Finding Obscurity (17 page)

We sat at a large table in the back and looked over the menu at
the selection of fried mushrooms, tenderloin sandwiches, cheese fries, and
burgers that came smothered in grilled onions and cheese, if you wanted them.

A waitress came up to the table looking like she had been rode
hard and put up wet. Her voice was deep from smoking and she leaned her hip
against the table, looking the all three men sitting with me up and down before
speaking. “What can I get
ya
?”

We ordered our food and a few beers and she smiled at Blake with a
wink before going to put in our orders with the cook.

Blake shuddered and I laughed. “What’s wrong with you?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but the waitress came back up to the
table with our beers on a little plastic tray, setting them on the table. She
winked at him again before flouncing away to pour some more beers for the next
table. We drank in silence for a few minutes, then the same woman, who had eyed
Blake like he was a piece of cheesecake, placed our food on the table. I
smirked at him.

I had just taken a huge bite of my tenderloin sandwich when I
noticed somebody walking up to our table. “Lily Canton? Is that really you?”

My throat constricted and I had to swallow harder than normal to
get the food down. My best friend from high school, Anne, stood in front of me.
A few people at the bar turned to look at me, making me shudder. “Anne?”

“Oh, my God! What have you been up to? I haven’t seen you since
graduation.” She grinned, slapping a hand on the table.

What she didn’t say was, “I hadn’t seen you since your sister’s
funeral when I started those nasty rumors,” but I wasn’t pointing fingers. “Um,
I moved away for a while for college, and then moved up north.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?” She beamed at
me like everything in the past had never happened.

I gave her a confused expression about her cheerfulness, but I
knew that as soon as we left the bar, everyone on this side of the county line
would know I was back in town. She wasn’t fooling me. Good thing she didn’t
know that three people sitting at this table would make her question her
sanity. Anne sure as hell thought I was crazy anyway. I made introductions
while trying to keep a smile on my face, but inside, my heart was beating so
hard I thought it would come bouncing out of my mouth and onto the table. She
brought back so many bittersweet memories about my past and I wasn’t sure if I
would remember the good times or the bad in the end.

“Nice to meet
ya
guys.” She nodded at
each of them. “So, what are you doing in town after all this time?”

“Um…”

Ashton chose the moment to speak up and I silently thanked him.
“We were driving by and I wanted to see where she grew up. There isn’t a thing
I wouldn’t love to learn about her and where she came from. I want to know why
she is such a wonderful woman.”

“
Awww
, how sweet! Aren’t you a lucky
woman!
” Anne clapped her hand on mine, smiling ear to ear.
“Too bad I’m married now or I would ask you if he had any brothers.”

“You’re married?” I frowned. It wasn’t like she was eighteen anymore.
“Anyone we know?”

“Remember Andrew Smithson?” I nodded, and she continued. “We got
together in college and that was all she wrote. I have two lovely kids with him
and life couldn’t be any better.”

I started to blurt out a rude comment about how happy I was that
she had a perfect life, but I closed my mouth, thinking better of it. She must
have got the picket fence, doting husband, and the perfect 2.4 kids, and I
hated her that much more because of it. I knew it wasn’t her fault that my life
turned out the way it did, but she had a hand in making my life miserable
before I left. Ashton reached down and squeezed my thigh in warning because I
assumed he knew what was on my mind. “How… nice.”

“Are you going to see your family while you’re here?”

“I’m not sure yet, Anne. We’ll have to see how long we’re going to
stay before heading back out.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure they would love to see you. It’s been
what? Ten years?”

“Yeah.”
Not long enough
.

Anne’s mobile phone started ringing in her purse and she checked
the caller ID before giving me a shoulder hug. “My kids are calling. It was
great seeing you, and don’t be a stranger! Bye!”

I watched her leave the bar before letting out a long puff of air.
I didn’t want to see the people who raised me, let alone somebody who betrayed
me because she thought I had something to do with Sarah’s death. Then again, I
should’ve known coming back here that I should expect to run into people I had
known in school.

 
After basically inhaling my
food, I leaned back and sipped on my beer, watching the people around me while
Sam chattered about the food and atmosphere in the small town.

