“Morgan, I was going to take you bowling. They’re old enough to come along. There’s no reason we can’t still go out. They can play too.”
“Really?” I asked, just managing to stop the squeak that nearly came out.
“Sure.”
“Well, okay. I guess that would work.”
“Cool. I’ve got to get back to work, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
Pressing the off button, I raced downstairs to tell Mom the news.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” she asked, a look of uncertainty on her face.
“It’s either that or don’t go out at all.”
“If you’re sure,” she said.
I glanced at my brothers, who were now quietly watching TV. “They’re not that bad.” When I looked back at Mom, she just smiled.
“Hey, Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Do you have GPS?”
“Yeah. You know how Dad is about getting gadgets. We got it before . . . well, before he left.” She paused. “Why?”
When she mentioned Dad leaving, I felt my heart lurch a little as I was reminded yet again about the craziness of this world. But that was exactly why I needed to use Mom’s GPS. “Can I borrow it sometime? Is it mobile?”
“Yes, it’s mobile. But why would you need to borrow it?”
“Well, I just have such a bad sense of direction. I thought it would be interesting to use it sometime.” The lie came easily and I felt ashamed. But I knew my reason for lying was legitimate and if Mom knew what had happened (assuming she’d believe me, which I knew she wouldn’t), she would let me do what I needed to. “Is it in the car?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mind if I see how it works?”
“No.” She smiled. “It’s the least I can do after you worked so hard to clean the house.”
I smiled back, her appreciation warming me. I went out to the car and found the device in the glove compartment. Evidently she hadn’t used it in a while, because the battery was dead. I brought it in the house and plugged it in, then played with the commands. Deciding to enter the coordinates for both the hut and the tunnel, I went and got the paper where I’d written down the information, then entered in both sets of coordinates and set them as favorites
I decided to do a dry-run of sorts and I selected the saved favorite for the tunnel. After a minute the GPS had acquired the satellite and the first direction I would need to take appeared on the screen. My heart pounded and I knew I was one step closer to getting home.
Before I went to bed I put the GPS and its charger in the pillowcase with the other items and felt comforted knowing it was there when I was ready.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Connor knocked on the house the next afternoon, Zac and Brandon raced to answer the door before I could stop them. They were beyond excited to go with us and I wondered if they had ever gone bowling before.
“Morgan! He’s here! He’s here!” Brandon yelled from the open doorway.
My face reddened as I looked at Connor standing right next to my eight-year-old brother. Trying to pretend I wasn’t as excited as them, I said, “Yes, thank you.” But when my eyes met Connor’s and I saw his lips form a wide grin, my heart began pounding so hard that I thought I was in danger of passing out.
“Aren’t you gonna invite him in?” Zac asked loudly from the entryway.
“Uh, yeah.” I tried to unobtrusively wipe my suddenly sweaty hands on my jeans, then I motioned toward the living room, glad I had taken a few minutes to straighten up. “Come in.”
“Thanks,” he said as he walked past Brandon, who still held the door open.
He walked toward me and stopped a few feet away, then turned toward my brothers, who were barely controlling their excitement. “Well, guys,” he said. “Who’s ready to go bowling?”
“We are!” they shouted in unison.
I couldn’t help but laugh at their reaction.
Connor turned toward me. “What about you? Are you ready?” He stepped closer and murmured, “After all, you’re the one I really want to spend time with.”
This time my heart felt like it had stopped beating for a moment. And just when I’d thought of a clever answer, Brandon yelled, “What are you guys talking about over there?”
My clever answer evaporated as the blood left my brain and rushed to my face. But Connor turned away from me and didn’t seem to notice my embarrassment.
“All right, let’s get this show on the road.” Connor walked toward the open door.
I followed him as I took a deep breath to try to calm my emotions. He turned to make sure I was coming and winked at me. We’d been on our date for less than five minutes, but already I was falling harder for him.
After herding the boys into his car, he opened the passenger door for me and I slid into the seat. He climbed into the driver’s side then turned to the backseat where Zac and Brandon were bouncing on the seat.
“You have to put your seatbelts on before we can go anywhere,” he said.
I looked at him in surprise. It seemed most teenagers didn’t care about seatbelts, though my mom had always drilled it into us to wear ours.
“What?” he asked, catching me looking at him.
I just smiled.
He grinned, then leaned toward me and whispered, “I think it will better if they’re locked down back there, don’t you?”
This time I laughed as I nodded. “How do you know so much about little boys? You don’t have any brothers, right?”
“Number one, I used to be a little boy,” he said. “Number two, I have three nephews close to their age.”
“We’re ready, Connor,” Zac said.
“Good job, guys,” he replied as he looked back to make sure they were actually belted in.
The drive to the bowling alley was uneventful. I was almost afraid to talk to Connor for fear that Zac or Brandon would jump in to the conversation and say something embarrassing. A short time later we arrived and as soon as the car had stopped the boys were pushing past each other to get out of the car.
