“I’ll be right back,” I said, jumping from the truck and running into the building.
I gave Mrs. Henderson a quick wave as I took off up the stairs to my room. There was no time to stop and talk and I really wasn’t in the mood for her to tell me that she knew I hadn’t been here last night. Despite the attitudes of everyone in town, it wasn’t anyone’s business what Garrett and I did.
Once in my room, I changed quickly, tossing my clothes from the night before next to my suitcase on the floor. I put on a pair of old jeans, a tank top, and a thick sweatshirt. I wore a pair of thick socks and my new winter boots. This was all topped off by the new coat, hat, and gloves I had acquired two days ago from my Walmart run. I had so many layers on I was beginning to sweat by the time I made it back out to Garrett’s truck.
“Now that’s tree-cutting gear,” Garrett said with a grin.
I spun around like I was on a runway so that he could see the whole outfit. “That’s right, brand-spanking-new, too.” I laughed.
Garrett chuckled. “I guess you don’t really have a need for clothes like these in Florida.”
“Not at all. I’d die of heat stroke.”
We headed to the other end of town, away from the direction we had come. The Davis Tree Farm was at the other edge of town, closer to where my parents lived. I was beginning to feel excited about Christmas in a way I hadn’t since I’d left Gandy’s Ridge
When was the last time I enjoyed Christmas?
A memory from the winter before everything blew up came to mind—my parents, Shay, and I all sitting around the fire in the family room with hot cocoa after opening all of our presents. Both of my parents were only children—or so I had thought at the time—and besides my gran, my dad’s mom, we didn’t have any other family in town that we were close to. Usually, the four of us and Gran spent the holidays together. But it was always enough for Shay and me. We felt loved and cared for.
Until my parents said I betrayed them.
I shook my head, unable to wrap my head around what would happen this year for Christmas. No one had mentioned what the plans were to me, and Shay seemed to be avoiding it altogether. If my father didn’t want me to visit on a regular day, there was no way he would let me over for a holiday gathering. Sadness filled my chest at the idea of spending Christmas alone at the bed-and-breakfast. Would my mother let that happen after everything she’d said to me yesterday at the diner? I had to believe she wouldn’t, otherwise coming home was a big mistake.
“We’re here,” Garrett said.
Willing my runaway thoughts to the back of my mind, I pivoted in my seat to look at him.
“Everything okay? You were a million miles away just now,” he said as he shut off the truck.
I shrugged. “Just thinking about Christmas. I’m not even sure I’ll be welcome at my parents’ house to celebrate.”
Garrett gave me a hard look for a moment. “Would they really do that to their own daughter on Christmas?” Anger flashed in his eyes.
I shrugged again. “I’m not sure. But my dad doesn’t want to be anywhere near me.”
Garrett shook his head. “I just don’t understand what you could have done to make him treat you this way.”
I sighed, the words I had wanted to tell Garrett since the night I ran into him bubbling up in my chest. But what would he think about me if I did? Would he think I was less trustworthy than before? I had to tell someone because it was eating me alive.
“I guess he doesn’t trust me anymore. He feels that I betrayed him.”
“It’s not like you murdered someone.” Garrett gave me a sideways glance. “Right?”
He looked nervous. I wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not but it made me laugh.
“No. Nothing as sinister as that.”
“Well, then he should be able to forgive you. I don’t know what you did, but I would have a hard time not forgiving you.”
Those were the sweetest words a person had ever said to me, especially someone who didn’t know me as well as my own parents did.
“I told Shay that she was adopted,” I blurted before I could chicken out.
His eyes grew wide for a moment but then his expression became neutral again. “Wow, that’s a doozy. But not unforgiveable. Was she the only one who didn’t know? How old was she when you told her?”
I took a deep breath. It seemed we were doing this now, here in the parking lot of the Christmas tree farm. But if I didn’t get it all out now, I never would.
“She was thirteen, more than old enough to handle it. The crazy part is, I found out by accident. My parents hadn’t told me, either. I found out when I was working at Dr. Mason’s office. I was inputting the patient records into the computer system. When I got to Shay’s file. I looked through it. I probably shouldn’t have, it was a HIPPA violation, but she was my little sister, and I thought I knew everything about her medical history. Turns out, I was wrong.” I paused, taking a deep breath. Garrett didn’t say a word; he just sat patiently and waited for me to continue.
“I skimmed over it at first, just looking through it the way I had when I found my own file. But something stood out to me. Shay’s last name was wrong in the early records. It said her name was Shaylyn Brooke Crane. I thought it was a mistake until I read further down. My parents’ names weren’t listed on the first two recorded doctor visits. Someone else’s name was—a woman named Hailey Crane. It confused the hell out of me, and I was so upset I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to ask my parents about it, but I was afraid they would get mad at me for snooping.
