Finding You: The Switched Series book one (9 page)

He hands the plates to me before starting the truck. “Cindy didn’t want us to starve,” he says, backing out of the driveway. It smells really good, but I don’t think I will ever have an appetite again.

“Was she mad?”

“Of course not, she is just worried about you. I promised to take care of you for the night. I’m sure when Brody figures it out, he will come straight home. What did Molly say to you?” he asks, turning down his road.

“Not a lot, just that she didn’t want a sister. I don’t want one either, but I didn’t tell her that. It’s not just Molly. I just really hate this holiday. I have for a really long time now.”

“I know you won’t believe this, but I hate this holiday too. Bo and Cindy go all out for all holidays around here and I always spend them with them. Not the Fourth of July though. I usually just sit at home by myself,” he says, reaching over to grab my hand. “I’m glad we can hate it together this year,” he says, making me smile for the first time tonight.

We get back to the house and he eats while I play with my food. My phone starts ringing and I look down to see Clay’s name on the screen.

“I need to get this, I’ll be right back,” I say to Ash before going outside to answer the call. “Hello,” I answer.

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good, just got home a few minutes ago. I think I’m going to call it a night. Thanks for always checking on me,” I say.

“It’s no problem. Call if you need me. I’ll talk to you later. Bye Callie,” he says, before hanging up. I open the door and go back inside to find Ash cleaning the kitchen.

“I know I am no fun tonight. I think I’m just going to go to bed,” I say, grabbing my purse so I will have my sleeping pills. So far I haven’t had any nightmares, but I’m pretty sure tonight that will change.

“Can I show you something first?” he asks, grabbing my hand and taking me back outside to the front porch. We walk over to the swing hanging on the porch and sit down.

“You wanted to show me your porch,” I say, snuggling into him.

“It’s a nice porch,” he says, pointing to the sky. “Watch that direction.”

“Okay, it really is beautiful out here. I am going to miss it when I go back to Florida,” I say, feeling the tears start again. I am a big mess tonight.

“You don’t have to go back, you can stay here,” he says, holding me tighter.

“My job is there, I need to pay my bills,” I say, knowing that’s a lie. I do have a job and I need to pay my bills, I just don’t need the job to pay the bills. Thanks to my grandparents, I have a nice trust fund and would probably never have to work another day again. Of course I’m sure if Molly knew about that, she would claim that too.

“You can find a job here. I really don’t want you to leave,” he says as the sky begins to light up.

“I don’t think I have watched fireworks since I was a little girl. I was so scared of them then.”

“I always come out here to watch them on this day. My family always went crazy when it came to fireworks. My mom loved them. I guess this just makes me feel closer to them on this day.”

The fireworks last about ten minutes and they are beautiful. I am so comfortable that I don’t even try to move off of Ash when I see a truck pulling in the driveway a few minutes later. I guess Brody finally decided to come home.

“Is it going to look really bad if I don’t move off of you right now? I am really comfortable. If you think he will shoot you, I’ll move. I would protect you, but my gun is in my purse.”

“I’m good with you not moving. I like having you close to me. I’m pretty sure he already knows there is something going on. I don’t care if you don’t.”

“I don’t care. I don’t think we should make out or anything, but I’m kind of tired of making sure I am nowhere around you when he’s in the room,” I say. He just laughs at me when Brody walks up the steps.

“Hey. We missed y’all tonight,” he says, coming over to sit in the chair next to the swing.

“I’m sorry. It was a little bit more than I was ready for.”

“I understand. I hope Molly wasn’t too mean. She has been a little difficult lately,” he says, looking at us. “Y’all could at least try to hide it from me.” Shaking his head he stands up to go inside. “I have a surprise for you tomorrow Callie. I hope Ash can make it one day without you,” he says, disappearing inside.

“What is he talking about,” I ask Ash.

“I have no idea what he is talking about,” he says, absentmindedly playing with a piece of my hair.

“Do you know how long he has known about us?” I ask, sitting up to look at his face. He looks at me with his smile and shrugs.

“He’s my best friend. There was no way I was going to ruin my friendship with him by sneaking around with you. I told him the night we went to check the barn after the storm.”

“That was over a month ago,” I say, shocked. “I can’t believe he has known all of this time. Does anybody else know?”

“I don’t think so. He thought it would be better to keep it a secret for now.” I can’t believe Brody has known all of this time and not said anything to me.

“I’m pretty sure he has a trap set up at night to make sure we stay in the right bed though,” he adds, with a laugh. I wonder how many other people we haven’t been fooling.

I am sound asleep when I feel somebody slide into the bed beside me. “Ash, Brody will seriously shoot you if he finds you in bed with me.”

“I have been missing out on a lot of things if you are letting boys sleep in the bed with you,” Leighton says from beside me. I jump up faster than I have moved in a long time. “Surprise,” she says, grabbing me and hugging me.

“You’re my surprise. I have missed you so much,” I scream, not wanting to let her go. “I can’t believe you are here. When did you decide to come?”

“I have wanted to come all summer, but wanted to give you some time with your new family. Brody called last night and said you could probably use a friend around here, so I got on the next flight and here I am.”

“Thank you so much. I was thinking of jumping on a plane and coming home today. Maybe you can change my mind,” I say, falling back down in the bed.

“That bad huh,” she says, smiling. “That hottie in the kitchen should be enough to keep you here in my opinion. Especially if you thought he was getting in your bed.”

“You met Ash?” I ask her.

“I did meet Ash and I don’t think he was too happy to see me especially when he found out I was stealing you and taking you to the hotel with me to stay. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“I guess it will be okay as long as it’s the haunted one. That should be fun. I’m really glad to see you. Thank you so much for coming.”