“They’re sure full of energy,” Connor said as we watched them dash toward the entrance.
I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a complaint. “Yeah.” I began to walk faster. “And we’d better hurry or they’ll tear the place apart before we get inside.”
Connor just laughed as he caught up with me and we rushed inside. To my relief, the boys were actually waiting for us.
“You guys are slow pokes,” Brandon announced.
“I tried to keep up, but you guys are just too fast for me,” Connor said.
When I saw the look of delight on Brandon’s face, I felt my heart melt for Connor even more. He was being so sweet to my brothers even though he had no reason to.
The four of us went to the counter and rented our shoes and Connor paid for the lane. We had to spend some time showing my little brothers how to bowl, confirming my suspicion that this was their first time bowling. Even though it seemed Connor was giving more attention to Zac and Brandon than to me, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the three of them having so much fun.
After we’d been bowling for about forty-five minutes, I sat on one of the chairs by our lane. To my delight, moments later Connor slid in to the seat next to me, a smile on his face.
“I think they’re getting the hang of it,” he said, motioning to my brothers who jumped in excitement any time a pin fell over.
“Yeah, they had a good teacher.”
“Thanks. It was fun to teach them.”
He leaned closer to me and my pulse surged. “What about you?” he asked. “Do you need some private lessons?”
“Am I doing that bad?” I asked, laughing.
“No, that’s not what I meant.” He smiled. “I just thought it would be nice to have some time on an actual date instead of babysitting.”
“I see how it is,” I said. “You’re just using my brothers to
get close to me.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “That’s it.”
Though I was exhilarated by the attention he was giving me, I had to control my eagerness. After all, I would be gone in just a few weeks.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“A little,” I said, though I was actually ravenous.
“Great. I’ll get us something to eat.”
I watched him walk away and went to help Brandon, who was having trouble holding the bowling ball right. I was so focused on my brothers that I didn’t realize someone had walked up next to me until I heard my name.
Startled, I spun around to see who was talking to me. It was Lori.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, a smirk on her face.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted.
“Bowling, duh.” She laughed and turned toward the three girls standing a little ways behind her. They laughed too.
I hadn’t seen them there and felt awkward to have them watching me.
“How sweet of you to take your baby brothers bowling.”
“I’m not a baby!” Brandon shouted.
“Whatever,” Lori said, rolling her eyes.
I felt the urge to slap her, but kept my hands to myself.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to your babysitting,” she said, a look of derision on her face.
“Actually,” I began, about to explain I was on a date with Connor. But just then Brandon shouted “Food!” We all turned to see Connor carrying sandwiches in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other. At the look of shock on Lori’s face, I couldn’t keep the broad smile from forming on mine. “Like I was about to say, I’m not just here with my brothers.” I paused as Lori turned back to me. “But I guess you can see that.”
Lori’s face was flushed and she didn’t say a word as she stared at me.
“Excuse me,” I said as I moved past her. Then I dropped my voice to a whisper as I turned back toward her. “I’m going to eat some sandwiches with my date.”
At the look of fury on her face, I wondered if I’d pushed the wrong buttons, but couldn’t seem to help myself. I wanted her to feel jealous. I wanted her to know she couldn’t control me. I knew it was stupid. After all, I would be gone in a few weeks.
Maybe that’s why I was being so bold—because I knew I wouldn’t be around to deal with the consequences. It gave me a feeling of invincibility. All my life I had been relatively careful, never rocking the boat. It felt invigorating to do the things I was never brave enough to do before.
“Let’s go,” Lori said to the three girls that had apparently been waiting for orders from her.
“See ya, Lori,” Connor called after her as she walked away.
The look of fury I’d seen moments before fled as she smiled at Connor. This time I was the one rolling my eyes, but my attention quickly turned away from Lori and toward Connor and the boys. I slid into a seat at the table and grabbed a napkin before picking up one of the sandwiches.
We enjoyed our snack and a short time later we were back to bowling. Connor grabbed his bowling ball and had just rolled it down the lane when we heard his name called out over the speakers.
“Connor Matthews. Please come to the main guest area.”
“I wonder what’s going on,” he said.
I watched him walk away, a bad feeling beginning in my gut.
A few minutes later he was back, a worried look on his face. “We need to go.”
“What’s up?” I asked, starting to feel worried too.
“I don’t know. They got a call saying there’s some sort of emergency and I need to get home right away. I tried calling my house, but there was no answer.”
I felt my forehead crease in concern, wondering what was going on. “I wonder why they didn’t call your cell phone.”
“I don’t know.”
I turned to my brothers who were rolling the bowling ball down the lane, oblivious to this new drama. “Hey guys,” I said as I walked up behind them. “I’m sorry, but we have to go now.”
“Awwww,” Brandon said. “How come?”
“Connor has to get home.”
“Connor, we don’t want to go,” Zac said.