“Who was that?” Blake asked, taking another sip, finishing his
beer.

“She was my best friend in school until my sister died, and then
she became a horrible person. When I needed her the most, she ditched me.”

Blake nodded. “I figured there was something behind it because of
your expression. Don’t let these people get to you. They’re your past and
you’re so much better than they could ever imagine.”

“He’s right.” Sam patted my hand. “Let them talk, because they
don’t know the real you.”

“Are you guys ready? I want to get the hell out of this town
before I have a nervous breakdown.” I quivered and stood.

“I checked into the hotel down the highway just in case we have to
stay here. Think we could sleep and head back in the morning?” His question was
aimed at me and all I could do was nod in approval, even though I would have
rather gotten in the car and driven far away from all of these memories.

Ashton threw a couple of twenties down on the table to pay for our
meal, plus a nice tip, before we headed back to the car. When the car started,
Ashton’s hand in mine again, we pulled out of the parking spot. I couldn’t help
but feel impending doom about where we were headed. Something wasn’t right and
I felt it down to my bones. I blamed it on being back in this town and being
thrown right back into memories I would rather forget.

 
The house I grew up in was
a Bedford stone one-story ranch home with a willow tree in the front yard that
I climbed as a kid. It had a pea gravel driveway, and an old wooden barn in the
backyard. There was an overgrown field in the back, one from my dream that
Sarah and I played in, which lined up to the neighbor’s wooded acreage. A few
yards back, there was a large creek that’s perfect for wading. The home itself
had a two car garage on the right. There was a concrete porch leading up to a
red wooden door that currently had a spring wreath full of flowers hanging on
it like a warm welcome. We parked behind the two cars sitting in the driveway
and I sat staring at the house, when I saw a familiar face peek through the
curtains.

“Are you ready?” Ashton asked, reaching over and unlocking my
seatbelt for me.

I stared at the house and the memories it held and figured it was
now or never. “Let’s get this over with.”

The front door opened to a man who was watching the car
suspiciously, as if a bunch of murderous clowns were going to pop out any
minute. I chuckled to myself at the thought as I exited the car to stand in the
gravel driveway. Taking a deep breath, I looked up into the eyes of the man who
raised me. His surprise was understandable, but what shocked me the most was
when he opened the door with a smile at my arrival. We stood there watching
each other carefully until he let the screen door slam behind him and walked
towards me with that grin etched on his face.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” he said, wrapping his arms
around me.

I was so stunned that my arms just hung limply at my sides. He
then noticed the men standing around me and straightened up a little, brushing
a few crumbs off his shirt. “I’m sorry that I didn’t dress any better, but I
wasn’t expecting company. Although I’m glad you are here, Lily Pad.”

I jerked at my childhood nickname, instead ignoring it by pointing
out everyone around me. “This is Ashton, Blake, and Sam. Guys, this is my...
um…”

“I’m her father, Dale Canton.” He shook their hands. “Nice to meet
you.”

I noticed how old he looked compared to when I left so long ago.
What was left of his balding hair was gray, he was a little pudgy in the gut,
and there were more wrinkles around his eyes that crinkled when he smiled. My
dad still had that trademark mustache and round face, with a cleft in his chin
and rosy red cheeks. We used to tease him that if he ever grew a long white
beard, he would look just like Santa Claus.

“Nice to meet you, too, sir. I hate to intrude on you and your
wife’s home, but would you mind if we came in?” Ashton said after shaking his
hand.

“Oh, yes, how rude of me. Lily Pad, your mother is inside making a
pot of chili. She’ll be so surprised you’re here!”

He began walking towards the door, and Blake leaned forward and
whispered in my ear, “Lily Pad?”

“My childhood nickname.” I shrugged and looked at Ashton. “This is
so weird. I expected them to be unhappy that I showed up here. Sure, my… dad…
is happy, but I don’t think his wife will be as glad to see me.”

“You never know,” Sam said, skipping up to my side before heading
towards the front door. “Maybe they realize what assholes they were to you back
then.”

I grunted in response and took a few calming breaths before we
walked through the front door. The house smelled like flowers and fresh
laundry, just like I remembered. We walked into the kitchen where my father was
standing beside his wife with an arm on her shoulder. She had yet turn and look
at me, so I knew this wasn’t going to be the happy reunion it had been with my
dad.

