Tethered 02 - Conjure (15 page)

“Are you kidding me?” I slapped him hard on the shoulder. “You basically just called me a slut!”

“I’m trying to give you a compliment here.” He laughed loudly. “It’s just not coming out the right way.”

“Yeah, I’d say,” I grumbled, piercing a piece of eggplant with my fork.

“Seriously,” Kace said, once he was able to contain his laughter. He gripped my arm and leaned into me a little more, forcing me to look up at him. “I’m trying to say you’re good.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and cleared his throat.

I pursed my lips together tightly in an effort to keep the smile that wanted to burst free contained. It didn’t work. I’d never seen him so nervous and flustered about anything. “Fine.”

“Fine, what?”

“Fine, I accept your compliment.”

“Okay, you should,” he said, shedding all of the nervousness that had plagued him moments before. “So does your mom know? Can I still spend the night?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, she does know. And no, you’re still not spending the night.”

“Where is all the food in this house?” Mom asked from where she stood in front of the fridge. “What do you eat, not only for breakfast, but every other meal?”

I swallowed another sip of my warm tea before answering her. “There’s stuff in there. I think there’s one more bagel, but the cream cheese is gone so you’ll have to use butter.”

“I’m going to the grocery store at some point today, because this is just ridiculous, Addison.”

I chuckled. “It’s not that bad. There’s stuff in there. I think.”

“No, it’s bad,” she insisted, flashing me a stern
do not question me again
look.

Propping my feet up on the chair beside me, I continued to sip my tea while I watched her rummage around the kitchen for something to eat for breakfast. When she opened the pantry door, Binks came charging into the room from wherever he’d been hiding all night. He rushed to her feet and began weaving between her legs while brushing against her and meowing his morning greeting.

“You have a cat?” Mom asked. I could see in her eyes she did not like the idea of me having a pet. “When did you get a pet?”

“He came with the house,” I said.

Mom placed a hand on her hip and glared at me. “I’m being serious, Addison. A pet is a big responsibility. What are you going to do with him when you come home? You know your father is allergic.”

I sighed. “I’m being serious too. He came with the house. Vera and I found him in the basement when we were cleaning the place up.” God, that seemed like a lifetime ago. “And I’m not coming home any time soon.”

Her eyes grew large at my snippy words. “Well, I don’t even see how you can afford a pet, because it looks to me like you can’t even afford to feed yourself.”

“There’s food in there for him, and like I said, I’ve just been going out to eat a lot.”

She tossed her hands up in front of her like she’d given up on arguing with me and left the kitchen. Her footsteps echoed as she stalked upstairs. I stood and walked over to where Binks sat in front of the pantry. His head was cocked to the side like he didn’t understand my mother either as he stared after her retreating form.

“Morning, buddy.” I bent down and scratched behind his ears. “I’ll get you something.”

I gave him a scoop of food and closed the pantry door. My cell vibrated across the breakfast table and I scurried to answer it. Vera’s name and number lit my screen.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey, chick, what’s up?” she asked.

“Nothing, just wondering how to fast-forward to Sunday so my mom will be gone.”

“She’s there?” Vera asked. “Why?”

“She said my dad was at a conference so she randomly decided to come visit me here for the weekend.” I took the last sip of my tea and walked to the sink to rinse my cup out.

I heard the telltale sound of Vera opening a Mountain Dew can. “Bummer,” she muttered as she sipped her soda.

“My thoughts exactly,” I said, leaning against the counter and watching Binks scarf down his food. “What have you been up to? Anything new to report?”

“Eh, usual. I have, however, officially bought everything I will need for the dorm.” I could hear the smile in her voice.

“That’s good,” I said, feigning excitement. “What did you get?”

I listened to her rattle off about all the color-coordinating sheets and storage totes she’d gotten for a while, and then she switched to who was dating whom, and who had already moved away. It was a good conversation, but it made me feel worlds apart from her. While she was struggling to decide on if she should buy an extra set of polka dot curtains, I was stressing about whether or not I should allow myself to become initiated and stay here in Soul Harbor for who knew how long. Maybe the rest of my life.

