She knew me well, but I asked just the same, “How do you know?”
Georgia leaned over the table. “You don’t light up. And I can see it in your eyes.”
“Everything seems like it’s hitting me at once. Dad just passed three days ago, my aunt blows into town, and now I find the pic of my birth mom.”
Mia slid my phone over to me. “Breathe, Skyler. One thing at a time. And why are you even in school, by the way?”
A heavy sigh shot free. “Distraction. I didn’t want to stay home and stare at four walls. And I have a lot of schoolwork to make up if I want to graduate.”
Narrowing her eyes, Georgia crossed her arms over her chest. “We are graduating together, which means you’re not moving, period.”
I’d filled Georgia in on my aunt earlier. “I’m not so worried about my aunt as much as I’m wondering about the law. I tried to research trusts, but I couldn’t find anything specific to my case.”
Georgia snagged a napkin off the table and dabbed her eyes.
“Are you crying?” Mia asked Georgia.
Georgia hung her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t get Mr. Lawson out of my head. Now Skye might be moving. It just sucks.”
I hurried around to her side of the table and hugged her. “You’re going to make me cry.”
“I’m already crying,” Mia chimed in. “I didn’t know your dad that well, but he was a good man. And I don’t want you to leave either, Skye.”
The waterworks opened more because they’d brought up Dad. “As I told Colton, Nan will do everything she can to help me stay. And I didn’t get the vibe that my aunt would fight to take me, either.” She’d never come out and said that for sure.
“I know,” Georgia said through sniffles. “Can I say a few words?”
I giggled softly. “Since when do you ask?”
The three of us huddled together.
Georgia wiped her nose with the napkin. “I want to say a prayer for your dad. I need to get this off my chest.”
Georgia, Mia, and I held hands.
“Mr. Lawson, I know you’re listening,” Georgia started. “I want you to know we miss you terribly and that Skyler is courageous and determined. She has a great extended family with me, Mia, Grady, and Colton. Oh, and Colton will take good care of her. All of us will make sure she’s happy, loved, and protected, especially Colton. He loves your daughter, and I know without a doubt that the two of them are destined to marry and have tons of kids. They’re the soulmates that many of us dream to have.”
“You really believe Colton and I will marry?” My jaw was close to hitting my lap.
“Shh,” Georgia said.
“I do,” Mia chimed in. “That dude is hopelessly in love with you.”
“Shush,” Georgia snapped. “I’m almost finished. I love you, Mr. Lawson. I will never forget the fun times we had riding roller-coasters together. I hope you can ride all those roller-coasters in heaven. You’ll always be in my heart.” Georgia shuddered.
I dabbed my eyes with a hand. “That was beautiful. My dad loved you like a daughter.”
The three of us jumped when Grady slid into a chair next to Mia. “Why are y’all crying? Do I need to sever heads?”
Colton skirted the table and sat in the chair next to me. “Did something happen?”
Mia smiled. “Georgia just conducted her first sermon.”
Georgia would make a great woman of the cloth if she chose that path. She wanted to help people like her parents, who worked in the medical field.
I snuggled into Colton, feeling ten times better than I had a minute ago.
“My dad is having dinner with an old high school friend who’s in town,” Grady said. “Why don’t we get pizza and kick back at my house later?”
I was still trying to get used to the nice Grady. Mia had certainly changed him for the better.
Mia flattened her hand on his chest. “Did you not just get your ass chewed yesterday for the party you threw on Saturday?”
He tapped her nose, looking all sweet and flirty. “This isn’t a party. Just a few friends, studying and eating.”
Colton tickled my ear with his warm breath. “I want to study you tonight.”
Shivers slid down my spine. I had just the spot for him to study.
Maybe Georgia was right. Maybe Colton and I were destined to marry, given the love pouring off him. Or maybe I was mistaking lust for love.