“Sorry guys,” he said. “But the fun has to end sometime. I promise I’ll bring you bowling again though, okay?”
“Okay,” they said, obviously resigned to leaving.
We quickly gathered our things and headed toward the exit. Just as we turned toward the door, I glanced to the side and saw Lori sitting a short distance away, watching us, a smirk on her face and I suddenly felt like I had lost this battle.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We pulled up to my house and as Zac and Brandon raced to the front door, I sat in my seat, waiting to see what Connor’s next move would be. He climbed out of the driver’s seat and came around to my side, opened the door and held out his hand. As our fingers touched, anticipation coursed through me. He smiled down at me as I allowed him to help me from the car. He held on to my hand as we walked toward the front door and I thought my heart would burst from happiness.
“Come on, guys,” Zac said, clearly exasperated at our slow pace. “I need to pee.”
I felt my face redden and had to let go of Connor’s hand to dig the keys out of my purse. A moment later I let the boys into the house. Connor stood next to me on the porch and I turned to face him. “Do you want to come in?”
“I’m sorry, Morgan. But I’ve got to get home and see what’s going on.”
I nodded. “Okay. I had fun bowling with you.” I bit the inside of my lip and glanced at the ground in anticipation of what would come next, but when I looked back at Connor, he wasn’t even looking at me and seemed distracted. “Connor?” I felt forgotten and unimportant.
“Yeah?” Then he seemed to remember I was there. “Oh sorry. Hey, I had fun too, but I’ve really gotta go. I’ll see you at school on Monday, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
He smiled for a second, but it was quickly replaced by a look of worry. “Bye, Morgan.”
I frowned as he turned his back and hurried to his car. Not wanting to watch him drive away, I went into the house and closed the door before he’d even turned on the engine.
“That was so fun, Morgan,” Brandon said. “I want to go again. Make Connor take me again, okay? Okay, Morgan?”
His excited voice dug under my nerves and I had to use what little self-control I had not to yell at him. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly and smiled as best I could. “I’ll see what I can do. Now, why don’t you go play in your room for a while?”
“Okay,” he said happily before speeding up the stairs.
As I sunk onto the couch, I sighed dramatically, allowing myself to feel pity that my date had gone so poorly. First, it was hardly a date and more like a babysitting job. Then we had to cut it short because of some kind of family thing, and to top it all off, there was no kiss at the end. I leaned my head against the couch cushions and reminded myself that I should stop being so self-centered and instead I should be worried about Connor’s family emergency. I mean, what if something had happened to Anne or one of his parents?
I sat up straight as I imagined something happening to someone I loved. Of course I wouldn’t be thinking about dates and kissing. I’d be worried about my family. Especially if I had no idea what was going on. No wonder Connor was so distracted. Now I felt like an insensitive idiot for only thinking about myself. And Connor probably thought I was a jerk for not asking what I could do.
I felt myself sinking into self-pity again but then I remembered how distracted Connor had been and realized he probably hadn’t noticed my lack of sensitivity. In fact, it seemed he’d barely thought about me at all.
Maybe he won’t think I’m a jerk, I consoled myself. And I can make up for it by calling him and seeing if I can help. Plus I really do want to make sure everything is okay at his house.
Feeling better about myself, but now beginning to worry for Conn
or, I went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone before dialing Connor’s cell phone. He answered immediately.
“Hi. It’s me, Morgan.”
“Oh, hi.”
I frowned at the obvious disappointment in his voice. Maybe I shouldn’t have called. “I, uh, I was just wondering if everything was okay.”
He sighed. “I don’t know. No one was home when I got here and I don’t know where they are. I called my mom’s cell phone, but then I heard it ringing in the kitchen. She must have left in a hurry because she left it here. And my dad’s just went to voice mail. I have no idea what’s going on. If they took the time to track me down, they could have at least left a note.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything. Several scenarios flashed through my mind, but I didn’t want to share them with him since it would just make things worse. “Is there anything I can do to help?” I finally asked.
“Thanks, but I don’t think so.”
“Will you call me when you find anything out?”
“Sure.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”
“Bye, Morgan. Thanks for calling.”
I hung up and went back to the couch, then picked up the TV remote from the coffee table and flipped through the channels. I wasn’t able to focus on any of the programs as I waited to hear something from Connor. After an hour I was tempted to call him again, but didn’t want to hear the disappointment in his voice again when he realized it was only me.
Patience had never been my strong point, but I forced myself to wait. When the phone rang two hours after I’d talked to Connor, I jumped, startled. Then I hurried to the phone and answered.
It was Connor.
“So what’s going on?” I asked, skipping all small talk.
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean? You haven’t found them yet?”
“No, I mean my mom and Anne came home a few minutes ago and had no idea what I was talking about. They’d been out shopping.”
“What about your dad?”
“My mom said she’d talked to him a little while before and he hadn’t mentioned anything.”
Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) Page 17