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“So how did it go?” Maisie and Leia are waiting eagerly for me to fill them in when I open the door and step inside the house.
“I need to tell you guys something.” I decide now's as good a time as any for me to come clean about what really brought me here.
“Is it serious?” Maisie looks worried. I’ve seen her take about as much as she can take over the past few weeks, and I feel bad for swamping her down with all my problems, but it’s important that she knows the truth.
“I’ve been letting this place, and everything that goes on in this town, distract me from just how serious it is, but I guess I have to face up to it now.” I take a seat beside my best friend and hold her hand.
“Just before I came out here. I found out I was adopted,” I confess.
“Adopted?” Maisie’s mouth drops open in shock.
“It was just before Dan asked me to marry him, he must have asked my dad’s permission first. He’s old fashioned like that.Anyway, I heard Mom and Dad talking in Dad’s office. Mom was drunk, like she usually is, and she suggested it was time to tell me the truth.”
“Oh, Savannah, that must have been a shock.” Leia looks so sympathetic.
“I just knew, after that, nothing would be the same. Everything about my life suddenly seemed like one big performance. I just found out my life had been a lie, but I felt like it all made sense. I’d been unhappy for so long. I was stuck in a rut, feeling obliged to live a certain way and be who everyone expected me to be. I kept wondering what was wrong with me. That’s why I came here. I wanted to experience a world that hadn’t already been mapped out for me. I wanted adventure and real life experiences.”
“I can understand that.” Leia strokes my hand affectionately.
“My parents said they didn’t know who my birth parents were and I just found out they were lying to me about that too. Daniel did some research and he’s found my dad.” I hand the paper that I still haven’t opened to Maisie and let out a nervous breath. Being with them seems to make the weight of all this seem less overbearing but it’s still scary.
“I want to meet him, I need answers. This wasn’t a normal adoption, there was a transfer of money between my father’s account and his.”
“Wow.” Maisie slouches back on the couch as she takes all this in.
“I know, and me reaching out to him puts Dan at a huge risk of losing what he’s worked so hard for, but he’s prepared to give that up for me. He really does love me,” I tell them both before bursting into tears.
“Savannah, what's the matter? I thought you doubted that. This here is the proof you need.” Leia strokes my back to try and comfort me.
“I don’t love him, that's what the matter is. I care for him and like him, but I don’t love him. I thought I did before…” I stop myself before I say his name.
“Before Cole,” Maisie finishes my sentence and when I nod my head and let more tears flow, she drags my head onto her chest and lets me sob my heart out.
“We’re having this out, and we are having it out right now.” Maisie shocks me when she storms into my cabin. I must have been so deep in my own thoughts that I never even heard her truck pull up.
“You know I don’t like to interfere.” She stops to scowl at me when I snigger at her. “You're hurting my friend and, for some god only knows the reason, you're hurting yourself, so I wanna know what’s up.” She shocks the cleverness right outta me when she prods her finger deep into my chest.
“Your friend has bad taste in men, that’s what’s up,” I tell her, knocking back another hit from the bottle of whiskey in my hand.
“You don’t even know Daniel, and… he’s being a much better man than you are right now.”
“I wasn’t talkin’ about Daniel.” I growl, getting up and moving past her.
“Cole, it’s the middle of the day and you're drunk.” She snatches the bottle from my hand.
“And what? Who fuckin’ cares?” I snatch it right back and stare at her.
“Are you being serious right now?” The tough little thing my brother married looks at me like she’s about to land one on me.“I care. Your brothers care. Savannahfuckin’cares and right now, you’re throwing that in all our faces.”
“Just leave me alone. I’m fed up with everyone trying to see this person in me that don’t exist.” I take another long swig.
“Savannah is hurting and not just because of you.” I hate the way that instantly gets my attention. I hate even more that I can’t hide that reaction.
“What happened? Who hurt her?”
“She found out some stuff today, and she’s been keeping something from me since she’s been here.” Maisie keeps cagey about it and I feel myself running out of patience.
“Tell me.” I place the bottle down and stare at her.
