Seeds of Discovery

by Breeana Puttroff

  He took a step back at her tone, but the concern didn’t leave his eyes. “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure,” she softened her voice. It was kind of him to ask.

  “You’ll let me know if you need anything?”

  “Um …” Really? “Okay.”

  “Good.” He reached toward her, giving her a sort of awkward pat between her shoulder blades, before returning to his usual table, full of senior football players and a few cheerleaders.

  “What was that?” Abigail’s eyes were wide when Quinn turned back toward the table.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Since when does Zander Cunningham just come over to talk to you at lunch?”

  Aware of the curious eyes at the table around her, Quinn busied herself with her lunch, capturing peas with her fork, despite the fact that she had no interest in eating them. When she finally looked up again, everyone had gone back to their conversations. Nobody at her table was paying any attention to her. But someone was.

  Two tables away, William Rose was staring over at her, with an expression that managed to be both surprised and intrigued. His silent communication was brief and definitive. He’d heard her conversation with Zander. He knew she hadn’t told anyone he was there. And she didn’t know why, but he was grateful.

  Suddenly, she decided that she just didn’t want to know. It was over now. William had been there, he’d helped that driver, and he didn’t want anybody to know. She didn’t know why, but did it really matter? He’d helped someone, not committed a crime. Maybe he really just didn’t want anyone paying attention to him.

  If she kept up with this level of distraction, her friends were eventually going to notice. And she was going to have to deal with things like Zander Cunningham coming over during lunch to ask her if she was okay. She would be happier right now if she hadn’t seen that accident, either. Quinn had never exactly been an attention-seeking person herself. Yes, it was definitely best to just let this be done.

  * * *

  For the rest of the week, Quinn fought to just let everything go back to normal. And it might have been easy, except for the dreams she kept having. At school, she focused on her classes, on her friends, on helping Abigail with her English essay. She forced herself to look away, even when she noticed William in the hallways and the cafeteria. But she couldn’t banish him from her dreams.

  By Friday, she was exhausted. As she drove to Maggie’s house to pick up Annie after school, she thought the only thing she wanted to do was get home and take a nap, and pray that she’d be able to stay asleep through it.

  She was fantasizing about curling up on the couch with Annie and putting on a movie as she climbed the steps to the Cunningham’s porch.

  The afternoon was cold. The heavy coat she wore was not enough to keep her from shivering as she rang the doorbell.

  When the door finally opened, her heart came to a screeching halt. It wasn’t Maggie who answered. It was Zander. She was surprised to see him – he was almost never home these days, especially on a Friday. And even when he was, Quinn rarely actually saw him; she was only aware that he was home because of the music pounding from the direction of his bedroom, and the little black truck parked by the curb

  What surprised her even more was the huge grin that lit up his face when he saw her.

  “Hey, Quinn.” He pushed the screen door open and stood aside, making room for her to step into the familiar living room. Standing next to him, she realized just how long it had been since she’d been this close to him. His height was startling; her head now reached only to his chin.

  “Hey, Zander,” she answered, finally managing to find her voice.

  “Hey, kiddo, your sister’s here!” Zander called into the dining room where she could see Annie sitting at the long table and coloring, a smear of purple marker across her right cheek.

  Annie didn’t respond right away; her head was bent over the white page, her little hand intently making short strokes in the middle of the paper.

  Zander raised his eyebrows at Quinn, his brown eyes twinkling, “She’s concentrating.”

  She smiled, willing herself to relax. “Apparently,” she said, appraising him as they stood there in the small confines of the entryway. He made no move to put space between them. He was filling out. From this close, she could see the outlines of burgeoning muscles underneath his green “Bristlecone High School Football Team” hoodie.

  His eyes followed hers, and when she finally looked up, he grinned.

  “Where’s your mom?” she asked, suddenly more than a little self-conscious.

  “Ashley had a dentist appointment. I have study hall seventh period, so I came home early to keep an eye on the kids for her. Friday night money.” He smiled as he flashed a ten-dollar bill from the pocket of his sweatshirt.

  Quinn nodded. Ashley was Zander’s seven-year-old sister.

