Learning Me (Lightworker Trilogy #1) (5 page)

To her relief, she found him sitting in his normal seat in the back of the room. While Courtney usually favored the front of the room, she instead slid into the seat next to him. “Hey!”

“Hey, stranger. Where have you been? I haven’t talked to you since the night of the game.”

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s been a weird few days. Got time to talk after school?”

His expression darkened as he said, “I guess. What about?”

The tone in his voice made her eyes widen. “No worries, it’s not about you or anything. It’s actually about my parents.” She kept her tone as low as possible as she sneaked a look around the room.

“Yeah, okay. We’ll drive down to the creek. Sound good?”

“You bet,” she agreed with a smile. The idea of sharing her burden made her feel a lot better. He usually could see things she might not, and Courtney welcomed the perspective. She had never wanted a day to end sooner.

Chapter Eight

The moment the final bell rang, Courtney stood up and fought the urge run out of the room. She had to remind herself to be casual as she gathered her stuff and headed for the exit.

Sam was waiting outside for her as promised. His punctuality made her smile and brightened her mood. There weren’t a lot of people that Courtney trusted completely, but he was on the list. Her cousin and Matthew were the other two. She wanted to get them involved as well, but figured it would be best to talk it over with Sam before involving anyone else — especially Lauren.

Sam held the car door open for her while she settled into the passenger seat, stealing a quick kiss before slamming the door shut. She watched him walk around to the driver’s side and climb in.

“So, you want to tell me now or wait until we get there?”

“I’ll wait,” she said. She had a bad feeling her suspicions might cause too much of a distraction.

“If that’s what you want,” he agreed as he started the vehicle.

Courtney spent the ride over to the creek trying to piece together everything she’d found out over the past couple of days and plan out the best way to tell him. She figured it would sound insane, and she wanted to be as prepared as possible.

****

A short time later, Courtney followed him to the small, secluded area they’d hung out at many times since they started dating. It was one of their favorite spots, and she hoped the familiarity of it would give her the confidence she needed to voice her fears.

Courtney took a seat on a small log near the water, Sam following suit seconds later. Neither one spoke for a couple of minutes. Courtney decided she needed to break the silence before he did and she lost track of what she wanted to say.

“So… you know how I was planning to go out for that movie?”

“You’re not rethinking that, are you?”

“No,” Courtney reassured him, “I’m still planning to do it. I just got thinking about how I have to sneak around to do it and why. They hate me acting, Sam; you know that. I’ve never understood why. It reminded me of a lot of things I never really thought about before, and the more I did, the worse things got.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying that I think my parents are hiding something from me. I mean, they’re always stopping me from doing anything that might get more than a little attention at school. What about that spelling bee where they wouldn’t let my picture be in the paper? And then they wouldn’t even let me go on to the next level. They also freaked over some TV camera at this show when I was a little kid.”

“So, they’re overly protective. What’s so strange about that? A lot of people don’t let their kids do stuff like that for protection. There are a lot of crazies out there.”

He reached down and picked up a twig on the ground, drawing doodles in the dirt with it that suspiciously resembled plays she’d seen the coaches on TV drawing when she watched a couple of games with Sam last week.

“But they’re so adamant about it! And that’s not all. After I got thinking about that, I started realizing a lot of other things. Did you ever notice how there are, like, no pictures of me when I was a baby in that house?”

“Yeah, I noticed that, but you told me they said those got lost when they had a flood.”

“Maybe they’re right, but I’m starting to wonder. I did some digging and I found this old picture of some woman I’d never seen before hidden in one of the trunks in the attic. Sam, she looked exactly like me. I look nothing like either of them.” Her voice rose in frustration as she tried to make her point to him, even though it was painful to voice.

“Wait a minute, are you saying you think you’re adopted and they didn’t tell you?” He dropped the stick, looking over at her with wide eyes.

“I’m saying it’s one possibility.”

“So what’s the other?”

“That maybe they’re hiding something a lot worse than an adoption. I found a note in the same trunk that said ‘Enclosed is everything you need. Leave tonight’.”

“What?” Sam gaped at her, clearly unable to come up with anything else to say to her revelation.

“Now you know how I’ve been feeling the past couple of days.” Relief washed over her at having shared her burden. She just hoped he wouldn’t think she’d lost her mind.

“Court, are you really sure about that? I mean, this seems kind of out there to me. Do you have anything else?”

She shook her head, her voice low. “Nothing, except that note. I checked the address and it was a house. One that they never were listed as owning, but there was a couple there whose names were close. Plus, I couldn’t find any birth record for me.”

“Wow,” he said. He stared off into the distance for a few minutes as he appeared to think over what she’d said. “You think there’s a chance you just missed it? I can help you search some more.”

“I was hoping you wanted to help. I hope that’s all it is, but so much doesn’t make sense about this whole thing.” Courtney looked down at the ground, gently kicking at a stone by her feet.

Sam put an arm around her shoulder and smiled. “Come on, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re thinking. We’ll figure it out.

“Thanks.” As reassuring as his words usually were, Courtney couldn’t help but feel dread building inside. Did she really want to know the truth?

****

A couple of days later, Courtney was no closer to an answer than she’d been when she first entered the attic. Her after-school commitments and her parents’ schedules hadn’t allowed her any alone time to dig deeper for any evidence at home, and more computer and microfiche searches failed to bring up any birth announcements for her, either in Elkswood or elsewhere. She couldn’t understand how there was no record of her birth. Since she had yet to turn eighteen, the likelihood of anyone in a more official position helping was dismal at best. At least, not without her parents’ permission, and how could she ask?

