wryly. “Do you realize that for the rest of our lives people are going to be looking at our boobs in order to tell us apart?”
“Oh, Allison. Youll do it?” Ann spun Allison around and gave her an exuberant hug. “I knew I could count on you. Heres my engagement ring,” she said, twisting it off her finger and putting it on Allisons. “Dont dare lose it. Now let me tell you about tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Davis and I are meeting his best friend for dinner. They grew up together, blood brothers and all that. Ive never met him, and Davis wants to show me off.”
“Oh, Annie,” Allison wailed.