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The only saving grace had been that it had only been two days since the package got mailed to the PO Box my oldest brother, Devon, used for his business. I’d hoped by using the PO Box that I could control how the rest of the family found out the truth. As much as I’d hated dumping all of that responsibility on Devon, I’d known he’d be the best one to see that the phone made it to the right people and to console the rest of my family. I’d been forced to call him right after hanging up with Arthur so I could explain the presence of the package and make him promise he wouldn’t actually open it. To say he’d been surprised to hear from me had been an understatement. Of all my family members, Devon was the strongest, the most sensible and the least likely to let his emotions rule his decisions. But that also meant he took shit from no one, including me. And while he hadn’t made me explain myself over the phone, I had no doubt I wouldn’t be so lucky in person.
“So Devon is your oldest brother?” Cain asked.
I nodded. “I have another brother, Garrett and a sister, Eden. They’re both older.”
“You’re the baby of the family.”
“Yeah. I was kind of unexpected.” At Cain’s questioning look, I explained, “I’m adopted. My mom’s sister was a social worker. She got assigned to my case when I was a kid and that’s how my mom found out about me.”
“Your case?”
“Um, yeah, I was found at a bookstore one day when I was three. Someone left me in the children’s reading area but they don’t know who. I only knew my age and my first name so I couldn’t tell them much. No one came forward when they ran my story in the local news.” At Cain’s frown I said, “I don’t remember any of it. And I was really lucky to get the family I did. I had a lot of developmental delays so my parents had to work with me a lot to get me caught up to other kids my age.”
“And then you went on to graduate high school two years early,” Cain pointed out.
I smiled. “My parents were really proud of me for that,” I said. “They were proud of me for a lot of things.”
“But you weren’t,” Cain said softly.
“What?” I asked, startled. “No,” I said quickly. “I was really lucky…”
“But it wasn’t easy for you, was it?”
I was about to deny the comment, but then I remembered Cain’s insistence that he hated liars. I didn’t know why it was so important to me that he didn’t put me in that category.
“No, it wasn’t,” I admitted. “I was a pretty awkward kid. My social skills weren’t great and I had every childhood insecurity you could think of…acne, braces, glasses, a weight problem…I was pretty much a walking, talking cliché. By the time I walked across that stage to accept my diploma, I’d heard every nickname and then some. Freak Show was the worst,” I murmured.
“Was college any better?”
I smiled ruefully and shook my head. “You ever hear girls talk about the Freshmen 15?” I asked.
Cain nodded.
“Well, for me it was like fifty pounds instead of fifteen and that’s saying a lot for a kid who was already overweight to begin with. And since I was still sixteen, I hadn’t managed to get rid of all that other stuff like the zits and the braces. Add in the fact that I was gay and my social life was pretty much doomed from the start.”
When I saw his frown, I quickly backtracked and said, “But it wasn’t all bad. I got really good grades and the demands of medical school helped me shed some of the weight.”
“You’re too thin,” Cain suddenly said. His words caught me off guard.
“What?”
“You’re too thin,” he repeated as his eyes swept my body. I felt my insides light up at the move and I had to remind myself that he wasn’t looking at me the way I really wished he would.
“Well, being on the run will do that for you,” I joked, but he didn’t smile. I dropped my eyes and felt my cheeks warm with color. “What about you?” I asked. “I doubt you were ever even a pound overweight in your life,” I said jokingly.
Cain was quiet for a moment and I realized I’d crossed some invisible line. I opened my mouth to apologize, but he spoke before I could say anything.
“I was really big into athletics,” he said. “Soccer, football, basketball, didn’t matter – as long as I was moving and it kept me out of the house, I was good.” He shot me a glance as he said, “I could have used someone like you.”