“So, instead of asking, I decided to snoop some more to find what I needed. I found Hailey Crane’s file in the files I was digitizing. It was a short file and at the very end of the file, before it had been closed, it said she gave birth to a baby girl on Shay’s birthday. Everything started to fall into place, but I was still missing information. Who was Hailey Crane and why didn’t Shay or I know that she was adopted? I was five when Shay was born and I can’t remember if my mom was pregnant. The only thing I remember was that there was a baby coming.”
I stopped, shaking my head and looking at my hands in my lap. There was more, so much more to the story, but I wasn’t sure if I could continue.
“Did you ask them about it?” Garrett asked. He was leaning closer to me, practically on the edge of his seat to find out what happened next.
I nodded, taking another deep breath. “I did. One afternoon when Shay was at a friend’s house, I confronted them. I asked them who Hailey Crane was and if she was Shay’s real mother. My dad got pissed at me, screaming that my mom was Shay’s real mother and that his whore of a sister would never be Shay’s mother. I was shocked, not only that he had a sister but that he hated her so much. My mother was crying and trying to calm my father down. I just wanted information. I wanted the truth. So, I asked them, point blank, if Shay knew. They both said that she didn’t and that she would never know.
“Apparently, my father’s biological sister, my grandfather’s illegitimate child from an affair he had when my father was in high school, found him the summer she found out she was pregnant with Shay. She said she was raped, but they later found out she was a prostitute and she got pregnant with Shay while she was addicted to heroin. She’d been selling her body for drug money. My mother said they would take the baby, pretend that she was theirs, and give Hailey money to go far away and start her life over. They paid for her to stay in a hotel in Pittsburgh, paid all of her medical bills, and my mother told everyone she was having a baby in the spring. No one ever knew the truth and that was how it was supposed to be. I guess they never thought that taking Hailey to their family doctor would backfire on them.”
Garrett’s forehead creased. “But why did Shay have Hailey’s last name?”
“That’s what I asked them. They said Hailey didn’t want to give Shay up when she was born. She refused to let my parents see her for two weeks and put her name on the birth certificate. Due to Hailey’s addiction,
Shay was born premature. My parents threatened to call child protective services on her if she didn’t give up her parental rights. They also said they wouldn’t give her any more money, so she and Shay would be living on the streets. Hailey finally gave in, signed the adoption papers and left town.”
“Wow,” Garrett said. “Just, wow. That’s a lot of information.”
I nodded. “Now imagine it was your family and you were eighteen when you found all that out.”
I clenched my hands in my lap, they were suddenly freezing even through my thick gloves. Garrett took my hands in his. I looked up at him, my throat tight with unshed tears. Even after all this time, this story upset me.
“Thank you for trusting me with this information. You don’t have to deal with this by yourself. What happened ten years ago wasn’t your fault, Bianca. Your parents had no right to keep that from you or Shay. You weren’t trying to hurt them, but they deliberately hurt you.”
“I know that now. But at the time, I felt like I had ruined the whole family. They made me feel like I had destroyed their lives. I didn’t tell anyone but Shay, not even Gran knows about Hailey. It wasn’t my place to tell anyone else, but I couldn’t carry that information around about my sister and never tell her the truth.”
Garrett nodded in agreement. I searched his face for a reaction, one that would tell me he thought I was a bad person for blowing up my sister’s happy life with such a bombshell but I didn’t see one. I justified telling Shay the truth because if I had been in her position, I would have wanted to know.
“I understand if you don’t feel like getting a tree right now,” he said.
I shook my head. “I want to. Your house needs some Christmas spirit and I need to do something to distract me from what I just told you.” I forced out a small laugh, but it sounded wooden and stiff.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. One hundred percent. I need a distraction.”
We hopped out of the truck, and I burrowed further into my new down coat, the icy air creeping down into the neckline. With a shiver, I pulled up my hood to cover my hair. It was too cold to be worried about what my hair looked like, even though if felt like Garrett and I were on a date. Garrett gathered his gear from the back of the truck—chainsaw, gloves, and handsaw—and we set off into the forest of pines.
We walked around for a long time before we came to an area of taller trees. There wasn’t much conversation, both of us lost in our own thoughts as we searched for the “perfect” tree.
“What size are you looking for?” he asked me, finally breaking the silence.
“What size do you want?” We made our way through the trees, weaving in and out. There were few other people there, what with it being only a few days until Christmas and cold as sin.
“Six or seven feet should work. I have nine-foot ceilings.” He stopped in front of a beautiful Blue Spruce and pointed at it. “How about this?”
I circled the tree, looking for bare or dead spots but didn’t find any. It really was a beautiful tree.
“Gorgeous,” I said, following it with a game-show model hand gesture.
Garrett and I both laughed as he fired up the chainsaw. Some of the tension that surrounded us after our conversation in the car began to dissipate. I didn’t want to feel awkward with Garrett. I wanted to get to know him and have fun while I was in town. There were so many things that threatened to complicate our situation—my parents, the people in town who had opinions about us, and all the years that separated us. But above everything, the biggest obstacle was the fact that I wasn’t sure if falling for Garrett, which I was finally able to admit was happening, was enough to make me come back to Gandy’s Ridge for good.