She hadn’t even bothered preparing for the upcoming audition yet, and each failure to get answers further distracted her from the preparation. Courtney stared at the script sitting on the bed with a detached expression. Why couldn’t she focus on it? She should definitely be prepping by now if she wanted to avoid a total failure. Twice, she tried to pick it up, but instead went back to her computer and more searching. After another twenty minutes of fruitless efforts, she called Sam.

“Hello?”

“Sam, hey. How’s it going?” She gripped the cell phone tight as she waited for his answer.

“I’m sorry, but it’s pretty much the same as the last time. I’m coming up empty everywhere.”

The regret in his voice caused her stomach to twinge. She stood up and paced across the floor. “It’s okay, you tried. I think it might be time to go another way.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking it’s time to ask them myself.”

His voice turned firm at her announcement. “Are you kidding? Courtney, you’re the one that got me thinking about the chances of them being some kidnappers or something, and now you want to confront them on your own? No way.”

There were times when a worried boyfriend could be a pain. She sighed as she countered, “It’s got to be better than this. They might try to lie to me about it, but I’ll be able to tell and that will be all the answer I really need. You can come. I might need the moral support.”

“You couldn’t stop me even if you wanted to,” he promised. “I’ll be there. Just tell me when.”

“Tonight,” she decided. “I don’t want to risk losing my nerve on this. Why don’t you come over for dinner and we’ll talk to them after?”

“All right,” he agreed. “Tonight it is.”

They chatted a little bit more, carefully avoiding the impending talk with her parents. When they hung up, Courtney was relieved to see her parents had yet to return. To pass the time, she grabbed her books and went out to the patio to work on her homework. She loved working outside. The air blowing gently across her skin refreshed her, and the sound of the water in their pool moving with the breeze soothed her.

She got so caught up in her work, she didn’t even notice her parents had returned until her mother came out to say it was time to get ready for dinner.

“Mom, you startled me,” she said. Courtney stood up and stretched a minute before gathering her stuff to go inside.

“Sorry. You don’t usually get so wrapped up in homework. You okay?” She gave Courtney a concerned look, watching her closely as she waited for an answer.

“Yeah, I’m great. Oh! I almost forgot… I asked Sam to come over tonight for dinner. That’s okay, right?” Her parents always seemed to like him, so she didn’t see where it would be a problem, especially with the way her parents cooked. There was plenty to go around.

“Sure, you know he’s always welcome. Better hurry and get washed up.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “I’ll be right back.” Courtney had to fight to hide the relief that flooded through her. While they never failed to allow a last-minute guest, there was always a first time for everything. Picking tonight to be that night might have sent her into a panic. She was already tense about the idea of confronting them, not to mention the possibility of her worst fears being proven right.

When Courtney got back to the kitchen, Sam was already there. She smiled, grateful for the support. She watched him chat with her parents a minute before stepping all the way into the room. “Hi!”

“Hi, Court!” Sam stood up and walked over to give her a hug. He squeezed just a little tighter than normal as he whispered in her ear, “Don’t back down.”

They pulled apart, Courtney blushing a little as she saw her parents watching. She hoped they hadn’t caught on that he’d whispered something. “So, what’s for dinner?” she asked as she took her seat.

“Pizza,” her father replied. “We didn’t have time to cook anything today. It should be here any minute.

“Yum,” she answered. It’d been months since they’d had a take-out night and she was craving the indulgence, especially with her frazzled nerves.

“So, Sam, how did your last game go?” Her mother sat across from Courtney, while Sam took a seat next to Courtney.

“Not bad, Missus Thompson. We won five to three.”

“That’s good,” her father said as he gathered up some plates and brought them to the table. “How long have you been playing again?”

“Since I was five, every day,” Sam answered with pride in his voice.

“That’s admirable that you’ve been so committed to it for so long. Are you planning to keep with it after graduation?”

“I hope so, but we’ll see if I get into any of the programs I applied to.”

Courtney suppressed the urge to groan at the obvious undertone of their questions. They were always trying to figure out just how serious he and her friends were about things. ‘Surround yourself with the right people’ was their mantra, and they’d never let up from it since she was a little girl. She understood why, but she couldn’t help but wish they would give it a rest. It seemed too pushy to her. “Hey, did I just hear something?”

“I think the pizza guy is here. I’ll be right back,” her father said.

A mix of excitement and terror greeted his words. The sooner they ate, the sooner they could get the other part of the evening out of the way. Her father came back a minute later and they dug into the box. A deafening silence filled the room as they concentrated on their food. Courtney kept going over everything she wanted to say the whole time. Nothing sounded quite right to her. Then again, she was at best accusing them of lying to her and, at worst, accusing them of being criminals. How could it possibly come out right?

The slices disappeared quickly and before she knew it, her parents were cleaning up their dishes. Courtney hastily finished her last piece and brought her dish over to the sink. “Um, after you’re done, could we talk in the living room? There’s something I wanted to ask you about.”

Her mother studied her, her forehead wrinkled in concern. “I suppose so. What is it?”

“I’d rather wait until we’re all in there and sitting down,” she said

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” her father chimed in. “Should we be worried?”

Courtney shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“We’ll be there in a minute.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Come on, Sam.”

They retreated to the living room and took seats next to each other on the couch. She took a deep breath as she prayed for a normal, reasonable explanation for her questions.

When her parents came in, they eyed Courtney and Sam with obvious suspicion. Making no mention of their seating arrangement, her mother took a seat on a chair to the left of the couch, while her father chose to stand next to his wife.

“So, what is this all about?” her mother asked.

“Well, there are some things that have been bothering me lately and I wanted to ask you about them.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “For one, how come there are no baby pictures of me anywhere?”

“We already explained that,” her mother said. “You know there was a lot of water damage in here when you were little.”

“That’s just the thing, though… No one else has those pictures either. Shouldn’t Aunt Danielle and Uncle Luke have some? What about Grandma Thompson or Grandma and Grandpa Smith?”