Either way, I promised myself one thing: I would live each moment like it was my last. Because tomorrow wasn’t a given, and yesterday was gone. So today was all that mattered, and that day, I was with Colton and friends who loved me. For that, I said a silent thank-you.
37
Colton wheeled into Grady’s driveway behind Mr. Dyson’s Mercedes.
The ocean air trickled in through the cracked window as the faint sound of the waves landing on shore lulled me. The landscape lights surrounding the house highlighted the flowers dotted around the many shrubs and bushes.
“I don’t see Georgia or Mia’s cars.” I’d texted Georgia just before Colton and I had left my house to let her know we were running late, but she hadn’t responded. Maybe she was running late too.
Colton cut the engine. “Baby.” His tone was full of dread, and my stomach dropped to the floorboard.
“Why do you look like something bad happened? Is it Georgia or Mia?” Georgia had been as sad and depressed over Dad as I had been. Her little sermon at school that day had warmed me but had also made me want to cry my eyes out.
Still, maybe she’d gotten into an accident and Mia had been with her.
He reached over the console and entwined his fingers in mine. “Oh no. Nothing happened to Georgia or Mia.”
I slumped in my seat.
His brown eyes glinted with apprehension in the soft glow of the dashboard lights. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”
If he was breaking up with me, I would break his beautiful nose.
“Grady called me before I picked you up.” His gaze bounced from me to the house then to me again.
My heart couldn’t take the anticipation. “Just tell me already.”
He took a breath. “Remember at lunch today Grady mentioned that his dad was having dinner with an old high school friend who was in town?”
I nodded jerkily. My erratic pulse was stealing the breath in my lungs as my mind wandered down a road that only led to heartache.
“That high school friend is”—his Adam’s apple moved up and down—“your birth mom.”
I angled my ear closer to him as I tried to shrug out of his hold. “Come again?”
He gripped my hand. “I don’t know the whole story. All I know is Mr. Dyson asked Grady if you would be interested in meeting her. Apparently, your dad’s lawyer finally got a hold of her, and then she mentioned your name to Mr. Dyson.”
Mr. Wilson was still out of town and would be until midweek, and he hadn’t responded to my email yet. I’d checked after school. Maybe he wanted to talk to me in person.
“So we’re not here to watch a movie and hang out? You and Grady planned this all along?”
He shook his head vigorously. “No. Baby, please. I just told Grady I would see if you were ready. You said yourself yesterday you think you are.”
I stared at Colton’s key chain dangling in the ignition. Nerves jabbed at the lining of my stomach. He was right. But I wanted to know more about her first before I reached out. I had been hoping Mr. Wilson could fill me in.
Colton guided my face to look at him. “We can leave. You don’t have to do this tonight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before we left?” I would’ve had more time to prepare.
“I was debating how to tell you. Part of me thought it would be easier for you to decide if we were here. Baby doll, I don’t want you to move to California. I get we don’t know yet what will happen. And honestly, I’m being selfish. Maybe somehow, if things with the trust go south, your birth mom could be your out. She’
s blood, she might be able to help.”
He really does love me. “What if she doesn’t want anything to do with me?”
“She’s in town to meet you,” he said softly.
“Have you met her?” My voice rose.
“No. I’m just the messenger. I’m nervous too.”
I was torturing my bottom lip with my teeth. “Why?”
With his free hand, he ran the pad of his thumb over the lip I was gnawing on. “You’ve been through a lot, and I want you to be happy.”
“You make me happy.”
He let go of my hand and tangled his fingers in my hair. “I love you so hard, Skyler. And the tiniest possibility you could move away is killing me. I’ve been a mess.”
I couldn’t tell, although Colton was an expert in hiding his emotions when he wanted to. “I’m not leaving you.” I tried to infuse as much confidence as I could.
The pounding of my pulse in my ears was all I heard.
After a long, tense moment, he turned the key in the ignition.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I was wrong. I should have told you before we got in the truck. I’m sorry.” He sounded regretful.
