Signs Point to Yes (14 page)

Teo read the caption beneath the picture three times before the significance of it sank in.

“I think I found your dad,” Jane said.

“Why would you think he's my dad?” Teo asked, staring at the picture. Even without closely examining it he saw the resemblance, but he didn't want to admit that to Jane. The smile on the man's face was like a punch in the gut.

“I don't know.”

Teo shook his head and huffed out a breath.

“Wait, I do know,” Jane continued. “Because he went to high school with your mom and he used to live in New Jersey. He has the same last name as the dad listed on your birth certificate.”

“How do you know anything about my birth certificate?”

Jane stood up, crossing her arms.

“Let me start over. I saw a search on your computer one day when the girls were playing hide-and-seek. I thought they were in your room. A couple of windows were open on your computer. I didn't even mean to look at it, your search for how to find your biological parent, but it was hard to miss. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wasn't snooping, I swear.”

“What?” Teo asked, narrowing his eyes.

“You've been so nice this summer; I wanted to help you with this. I thought I could find him. Once I saw him in this brochure, I had to do a little digging, but I finally found him in Illinois.”

“I don't understand how this is any of your business.”

“I thought you wanted to find him. And you mentioned that you feel left out,” Jane spluttered.

“I can't believe you did this. That you brought this to me.” He was yelling, and Jane cringed away from him. Teo crumpled up the paper and threw it in the dirt.

He stood and loomed over her, and Jane backed up a step. He stared at her, but she didn't stare back. She looked like he had slapped her. This wasn't his fault, and it wasn't fair of her to look so abused.

“I didn't really do anything,” she said. “I looked at your birth certificate. I asked my mom a couple of questions, but she didn't know anything about your dad. Or at least she pretended not to know anything. Then this guy basically fell into my lap. I did some more searching. I knew where to look—”

“Oh, yeah, you didn't do anything,” Teo said, interrupting. “You didn't go through our stuff; you didn't snoop on my computer. You didn't talk to your mom?” Teo's temples were pulsing. The more he thought about all the ways Jane had broken his trust, the angrier he felt.

“I did do all that. But I wanted to help you. You're always helping me. I thought I could do something for you. To thank you.”

Teo rubbed his hands over his face. “How dare you?” he bit out.

“I'm sorry. I thought you'd be happy. I wouldn't have done it if I had thought you wouldn't be happy.”

“You wouldn't have done it if you had thought at all,” Teo spat out. “But thinking isn't always your strong suit.”

Her chin quivered. He had crossed a line and he couldn't go back. Maybe he didn't want to go back.

“Shit, Jane,” Teo said.

“No, shut up. Just shut up. I said I was sorry. You don't have to do anything about it. It's not like I contacted him on your behalf.”

“Thank God for small favors,” Teo said.

Jane gave him a dirty look. “I thought that's what you wanted. I thought you would be happy.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and Teo felt himself choking up at the sight of it.

“You have no clue what I want.”

“But—”

He couldn't do this. He couldn't listen to her for one more second. So he ran.

He ran as far and as fast as he could. He kept running until he barely recognized where he was, until he'd lost all track of time.

And then he ran home.

On his way there, he considered asking his mom about his dad. Maybe it was time for answers. Real answers. Not some theory Jane Connelly had cooked up.

But it wasn't something he and his mom had ever talked about.

He stopped running to catch his breath. He was only a few blocks from home now, and he needed to calm down. But every time he tried to collect his thoughts, they would spiral out of control again.

Because when he was a kid, Teo
had
asked about his dad, and his mom had always told him that they were fine alone, that they didn't need anyone else. Teo had believed her for a long time. At least until Buck came into the picture and it became apparent that they hadn't been fine, just the two of them.

Until Buck came into the picture and renovated their house.

Until Buck came into the picture and they stopped speaking Spanish.

Until Buck came into the picture and suddenly there were little girls all over the house, with their princess dresses and My Little Ponies.

He took that last one back because he really did love his sisters. It was Buck he had a problem with. Buck and his mom—they were the ones to blame for how he was feeling. And Jane, for bringing this to his attention and making it an issue. Jane had no clue what she was doing, but that didn't make her innocent.

Teo punched a stop sign because it seemed like a better idea than going home and punching Buck. But punching a stop sign was a terrible idea, and it hurt like hell.

He stumbled home, thankful when he got there that no one was around. There was a note on the table—the whole family was at the pool, if he wanted to join them.

He went up to his room and threw himself face-first onto his bed. He had never been so pissed off in his entire life, and he had no clue what to do about it.

 

Chapter 15

Jane spent the rest of the weekend debating whether or not to quit her job.

She tried to drown her sorrows in fan fiction, but not even the latest
Doctor Who
/
Anne of Green Gables
crossover could soothe her.

The scene with Teo had been that bad. She couldn't imagine ever having to see him again, never mind having to talk to him, to be civil.

He had every right to say what he'd said—it really wasn't any of her business—but that didn't mean Jane needed to go back for more. If Jane had taken a few more days to think about telling him, if she hadn't become so excited when an e-mail came back from the college in Virginia telling her that Mateo Rodriguez now worked in Illinois, maybe things would be different.

If only Jane had listened to Margo and taken her warnings more seriously.

But all Jane could see was Teo's smiling face when she told him she had found his father. She kept imagining the moment in her head, and it went nothing like what had happened at the playground.

As soon as she'd seen the dawning realization on his face as he read the caption, she knew she'd made the wrong decision. But at that point there was no way to stop it. By the time she knew she'd made a mistake, Teo already understood what was going on.