13
Garrett
Bianca was smiling again. From the moment we found what she referred to as “the perfect Christmas tree,” the pensive, gloomy expression had disappeared from her face. I was glad she’d finally told me what had happened between her and her family, because it seemed like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. But I never expected the elaborate story she wove. People in town had speculated for years why Bianca had left so quickly after high school. They’d said she had a secret pregnancy. They’d said she had a drug problem and went to rehab. They’d even said she’d eloped with a rich man from out of town. Among all the rumors, Bianca had left of her own accord because of something she did wrong. But the truth was, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
The part that upset me the most was the way her father had reacted to the whole situation. His hatred for his illegitimate sister and the fact that he took that anger out on his own daughter astounded me. It took all my self-control not to head over there and tell him exactly what I thought of him and the way he treated her.
“So, do you even have bulbs or lights or anything?” Bianca asked as we pulled up my driveway.
I gave her a sheepish look as I threw the truck in park. “Not really.”
“I’ll assume that means no,” she said, shaking her head at me with disappointment. “Turn this beast back on and let’s go get some things to decorate your tree.” She spun her finger in the air to indicate I should turn around and head back out.
As much as I wanted to be alone with her, I knew she wasn’t going to let it go that I had a naked tree, so I started the truck back up and pulled down the driveway. Not wanting to deal with townspeople, I drove away from town to the closest Wal-Mart, where Bianca had a ball in the Christmas department. She filled the cart with lights, bulbs, tinsel, garlands, other ornaments, and even a wreath for the front door. I had to nix the idea of an inflatable for the front yard, explaining that no one could see my front yard from the road. I was happy that she was happy. It made my heart full to watch her enjoy a simple shopping trip instead of worrying about her family issues.
By the time we reached town again, it was lunch time and I was starving. My stomach gave a loud growl as we drove down Main Street.
“Was that you?” Bianca turned to me with her eyes wide.
I held up a hand. “Guilty.”
“Do you want to stop and get something to eat?” she asked, her voice tentative.
I could tell she wasn’t convinced that we should be seen out in town together, but I could also tell by the look on her face that she didn’t want to care what they thought. Last night, after we left the Christmas party, I decided I didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought. They could speculate and insinuate about Bianca and me but we were the only ones who knew what was going on between us. I decided right then and there that what happened last night wasn’t going to happen today. I wasn’t going to let anyone make us feel like we had to be something we weren’t.
“Let’s go to the diner,” I said, turning off Main Street to park around the back of the Ridge Diner.
Bianca bit her lip. “Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure. Fuck what everyone says about us.”
She snorted. “I love your attitude about it and that’s exactly what we should do. Fuck ‘em.”
We laughed as we exited my truck. Bianca hooked her arm through mine as we walked around to the front of the building. I pushed the doors open, the cold air following us in as we entered. The diner was surprisingly empty for mid-day, but it was Sunday and most people were probably still in church for at least another thirty minutes. We would actually have a peaceful lunch.
We chose a booth towards the back, then sat across from each other and shed our coats. It was nice to be inside, out of the cold and all of the layers for a bit. We both dove right into searching the menus for what we wanted. I probably didn’t need a menu to figure out what to get, but it was a habit to look through before I made a decision.
“Look who the cat dragged in.” Mrs. Harrison walked up to the table with her pad and pen ready to take our order.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Harrison. No church today?” If she wanted to put us on the spot, I’d lob it right back at her.
“Trish Fulton and I switch off every Sunday
. Today is her day. Someone has to run the diner on Sunday mornings. Besides, I went to the early Mass.” She signaled her hands around the room to show that she wasn’t the only one out of church right now.
“I’ll have the bacon cheeseburger and fries,” Bianca said, thrusting her menu at Mrs. Harrison.
“I’ll have the same,” I said, also passing her my menu.
Mrs. Harrison looked between us. I could tell that she wanted to say something to us about being here together but, to her credit, she held her tongue. Walking away, she shot us a backward glance before entering the kitchen.
Bianca relaxed against the seat, closing her eyes for a moment. “This is harder than I thought,” she said as she ran a hand through her long, wavy brown locks.
“What’s not easy?”
Bianca leaned closer and whispered, “This whole ‘fuck ‘em’ thing.”
I laughed, louder than I probably should have. A few people turned towards us to see what the ruckus was all about. Bianca gave me a stern look, and I covered my mouth, taking a sip from the water glass in front of me.
“That was your fault,” I said, trying not to choke on my water as I sipped, still chuckling lightly.
“Well, it’s difficult. I’ve never tried so hard to not care what people think.”
“I don’t think it’s something you should have to try to do.” I placed the water back down and looked up at her.
She shrugged, chagrin on her face. “Apparently I’m not good at this.”
Rekindled: A Holiday Romance Page 7