I clutched his arm. “Don’t. You’re going in with me?” We needed a backup plan in the event Mr. Wilson couldn’t do anything to replace my aunt with Nan. Yet I didn’t want to use Ashley in that way. I didn’t want to give her any false hopes if she had expectations of me welcoming her with open arms. I certainly wasn’t ready to do that. I wasn’t even sure how I was going to react when I met her.
He nodded. “I won’t leave your side unless you want me to.”
“I’m nervous, Colton.”
“You’re also the strongest person I know.”
“I’m not. I just have great friends, and the best boyfriend on the planet.”
In a flash, his tongue was in my mouth, all gentle strokes and soft kisses.
I moaned, getting lost in him, forgetting for the moment what I was about to do.
He brushed his nose against mine. “I love you. No matter what happens when you walk in there, know that if you fall, I’ll be right there to pick you up.”
My chin trembled as tears threatened to spill, and not because I was sad. Quite the opposite. “How did I get so lucky?”
His grin was electrifying. “I’m the one who won the lottery with you.”
The love pouring off him tempered the trepidation that had been causing my stomach to pitch and roll for the last few minutes.
38
The front door opened before we reached the porch. Grady stood with a hand inside a pocket of his sweatpants. “It’s about time. You’ve been sitting out there forever.”
Grady and Colton swapped a manly hug. “Can it, man,” Colton said. “This is hard for her.”
Grady raised his hands, setting his blue gaze on me. “Sorry.”
My mouth should’ve fallen open at his apology. Grady had never apologized to me. Instead, I smiled at him. “No biggie. Are Mia and Georgia still coming over?”
Grady closed the front door. “Maybe later. My dad and his friend are in the kitchen.” He gave me the impression he was nervous too. Maybe he was. Upon closer inspection, a muscle jumped along his sharp jaw.
Colton closed his hand over mine as we trailed behind Grady. With each step, my heartbeat ramped up. If I hadn’t been tethered to Colton, I would have turned around and ran.
A light, airy laugh trickled out of the kitchen before I heard Mr. Dyson say, “I miss him.”
Grady ambled in, not saying a word, and beelined to the fridge.
Three rounded black pendant lights shone over the island, highlighting specks of gold in the marble top.
Mr. Dyson set his wine glass down and regarded Colton and me. “Skyler. Colton.” Mr. Dyson’s deep voice penetrated through the shock that had me rooted to the floor. “Come in.”
Colton nudged me, but I didn’t move. I was fixated on Ashley as if she was the most fascinating person I’d ever seen. I was trying to find the resemblance in the woman who had given birth to me. She had a small nose and maybe similar hair color, but I found her prettier in person than in her photo. Her light-brown hair was thick and wavy, spilling down around her shoulders. Her skin appeared to be smooth, with the right amount of blush to accentuate her high cheekbones.
Colton let go of me, jolting me out of my haze.
“This is Ashley,” Mr. Dyson said.
I swallowed a pail of sand.
Her brown eyes locked on mine with an unspoken plea that said, “Forgive me.”
I’d had no idea how I would react when I met her, but for some reason a slow, simmering anger deep in the recesses of my psyche took root.
Silence seemed to drop from the high ceiling and splatter down around us. My brain was processing, and with Ashley studying me, I suddenly had no desire to ask my myriad questions about why she’d given me up.
I couldn’t get past the expensive dress she was wearing or the diamond-studded earrings that beamed like a beacon in the night. My gaze lowered to her hands to see if she was married, but I didn’t see a ring. She gave me the impression she’d done quite well for herself—a nice cushy life, one where she didn’t have any kids to support, and one where she’d given up her child for a better future.
That simmering anger bubbled to the surface, and I ground my back teeth.
“Hey,” Colton whispered.
