Coming Home (26 page)

“You really like going out to the group home with Ryan, don’t
you?”

I squared my shoulders and prepared for a fight. Stacy never spoke
kindly of the group home or the boys in it. “There’s nothing wrong with those
kids.”

“I know.” Stacy played with her lunch more than actually eating it
when she started talking about the kids. “Have you met the people who work
there?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, most of them anyway.”

“Is Ben still running things?” She wouldn’t look at me.

I started smiling. “Yes. He really is a great guy. I can see why
you like him.”

Stacy’s head snapped up and she looked at me. “I didn’t say
that.”

“You didn’t have to. So did you two date?”

“No. I tried everything I could, but he was just as stubborn as
Ryan. Their mother taught them a little too much in the morals department and
not enough in the fun.”

“I don’t know. Ryan’s pretty fun.” I decided to test the
friendship that Stacy claimed we had. “I want to tell you something, but it
can’t go any further than this table.”

Stacy’s eyes lit up as she leaned forward. “I promise.”

I looked around. It was too crowded in here. “Let’s talk on the
way back.” We took care of our lunches and headed to the hallway. Once I was
sure we were alone, I made Stacy promise again to not say anything to anyone.

“Jeez, out with it, will you. I swear no one will hear it from
me.”

I decided to just blurt it out before I lost the nerve. “Ryan and
I had sex in my office.”

Stacy eyes got big right before she started laughing. “Oh, I was
so wrong about you. Even I’ve never had sex here.”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Sorry.” She was still laughing. “Wait until I tell . . . I’m
just kidding.” She put her hand on my arm. “I won’t tell anyone.”

We’ll see. If she could keep that personal secret, maybe I’d
trust her with the rest of my secrets.

~*~

I’d been back for a few days and Vicki still wouldn’t
talk to me about anything personal. I had decided to give her time, but I was
running out of patience and wanted to know why she was so distant. She still
welcomed me into her home, but I suspected that had more to do with mom than
me. She couldn’t very well turn her best friend’s kid out on the street.

It had been a tense time for Ryan and me, too. I wanted Stacy to
come back out to the home to visit with Ben, but Ryan didn’t like that idea. I
knew Ben and Stacy liked each other. Stacy just needed to tone down her desire
a little. Ben was the type of guy that liked to chase the girl. It wasn’t that he
had more morals than the next guy as Stacy claimed. He just wanted to be the
one to pursue the relationship. It wasn’t fun to him if the girl was throwing
herself at him.

I finally talked Ryan into a double date. He didn’t want the boys
to be witnesses to the disaster he thought was bound to happen. Maybe Stacy was
right and my judgment was clouded because I’d found the man I wanted to spend
the rest of my life with. We wouldn’t know if we didn’t try, though.

I was getting ready at Stacy’s since the guys were going to pick
us up there, and I was trying my best to give her one last pep talk. “Now
remember. Just act as though you’re talking to me tonight when you talk to
him.”

“Right, act like he’s a girl.”

“No, act like he’s a friend.”

“But I still want to have sex with friends.”

I shoved her a little. “Stacy! Be serious.”

“I’m way too nervous to be serious.” She sat on the sofa. “Maybe
this relationship thing isn’t for everyone.”

“You would make a great girlfriend.” I hoped I was right. Ryan would
have killed me if I were wrong.

The restaurant wasn’t overly romantic as I had hoped. Even if
Ryan didn’t want Stacy and Ben going out, we still were. I actually felt a
little over dressed for the place. Ryan and I would be discussing that later.

The dinner itself went very well. There were a couple of
inappropriate comments from Stacy, but they were well received—even by Ryan. He
seemed to relax a little more as the night went on and didn’t scowl as much as
when we were first seated. I thought we were all having a great time until Ben
opened his big mouth.

“I’m sorry we’re still no closer to finding them for you,
Rebecca. I thought we would have had it all figured out by now.”

I looked at Ryan and then looked at Stacy. Ryan kicked Ben under
the table. Stacy looked at all three of us and then settled on me. “What’s he
talking about, Rebecca?”

Ben bent over and rubbed his shin. “I’m sorry. I just assumed you
told your best friend.”