“Susie, look here!” He patted her arm. “Lily Pad came to visit.”

Susie Canton turned in her chair to look first at Blake, Sam, then
Ashton, and with a scowl, she started with my toes and edged her way up to my
face. Her salt and pepper hair was in a tight pony tail, her pointed nose was
the same, but the crow’s feet were a little deeper, frown lines a little more
pronounced. Sharp dark brown eyes were evaluating my friends and me. My nerves
were shooting through me like crazy and I felt static humming in my blood as
she stared at me with such malice. I refused to back down, so I pushed the
sensations deep down into the recesses of my mind.

“Lily. What are you doing here?” Susie stood up, turning to face
me.

“I came for answers.”

She let out a sigh and nodded. “I figured as much. Although, I’m
glad Dale got to see you, regardless of the reason for your visit. He’s done
nothing but try to find you for ten years.”

I didn’t miss the hidden meaning that she didn’t want him to find
me, even if it would break his heart, and I shook my head at her bitterness. I
was no longer afraid of facing her after all these years, and it felt like a
ton of bricks had fallen off my shoulders and crashed to the floor. As I stared
back at her, I realized that she had no right to hold me responsible for
Sarah’s death. I was basically a child, as well as an inexperienced driver.
Having special abilities had nothing to do with the car accident, and it took
me facing the woman who blamed me because of them to grasp that knowledge.

“I’ll be sure to let him know where he can find me and give him my
phone number too.” I smiled as Dale beamed back at me with pure joy. That man
had actually loved me despite what I was, which was a revelation, and I was
glad I came back with Ashton, Blake, and Sam at my side, because I couldn’t
have done it with out them. Ashton linked his hand with mine, giving me a
little squeeze, and I couldn’t help but notice my Dad watching Ashton out of
the corner of his eye.

“Are you going to be civil enough to talk to me without playing the
blame game, Susie?”

She glanced at her husband to see how happy he was to have me in
the house. “What answers are you looking for?”

“Why don’t we have a seat in the living room and talk there?” I
asked. I led everyone into the room, which was lined with pictures of our
family along the fireplace mantel.

I made my way up to the mantel to look at them. There was one of
Sarah and me laughing, all four of us posing for a Christmas picture, my prom
picture with an old boyfriend, and a few more of Sarah smiling into the camera.
I knew my dad had more to do with my pictures still being in the house, but I
was still shocked nonetheless. My heart gave a little tug as Ashton grabbed my
hand, Blake put his hands on my shoulders, and Sam wrapped an arm around my hip
as tears began to spill down my face. They were tears of sadness, sure, but
they were also about letting go of taking the blame for what had happened so
long ago. I missed her and nothing would take the place in my heart like Sarah
had, but I now knew that being a Conjurer had nothing to do with losing her. I
wiped away the tears with the back of my hand and smiled at the people I never
thought would mean so much to me in a short period of time.

I sat down on the recliner and closed my eyes, trying to fight
back the tears of everything overwhelming me. I was falling in love with
Ashton, that was for certain, Sam was one of the best friends I could have, and
Blake, even though I’m sure had feelings for me and I wasn’t so sure that I
didn’t for him, was there for me when I needed him. I never would have imagined
coming back to the place that had transformed my life into a nightmare would
also be the place I would learn to let go of the hurt and realize that having
people in your life was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

“I met Evangeline, your birth mother, while in college,” Susie
said, sitting on the couch. “We became quick friends, and she even introduced
me to Dale. If I had known then what I learned later on, I don’t think we
would’ve been friends, but I met my husband, which was a blessing. She was so
different than any of my friends back home and she drew people to her like
honey. There was something about Evangeline that everyone loved.” She was
having some sort of internal struggle, and when Dad grabbed her hand, I noticed
she squeezed it back. “We graduated at the top of our class, and when Dale and
I were married, she was even my maid of honor. She knew that we were having
trouble getting pregnant, so when we met up a few years later for lunch, she
announced that she was going to be having a child. But she told me she was
scared that somebody was after her.”