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CHAPTER1
Colton Marzoni
There was no way I could focus on what my friend Jack was saying. Normally I was intrigued to hear tales of his latest conquest over beers at the diviest bar in all of South Dakota, but right now, all I could think about was the text message I’d just received.
WE HAVE A MATCH.
I’d been waiting to receive this news for more than a year.So why the hell am I still here at the bar with Jack instead of calling them for more information?
“Colton, I just told you one of my wildest hook-ups and you didn’t even smirk. I guess you’re not impressed,” he said.
I shrugged. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“I’d like to think it’s a woman that has you so distracted, but you haven’t dated in over a year. I never thought you and Carol were that serious, but since you broke up, you haven’t been yourself,” Jack said.
“Trust me, I’m not hung up on Carol.” What she and I had shared was just mutual sexual gratification. There was no substance beyond that. It grew old, and we both decided to move on.
“Then what the hell is going on?” Jack asked.
Did I want to get into it with him? Jack was my best friend and there wasn’t much we didn’t talk about, even things we probably shouldn’t. Until now, I hadn’t told anyone, and a noisy bar wasn’t the place to start.
“Maybe we can talk about this later. Right now, I’ve got something to take care of,” I said.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked.
This is what I get for having a cop as a friend.I chuckled.
“Don’t play detective on me. It’s…personal. To answer your question, I’m not in trouble.”
“I didn’t see your Mustang outside,” he said.
“I took a taxi because I had a meeting in town,” I replied. Parking it in the city wasn’t a risk I liked to take.
“Why don’t I give you a ride home and you can tell me what’s going on?” Jack offered, paying our tab and getting up from his stool at the bar.
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and truthfully, I could use his opinion. I nodded and we headed out to his car.
When we were on the road, Jack said, “I’m listening.”
“Before I tell you, you have to keep this between us. I can’t risk it getting out to anyone, especially not my family,” I warned.
“You got it.”
“Do you remember in high school when I learned by accident that I was adopted?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah. You wouldn’t ask your parents about it and instead you became angry and took it out on just about everyone at school who even looked at you wrong. With all the fights you got in, I’m surprised you even graduated.”
I still deal with things internally, but not so much with the fists. “Well, I’ve been searching for my birth parents for the past year. I hired an agency that helps bring families together, mostly dealing with closed adoptions like mine. Just before we met up at the bar, I got a text message.”
“They found them?” he asked.
“That I don’t know. I haven’t called. But they said they have ‘a match.’ I’m not sure if it’s my mother, my father…or both,” I said.
Whoever it is, it’ll be more than I knew yesterday.
Jack slapped the steering wheel. “Then why the hell haven’t you called and found out?”
“I was planning to – that’s why I was leaving,” I replied.