Stacy turned to Ben. “Yes, one would think that now, wouldn’t you?”
She turned back to me. “What do you have to tell me, Rebecca?”

“They are helping me find my parents, but we’re not getting
anywhere.”

“Oh my God, your parents are missing? Is that why you really went
home for a couple of weeks?”

“No, no. Those parents are fine.” I sighed. “I’m adopted, and
they’re trying to help me find my birth parents.”

Stacy sat there silently while the waitress served our desserts.
She wouldn’t look at me. I nudged Ryan. I needed to talk to Stacy alone.

“Ben, let’s go get a refill for us and the ladies.”

I waited until they had left and looked at Stacy. “Ryan is the
only one that knows besides you now. Vicki and Matt don’t even know that’s the
reason I’m here.”

She finally looked up, but still didn’t meet my eyes. “I won’t
say anything. Is there anything else you’re keeping from me?”

“Well,” I took a deep breath, “whoever’s been trying to scare me
knows somehow, too. It’s been mentioned a couple of times in the threats trying
to get me to leave.”

“What exactly is going on with that? We aren’t told much, and I
think I deserve to know the truth.”

Stacy was right, and I felt incredibly bad for not telling her
everything. She swore she wouldn’t tell anyone anything I told her, and to my
knowledge, she hadn’t so far. Ryan and Ben came back as I was telling Stacy
everything. I could tell Ryan wasn’t too pleased with this, but he could yell
at his brother for setting it all in motion.

After I was finished, Ryan calmly leaned on the table and looked right
at Stacy. “Rebecca’s told you everything. How about you return the favor?
What’s everyone saying about all of this?”

“Well, there are a few things.” Stacy looked uncomfortable and
downed the rest of her drink. “I told them the first one wasn’t true, but
everyone thinks you overdosed on something when you passed out.”

“What?” Caffeine is the strongest drug I’ve ever taken. “I would
never do that.”

“They all thought because you were a newbie to the stress . . .”
Stacy waved her hand. “It happens sometimes.”

Ryan nodded. “It really does.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Well, I didn’t know about the sketches, but everyone thought
Troy stole the paper.”

“Yeah, I heard that one.” Ryan put his arm around me. “I’m not
sure what maintenance would need with that much paper, though.”

“They thought you punctured your own tires. Oh! My favorite one
was about your apartment. They thought you moved here to get away from an
ex-boyfriend and he destroyed your place. Same thing when the cops showed up
that day you left.”

“Well, all of my ex-boyfriends are all happily married now or
about to be.” I started playing with my napkin. “Those are all very
entertaining rumors, but nothing helps us figure this out.”

Ryan pulled me closer. “We’ll figure it out.”

~*~

I went upstairs for my morning meeting with Vicki but
she wasn’t there. Mandy wasn’t being as cold as she was to me, but it was still
a frosty reception whenever I approached her. I was a little surprised when she
told me I could see Matt without giving me a hard time. Maybe she was coming
around.

I knocked on the open door to get his attention and ended up
startling him. “I’m sorry, Matt. I was just wondering if you knew when Vicki
would be in. We were supposed to meet at ten this morning.”

“Vicki isn’t coming in today. She’s not feeling well, and it
would probably be best if you made plans with Ryan tonight.”

I knew something was up because I had just seen Vicki this morning
before I left for my workout with Ryan. She wanted to make sure I would be home
for dinner tonight. In fact, she insisted on it. She told me to bring Ryan if I
wanted, but practically begged me to come. “I don’t understand.”

“She came down with a terrible headache and is in bed.” He
wouldn’t look at me. He was hiding something.

“I’ll call her and make sure she’s okay.” I turned to leave.

“No! I told you she’s in bed with a headache and she needs quiet
now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “She asked me every five minutes this
morning if I would be home tonight for dinner. She has something special
planned and wants to make sure I’m there. I promised I would be, so unless I
hear it from Vicki herself, I’m going. What’s your problem?”

“It’s going to be a rough day for her, and I can’t guarantee what
kind of mood she’ll be in tonight.”

“She’s been fine. Other than a little distant with me since I
took off, I’ve seen no emotional outburst from her.”