“You are so welcome. I needed another vacation. So, tell me about Molly,” she says, lying down on the bed beside me.

We spent the next couple of hours catching up before I finally got out of the bed to get dressed for the day.

Chapter Eleven

              I can’t believe summer is already almost over. This has definitely been one to remember. The past month has flown by with Leighton being here. We have had so much fun staying in the haunted hotel. She has been trying to talk me into staying here promising to come visit me every chance she gets. I’m still not sure that’s such a great idea, but I also know I’m not ready to leave Ash yet either.

I haven’t seen Molly since the night of the Fourth. Bo and Cindy still come over to Ash’s at least four nights a week to get to know me and that has been great. They still don’t know anything is going on between me and Ash. I didn’t want them to think he would be a reason for me to stay or go, so I thought it would be best not to tell them. I’m beginning to think that was a bad idea.

Brody has finally bought his own place and moved out of Ash’s. He told me I was welcome to stay with him if I decide to stay here longer. I still have no idea what to do. We are supposed to go over to Bo and Cindy’s tomorrow night for another cookout. I still don’t think it’s a good idea, but it seems to be important to them. Leighton and Ash will be there, but that is all other than immediate family. I don’t think I would be able to make it without the two of them.

Tonight is just me, Ash, Leighton, and Brody hanging out. The boys grilled out and we have all been talking and laughing nonstop. I’m really going to miss this place if I decide not to stay. I have done so many new things over the past couple of months. I finally got to ride a horse which has always been a lifelong dream of mine. Ash took me fishing for the first time and even put the bait on my hook when I didn’t want to touch it. I really don’t know how I am going to make it without him. We have spent so much time together this summer.

“I can’t believe it’s already midnight,” I say, looking at the clock. “We should probably head out.”

“Why don’t we all spend one last night here? We can watch one of your girl movies you brought over. You two can sleep in my bed and I’ll take the couch,” Brody says, looking at us.

“A slumber party,” Leighton screams. “That would be so much fun. I’ll go pick the movie.” She heads into the living room with Brody to pick a movie leaving me with Ash.

“I really wish you would tell me what you are thinking. I need to prepare myself if you are going to leave,” Ash says, pulling me to him. I grab his hand and drag him into the living room with me. I sit down on the couch and pull him down beside me. I’m pretty sure I am not going anywhere. I don’t think I am ready to leave him or my new family yet. I still need to get through tomorrow night with Molly first. Tonight, I am going to enjoy being with three of my favorite people. I guess I can worry about tomorrow night tomorrow.

Leighton and I pull up into the driveway I haven’t been to in a month. My plan is to just go in and try my best to ignore Molly. I know she doesn’t want me here, but I’m not doing this for her. I’m doing this for Bo and Cindy. If she wants to ruin their night, it is going to be completely on her. I’m very glad to see Ash’s truck already here. That means he and Brody are already inside. Maybe this night won’t end as bad as the last time I was here.

Before we even make it to the front door, Cindy already has it open and is hugging me. “I’m so glad you both came,” she says, moving so we can come inside.

“Thank you for inviting me,” Leighton says.

“You are welcome anytime. Any friend of Callie’s is a member of our family,” she says, closing the door behind me. I walk into the kitchen to find everybody standing around talking. I don’t see Molly anywhere. I’m hoping she decided to stay away tonight after all. After I say hi to everybody, I walk into the living room to look at all of the family pictures I noticed the first night I was here.

I turn around to find Molly standing in the room watching me. “I guess you missed out on a lot not having a family,” she says, looking at the pictures.

“I had a family,” I say to her, “they just didn’t get to stay around long enough.” Why is she in here? I want to run out of the room, but that is probably what she is hoping for too. I am not playing into any of her games tonight.              

“What’s going on with you and Ash?” she asks, looking at some pictures that he is in. He really is close to this family.

“Nothing, we are just good friends,” I say. I don’t see any reason to share anything with her.

“You better be careful. He’s been known to break a few hearts. Mine included. We used to be together. Did he tell you that? He has some serious issues. Like I said, you may want to be careful with him.”              I know she’s lying. He would have told me if he had any kind of relationship with her. She is really trying to get under my skin. “I just thought you should know. I mean it’s bad enough you didn’t know you were with the wrong family all those years.” Is she trying to tell me she knew she was with the wrong family? “Don’t look so surprised. I’m not stupid. I had a science class in college. We were doing blood typing and I found out what mine was. That weekend I came home and we were all talking about our blood types. That’s when I realized I didn’t match either one of my parents. My life finally made sense then. I never really thought I fit into this family. I stopped coming around so much then. I didn’t know how to tell them, so I didn’t. I just kept it to myself. I’m so sorry you didn’t know.”

“You are lying,” I say to her really hoping she is.

“I’m not. I guess you are feeling pretty stupid right now. I’m glad I didn’t tell anybody. That was just an extra eight years I kept you away. The perfect beautiful daughter they always wanted.”              

“I can’t believe this,” I scream at her. “I’ve known for ten years, that’s a couple more than you. The only difference between me and you is I didn’t want to hurt you. I was only sixteen and I knew how devastated you would be to find out your whole life was a lie and you would never be able to meet your real family, so I chose not to find this family for you. I knew everything about every one of you before I ever came here. I can’t believe I cheated myself out of ten years for a spoiled brat like you,” I say, looking up to find everybody has joined us in the living room. Molly is staring at me with her mouth wide open. Everybody just looks in shock right now. I look over to find Cindy with tears streaming down her face.

“You’ve known for ten years?” she asks me looking heart broken. What have I done?