  “Did you lose Sophia, then?” she wondered, looking around the room for Zander’s other little sister, who was four.

  He chuckled. “She’s taking a nap, thank God. Those two are insane when they’re together,” he nodded toward Annie. “Last week, they made me play Trolls and Fairies for a solid hour.”

  Of course. Even Annie spent more time with Zander these days than Quinn did.

  In the dining room, Annie carefully snapped the lid back on to the marker she’d been using, and replaced it in a tub that had once held baby wipes. She ran to Quinn, brandishing the paper she had been working on so carefully.

  “I made this for you!” the little girl declared, jumping into Quinn’s outstretched arms.

  “Thanks! It’s beautiful!” She hugged her sister as she studied the page. She could almost make out the shape of a face with several circles in the middle; some of them were clearly intended to be eyes.

  “Hey! I thought you were making that for me!” Zander teased, tousling Annie’s brown curls.

  “No, silly! It’s for Quinn!” Annie made a face at him.

  “Me? Silly? You’re the silly goofball head!” Zander tickled Annie’s tummy and she squealed.

  “You’re the silly goofball head!” Annie reached for the light brown hair that he had so carefully styled to sweep over his right temple, but he ducked away from her hand in time.

  “All right, you little monster, go get your coat and shoes!” He swept her from Quinn’s arms, and swung her to the floor, under the coat rack. Annie was still giggling, but she reached obediently for her furry purple snow boots.

  Zander turned his attention back to Quinn. “What about you? Big plans for Friday night?”

  The question startled her, and she felt the heat of a blush beginning to form at the base of her neck. “No, not really.” Not at all, actually. Unless a nap, and, just maybe, microwave popcorn counted as “big plans”.

  “Jake Price is having a party at his house tonight. His parents just installed a hot tub.”

  Jake Price was a senior, the quarterback on the football team. Quinn had never once talked to him. She wasn’t sure why Zander was telling her this. “That sounds … fun.”

  “Do you want to go?”

  “What? Me?” she was stunned. “Uh, I don’t think I was invited.”

  “I’m inviting you.” Zander turned to Annie, who was struggling to pull her coat sleeves the right way out. “We were both wrong, kiddo. Quinn is the silly goofball head.” As he said it, he reached over to Quinn and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, causing a swarm of butterflies to flutter into her stomach.

  “Yeah!” Annie declared. “Quinn, you’re the silly goofball head!”

  “So do you want to go?” Zander’s face was earnest.

  Her heart was pounding, and the blush reached up to her hairline, even coloring her ears, though she wasn’t sure why. She’d known Zander her whole life; this should have been easy, but somehow it was completely unexpected. “Um, yeah, maybe,” she finally choked out. “I’ll have to check with my mom first, see if anything is going on at home.” No
t that her mother would ever object to her going somewhere with Zander.

  “Sure.” His smile was easy, casual. “Text me later if you decide you wanna go, I could pick you up around 7:30.”

  “Uh, ok.” Her throat still felt tight.

  Wide awake now, she thought about Zander’s invitation the whole time she was driving toward her house. What did this mean? Why had he invited her? Did she even want to go to Jake Price’s party? Parties weren’t really her thing, but somehow Zander’s invitation was a little appealing.

  She was just wondering what her mom’s reaction would be to her asking to go to the party, when she saw something that almost made her crash again.

  It was the same stretch of highway where she’d nearly hit him a week earlier, and there he was again. William Rose – wearing the purple sweater underneath his long, dark jacket, the familiar large, fancy backpack from last week hanging from his shoulders. This time, his back was to Quinn. He was heading down toward the riverbank. In February. Where was he going?

  “Quinn! You have to stop at red lights.” Annie’s voice behind her pulled her eyes back to the road just in time to stop for the red light.

  “Sorry. I guess I got distracted.”

  “What were you looking at?” Annie asked, as Quinn came to a stop.

  “I thought I saw …. I don’t know,” she trailed off. She wasn’t going to try to explain this to a three-year-old.

  “What did you see?”

