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'A while' later . . .

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Vicky and Veronica's parents had long since gone to bed while the two sisters and Eliza were still sitting at the hotel bar. Vicky was trying to wrap her mind around the fact that her identical twin wasn't quite so "identical" anymore, and that her beloved sister had literally gone through hell in the last year.

"God . . . I mean . . . Shit, Veronica . . ."

Veronica gave her sister a whimsical grin. "It's okay," she said. "It's been hard for me to process sometimes too."

"I mean, I'd heard that there were a couple of...