When I hung up with Vera, I met Mom on the stairs.

“I’m going to attempt to find the grocery store. You need some food in this house. Do you want to come?” Mom asked.

While I’d been on the phone with Vera, she must have been taking a shower and getting ready to leave.

“Sure, I’ll come. Let me get a shower real quick,” I said.

Going to the grocery store with my mother seemed odd. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done so, but nothing had seemed weirder than the car ride there. The entire outing I circled the same questions through my mind, wondering when the right time to ask them was and exactly how I should phrase them. I wanted to know what all she knew about my biological mother and why she’d allowed me to have her last name as my middle. By the time we’d made it back to my house, I couldn’t contain the questions any longer.

“Did you ever get a chance to meet my birth mother?” I asked point-blank as I set the remaining grocery bags on the counter.

Mom froze where she stood in the kitchen and turned to look at me, her eyes wide. “Why does it matter?”

I picked up a bag of apples from the counter and walked to the fridge. “I’m just curious about how much you knew about her.”

“I did meet her.” She went back to unpacking the bag in front of her and lining its contents up along the counter.

My heart stopped. “And…?”

She gripped the edge of the counter with both hands and hung her head. “I never planned on having this conversation with you. Ever. I didn’t know you were going to get this house. I mean, how does that even happen? I’ve never heard of it before. Adoptions are supposed to be closed. The lawyer should have never been able to find you because of your new last name.”

I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. What the hell was she saying? I couldn’t even speak to ask her.

She turned to face me then and crossed the room to sit at the breakfast table tucked in the corner. “I met your mother when she was still pregnant with you. We met by a stroke of luck, I swear.” She paused and shook her head as she smiled at the memory. “A friend of mine worked at an adoption agency. She knew of my and your father’s situation—how I couldn’t have children—and she called me one night to tell me that a young girl had come in with specific qualifications for a couple to raise her baby. She didn’t want to go through the whole system; she wanted my friend to find a couple who met her guidelines and then contact her.”

My knees wobbled as I walked across the kitchen to sit at the table too. “Why?” I asked.

“I never got an answer to that question. I was also never told what the qualifications we met were, but nonetheless, we did get a meeting with her.” She paused and held my stare from across the table. “She was beautiful…just like you. You look so much like her.”

“I know. I’ve seen a few pictures,” I said, my voice sounding clipped and raw. I was struggling hard not to cry. “Did she give a reason for why she didn’t want to keep me?”

“Not really, no.” She reached out and took my hand in hers. “All she said was she knew you were a girl and that she wanted you to be named Addison Avery because Avery was her last name. She said it was a family name and she wouldn’t feel right doing this if you didn’t get to keep a tiny bit of her with you always. So, we kept the name she’d given you as your first and middle name and added Harmon.”

I nodded. “I figured out Avery was their last name.”

“You were due to come in about three weeks when we first met your mother. I hung around her, and got to know her some while we waited for you.” She released my hand and placed hers back in her lap beneath the table. “I honestly don’t know much about her, because she never revealed much to me. All I learned was that she was afraid of something—maybe even someone—that she’d left behind here.”

Admer
—his name popped into my head instantly. Why was she afraid of him, though? In the pictures I’d seen it looked like they were secretly in love.

“I don’t know anything about your biological father, because she never mentioned him.” She shrugged. “The reason I didn’t want you to come here, though, was because of how fearful your mother seemed of this place. There was a reason she wanted you to stay away from this town, Addison. I don’t know what that reason was…but it was serious enough for her to leave and give you up for adoption without ever looking back.”

I sat back in my chair, contemplating what she’d just said. Maybe it was the entire Elemental thing she had been trying to keep me from and not just Admer specifically. Now, here I was, becoming a part of the very thing she had run away to keep me from.