Over the past month, Teo had become one of her favorite people. Without Ravi around, he was awesome. He was fun and reliable, always willing to hang out. It was obvious to Jane that part of it was Teo's nature: He hated being alone. So, sure, maybe he was using her, but Jane didn't mind. She didn't exactly have friends beating down her door, either. There were worse people to spend time with than Teo Garcia. Losing him as a friend was the worst part of this misunderstanding. Even worse than losing whatever might have been
happening
between them.

There had to be some way to fix this.

On Sunday night, Jane spent hours with her trusty Magic 8 Ball. She had a long list of yes-or-no questions about this shitstorm with Teo, and she asked every single one of them, even if they were sort of redundant.

“Does Teo hate me?”

It is decidedly so.

“Will he hate me forever?”

Better not tell you now.

“Will Teo ever forgive me?”

Outlook good.

“Should I text him and apologize?”

Reply hazy, try again.

Jane refocused on the questions.

“Should I text him and apologize?”

Reply hazy, try again.

Jane groaned in frustration. She really wanted an answer to this question. Apologizing was something she could do right away. Maybe it would make her feel better to contact him on her own terms.

The fourth time the ball told her
Reply hazy, try again
, she decided to move on to a different line of questioning.

“Did I make a huge mistake?”

Without a doubt.

“Can I make it up to him?”

Yes, definitely.

“I wish you could tell me how to make it up to him,” she said to the Magic 8. It was great for answering questions but terrible at giving advice.

Monday arrived faster than it usually did, as if Jane had blinked and it had gone from Sunday afternoon directly to Monday morning.

When Jane arrived at the Buchanans', Teo had already left for work. She knew she would probably see him in the afternoon, so she prepared herself all day, but then he never came home.

The guilt she felt about their fight hung over her head like a rain cloud. The first few days that week, Teo was out of the house when she arrived and didn't come home until after she had left.

On Thursday, Connie got stuck in traffic, and Jane was still at the house when Teo came through the back door.

He froze.

“Hey, wow,” Jane said. “I didn't think I'd get to see you.”

He stared at her.

“I'm happy to see you. I know neither of us is much for confrontation, but we should talk.”

He crossed his arms.

“I just want to say how sorry I am,” Jane continued.

He raised his eyebrows, and they stood there looking at each other as the seconds dragged by. Jane's discomfort grew unbearable, and she had to look away.

“I don't really know what else to say if you don't say anything back,” she mumbled at the floor. “I really am sorry. I don't know how to make you believe me.”

When she looked up, he was gone, walking quickly into the living room and up the stairs, where he knew Jane wouldn't follow, no matter how much she wanted to.

By Saturday afternoon, Jane couldn't keep her feelings in for one second longer. While she was out with Margo, running errands for their mom, she finally blurted out, “I had a big fight with Teo and we're not speaking and I don't know if we're ever going to speak again.” They were at the grocery store; they'd already stopped at the dry cleaner's and the library.

“What did you fight about?” Margo asked.

“The dad thing. Of course you were right.”

“I promise I didn't want to be right,” Margo said.

“I know. I really thought Teo would be so psyched,” Jane said. “But when I told him, he blew up at me. And I tried to apologize again the other day, figuring he needed time to cool off, but he walked out of the room. Didn't even say a word.”

“That sucks,” Margo said.

“Are you any closer to telling Mom and Dad your news?”

“Quite the subject change,” Margo noted.

“I don't really want to start crying about Teo in the frozen-food aisle.”

Margo patted her shoulder sympathetically and followed Jane's lead. “Not really. If anything, I've kind of stopped thinking about it. It's not that big a deal, right? And maybe I'll fall for a guy and they'll never have to know.”

Jane made a face. “Is that really what you want?”

“No. Not even a little. But I don't want them to—” Margo stopped short and shook her head. “I don't know. I don't want them to be mad at me.”

Jane had no clue how to respond to that. As much as she wanted to tell Margo that everything would be okay, she knew it would be like shouting into the abyss. Margo had dug in her heels and really believed that their parents would disown her. More than that, though, Jane had a feeling that Margo was worried their parents wouldn't
like
her anymore.

“So what's next on the list?” Jane asked.

“Aluminum cake pans,” Margo read off the shopping list their mom had written.

They wandered up and down aisles they had already been through a dozen times until finally they located the aluminum bakeware at the back of the store. When Margo gasped, Jane stopped scanning the wall of throwaway pans to look at her.

At the end of the pet food aisle stood Kara Maxwell.

Margo's eyes went wide.

“When was the last time you talked to her?” Jane asked as they moved out of Kara's line of sight.

“Not since the party. But it feels like an omen that she just happens to be at the grocery store at the same time we're here.”

“I kind of agree.” Jane peeked up the aisle again, and Kara was still there.

“Only ‘kind of'?” Margo asked. “If I asked the Magic 8, it would totally agree.”

Jane pretended to shake a Magic 8 Ball and check the answer. “‘Outlook good
.
'”

“Should I go talk to her?”

“‘Without a doubt,'” Jane said, making her eyes as wide as Margo's.

“What are you going to do?”

“Wander around the grocery store and pretend I don't know you while actually watching your interaction from every possible angle.”

Margo shrugged. “That sounds completely normal, and I'll want a full report in the car.”

Jane did exactly as she'd promised, going full-on Veronica Mars, catching bits and pieces of Margo and Kara's conversation as she made several circuits of the store. In a funny architectural phenomenon, if she stood by the packaged deli meats, she could hear almost every word they said, but she couldn't actually see them and they couldn't see her. She did a few drive-bys with the cart so she could also report to Margo on their body language.

“I actually have to go back to school soon,” Kara was saying at one point.