I could hardly wait to see the final result and enjoy the fruits of my labour.
One night,after putting Lucas to bed, I sat down with my laptop.
A pop-up appeared on the screen advertising a website that promised results in locating biological parents. It was called Family Finder Tree, a non-profit organization that helped orphans and adult adoptees search for their genetic families.
My heart raced.
I entered my information immediately and submitted it, hoping that maybe this time something would come of it.
Searching for my parents had been a long and lonely journey. It felt like walking a road that never ended. I had started looking for them as soon as I learned how to use a computer. There hadnever been any responses. Sometimes I wondered if my parents were dead. Other times, I wondered if they simply did not care enough to look for me. Thoughts like those crept into my mind often, but I always pushed them away. I had spent too many years building imaginary explanations for their silence because the truth—whatever it was—hurt too much to face directly.
Maybe they did not know how to use computers. Maybe they were poor. Maybe they simply did not have the means or technology to find me. Shaking my head to push away the negative thoughts, I opened another tab and typed Caleb Evans into the search bar.
Within seconds, pictures and news about him filled the screen.
Only two days earlier, I had searched for him, unable to stop myself. The restaurant problems had been weighing heavily on me, and part of me wished he were there beside me to support me and calm my doubts. Then again, if we had still been together, none of this would have happened. Even though I was only a partner in the restaurant, I was now a business owner. An entrepreneur.
The latest news about him was his youngest sister’s wedding.
Catherine had married her fiancé, Connor, and she looked beautiful in her wedding dress.
A few photographs of Caleb from the wedding appeared on the screen.
My heart twisted like it was being squeezed in a fist.
I clicked on one of the photos, enlarging it.
Caleb’s face filled the screen.
I reached out and touched the image, tracing the outline of his face with my finger again and again, completely losing track of time. Without thinking, my other hand rested on my belly.
Our daughter kicked.
The movement startled me slightly.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
I closed the laptop and set the house alarm before heading toward my bedroom. As I walked down the hallway, I found myself wishing that Caleb were there waiting for me. Wishing he were leaning against the headboard with that soft look in his eyes. Wishing I could tell him about the restaurant, the stress, the baby, everything. Wishing life had not broken the way it had.
To see what unfolds for Caleb during Cat’s wedding, read the second chapter in his Bonus Chapters.
Marcus calledJack and me the following week to begin the recruiting process. Will updated us on the local suppliers he would be working with. A website for the restaurant was created, contracts were drawn up for Jack and Will, and decisions about schedules and menus were finalized.
The hiring process had officially begun.
The entire process exhausted me, yet my excitement grew stronger every day as we moved closer to opening. There was something deeply satisfying about watching all the pieces slowly come together, even when they threatened to fall apart every other hour.
Marcus insisted on establishing proper standard operating procedures. “All the manuals have been placed in your office for the staff to review,” he said seriously.
The Point of Sale system was taught to all the employees during training. Cameras were installed in key areas of the restaurant, and only Jack and I had access to them from our small office in the back.
The grand opening was only two weeks away.
I felt like a bundle of mixed emotions.
Every week, I visited Cole to check on his progress, and I found myself impressed each time I saw him. When he had come to tell me that he was checking himself into a detox centre, there had been something in the way he said it—quiet, stripped bare, almost as if he were forcing himself to step back toward life again—and I found myself thinking about him more often.
Lucas always came with me, and Cole was always delighted to see him. Lucas had a way of lifting Cole’s spirits instantly. There was a softness in Cole around Lucas that was absent everywhere else, and every time I saw it, something inside me stirred.