“You’re just as stubborn as she is.”

I straightened my back. “I take that as a compliment.”

“Fine. Come to dinner, but you’d better bring Ryan. You’re going
to need him.”

I had been worried all day about what Matt said. Maybe something
did happen after I left this morning. I decided to take off a little early to
make sure Vicki was okay. There’d been a wall between us since I took off, and
this morning felt as if the wall was coming down a little. I wanted to make
sure the wall didn’t come back up.

The music was really loud and I could hear it outside. It wasn’t
loud enough to annoy the neighbors or ruin your hearing, but it was too loud
for someone with a terrible headache. I knew Matt was lying. I walked in and
heard a commotion in the kitchen. I peeked around the corner and Vicki was
mixing up what looked like cake batter—and singing. I smiled.

When the song was over, I walked into the room and clapped. “Wow,
that’s some voice you have.”

Vicki hurried and turned off the radio. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear
you come in.”

“Don’t stop on my account. That was great.” I looked around at
all the dishes she used to create tonight’s special dinner. “What are we
celebrating?”

Vicki looked around. “Oh, I just felt like having a party.”

That didn’t sound like someone who was having a bad day. “What’s
Matt say about this party?”

“He doesn’t feel like having one.” She poured the cake batter
into the pan and placed it in the oven. “I told him he didn’t need to come home
if he didn’t want to attend. He can go to one of those diners he longs for. I
don’t care.” Vicki looked at the oven and then back to me. “I’m sorry if it
isn’t as good as Hillary’s.”

“It will be perfect.” I decided to take the time alone and talked
as I wanted to when I first got back. “Vicki, I want to apologize for how I
left.”

“Please don’t. There’s really no need. I know I smothered you,
and I’ve been trying to give you more space so you won’t feel like you need to
run again.”

“That’s not why I left.”

“It isn’t?”

“No. I left because I just couldn’t handle everything. I felt
like I was being pulled in so many directions that I just couldn’t breathe. It
was suffocating. In all honesty, I didn’t know I was leaving until I pulled
into my parent’s driveway.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll still try to give you more space. I know you
don’t want to live here, but I really want to make sure you’re safe.” Vicki
shrugged. “If I have you and Ashley together, I can keep you both safe at the
same time. It’s just easier that way.”

After a much-needed discussion, I felt satisfied that Vicki and I
were still good. She wouldn’t let me help with dinner at all and told me I was
to relax. I started to go upstairs and stopped at the wall of her photos. There
was a picture of Ryan and me up there. We looked so happy together it made me
smile. Then I smiled bigger when I realized I was on her wall of people she
loves.

Vicki came around the corner and smiled. “I wondered how long it
would take you to see that. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind.” I couldn’t believe how choked up I became.
“It really means a lot to me. You know—accepting me into your family and
everything.”

I started crying. I had two families accept me without question
and was still no closer to finding out why my real family didn’t want me.

Vicki wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “We are your family.”

“Just consider us the crazy aunt and uncle.” Matt decided to come
home early, too.

I could tell Vicki wasn’t happy to see him, but she kept it
light. “Don’t you mean the aunt and crazy uncle?” That got me to laugh. Vicki
squeezed me one last time and let go as the doorbell rang. “Oh, would you mind
getting that, Rebecca? I’ve got to check on dinner.”

Sure I’d get it. Puffy eyes are what everyone wants to be greeted
with at the door. It was probably Ryan anyway. I opened the door and my parents
were standing there. Mom was fixing dad’s tie as usual. He loosened it the
second she stopped fiddling with it. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’ve been invited.” Mom stepped in and gave me a hug. “Is
everything okay? You look as though you’ve been crying.”

“It’s fine, Mom.” I knew she would get it, but I still felt silly
crying over something like this. “Vicki added Ryan and me to her wall.”

My mom beamed and my dad just kept looking around. As soon as he
knew it was female emotion and that nothing bad had happened to me, he couldn’t
wait to get away from the moment. I brought them in and took them to the
kitchen. Dad had already met Vicki when we went home to tell them about the
break-in at my apartment, so Dad and Matt went to talk and get to know each
other in the other room. We all knew that was code for watching whatever game was
on.