I broke free from Ashley’s scrutiny. I needed air and a moment to gather my thoughts. I spun on my heel, hurried through the house, and went out to the front porch. The warm salt air hit me like a slap in the face, just what I needed to clear the fog from my head. Inhaling, I ran around the house and onto the narrow, lighted path that led to the beach. The Atlantic was calm beneath the full moon, a stark contrast to the turbulence in my stomach.
I stopped before my feet hit the sand and took in a humongous breath.
“Skyler.” Ashley’s soft voice only served to fray my emotions even more. “Can we talk?”
I expelled all the air in my lungs. I wanted to tell her no, but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth.
She stood beside me. “I’ve thought about this moment for many years.” Her voice was barely audible over the music of the waves.
Funny, I hadn’t. Not that I was complaining or blaming Dad for not telling me. He’d done what he thought was best. Maybe she did too.
“Is Mr. Dyson my father?” That came out of nowhere. They did look chummy when I’d walked in, and if they’d known each other since high school, it was quite possible Mr. Dyson could be my bio dad. If that were true, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about that, and Grady might wig out.
She tensed, hunching her shoulders as a light wind ruffled her hair. “Your father was Mr. Dyson’s best friend in high school.”
I jerked my head her way. “Was?”
She frowned. “He died in a motorcycle accident in his senior year.”
I dropped my chin to my chest, staving off the need to cry for a man I didn’t know. Why do people keep dying in my life? I knew no one could answer that, but for fuck’s sake.
“Skyler is such a pretty name,” she muttered, reaching out to touch my hair.
I jumped back, my eyebrows creasing in the middle.
She held up her small hands. “I’m sorry.”
“My bio dad dies, and what? You decide to give me up?” My tone was harsher than I intended.
Tears glistened in her eyes. “It’s not like that.”
“Then what?” I dropped the brassiness in my voice.
She fidgeted with her hands, clearly not knowing what to do with them. “I can see you’re not ready to listen. When you are, you can give me a call. Mr. Dyson has my number.” She gave me one last long look, then left.
My mind spun, and I just stood there, not knowing how to get past the fact that I’d just met my birth mom or that my bio dad was dead. The latter was messing with my head. Everyone around me died.
>
Ripples of water ruffled the shore’s edge. Maybe dipping my toes in the cool Atlantic would give me some clarity or temper my tender emotions. I kicked off my Vans when Colton’s husky voice floated on the breeze.
“Skyler, wait.” He jogged over. “What happened?”
I wiggled my toes beneath the soft sand. “Nothing really, except I learned my bio dad is dead.” I couldn’t understand why that bothered me.
“I’m sorry.” He cocooned me in his arms.
“It seems people keep dying around me.”
He rubbed my back. “This might make you laugh. Grady thought for a hot second you and he were brother and sister.”
“I guess we both had the same thought.”
He laughed. “Really?”
I started for the ocean’s edge. “They were high school friends. I got the feeling they had a thing back then.”
Colton followed. “Grady said it would’ve made sense if you were related because you two are so much alike.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I guess we do argue like sister and brother.”
A wave broke, slithering toward us.
I dipped my toes in the water. “Ashley seems nice enough. But I guess she won’t be any help with my guardian situation if we need her.”
The water slid over Colton’s Nikes. “Well, if you end up moving, I might have to kidnap you,” he teased, looking out at the vast Atlantic.
I forced a smile. “I would let you.” I knew I would run if I had to, but Nan and my aunt would work things out. I had to believe that.
“Aside from your bio dad, did she tell you why she gave you up?” Colton asked.
“No. She said I wasn’t ready to listen. She’s right. She seems like she has a lot of money and a good life. For some reason, that rubbed me the wrong way. I wish my dad were alive. I mean, my adoptive dad. I miss him so much. He would know what to do and say.”
He turned to face me. “You will, too, baby. I’m proud of you.”
“I love you, Colton.”
“Baby doll, I can’t begin to tell you how important you are to me. I love you hard. You are the calm in my storm. So let me be yours.”
Crazy For You Page 22