  “Nothing …” the light turned green, and she couldn’t stop herself. Rather than going straight, toward home, she made a right turn onto River Road, which crossed the river and headed up into the mountains.

  “Where are we going? This isn’t how we get home.”

  “Hold on, Annie. I just want to look at something.” She pulled the car over to the shoulder and stopped. Ignoring Annie’s questioning protests, she got out and walked around the front of the car, scanning the narrow valley below to find William, to see where he was going. She didn’t know why she cared, but the sudden curiosity blazed through every part of her. She had to know.

  She stepped over the guardrail and took a few careful steps down the rocky slope, stopping when her head dipped below the road. From where she stood, she could see a solid mile and a half of the river. Far to her front and right, along the adjoining highway, was the small break in the guardrail that opened onto a little, twisting footpath that someone could follow down to the riverbank. At the bottom of the path was a wide, rocky area.

  Because it was the middle of winter, the river was quite low, more a stream now than a river. The rocks were dry. Once the snow melted, Quinn knew, the river would flow much higher and faster, leaving a smaller bank. Although several trails led down to this area from the surrounding houses, many of them were blocked now by leftover snow from a big storm they’d had a couple of weeks ago. The only trail that was really clear was the little footpath leading down from the highway. The area where she stood couldn’t exactly be called a path, but if she wanted to, she could climb down to the riverbank on the rocks without much difficulty.

  In the middle of the flat, rocky riverbank was an odd structure. It was old. It had quite possibly been longer than a century since the bridge had spanned the small section of river. All that remained were the broken stone-and-mortar steps on one side, and the remains of mortar supports hanging from the face of the tall mountain cliff on the other. Even when the bridge had stood, it had obviously never gone anywhere, besides over the river.

  Perhaps someone had built it as a fishing spot, a way to stand over the middle of the river in the summer when the water flowed deep enough to house fish, and hang a fishing line. Quinn didn’t have to wonder why it hadn’t been rebuilt after the center of the bridge had crumbled into the water below.

  And there, walking down the little footpath from the highway, nearly to the riverbank now, was William. He was focused as he walked, never looking up, or he probably would have seen her where she stood. The thought should have worried her, but right now, her curiosity was too strong for her to care.

  “What are you doing, Quinn?” Annie’s voice behind her sliced into her reverie and she was almost irritated.

  “Nothing.” She turned to see Annie’s little face, smiling at her from behind the guardrail. “Why did you get out of your car seat?”

  “I wanted to come with you. What are you looking for?”

  She walked back up the slope and stepped over the rail. “I don’t know Annie, just seeing what was down there, I guess.” Scooping her sister into her arms, she turned and looked back down at the valley, still inexplicably desperate to see exactly what William was up to down there.

  But he was gone.

  She frowned, scanning the whole valley for him. There was no chance he could have made it back up to the highway or through one of the snow-packed trails yet.

  “I want to see what’s down there,” Annie said.

  So did Quinn. After zipping up Annie’s coat, she lifted the little girl carefully over the guardrail, and then climbed back over herself. “Let’s go see, okay?”

  Annie was eager for the adventure, and she held Quinn’s hand tightly as they navigated down the rocks. The whole time, Quinn was scanning the area, looking for any sign of where William was, or where he could have gone, but even once they reached the bottom, there was no sign of him. This was impossible; she was sure he had been here.

  He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere.

  She whirled around, searching the entire valley with her eyes, even carefully scrutinizing the shallow water flowing over the rocks in the riverbed. He had to be here.

  But he wasn’t.

  Frustrated, she found herself walking all over the riverbank in the cold evening air, looking behind trees and boulders. The sun had set almost completely. Soon she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Except for Annie, who was now busy searching through the rocks, looking for the “shiny” kind that she liked, there was no sign of another human being anywhere on the riverbank. It was impossible. He hadn’t had time to go anywhere. What was going on here?

  In a last, desperate move, she walked toward the broken bridge. She edged close to the water as far as she could, hoping to peer beneath the base of the bridge. Maybe he was hiding there? She had to get so close to the water that she got her shoes a little wet, but she could finally see behind the dark outcropping. Nothing. He wasn’t there, either.

  The sun had set now, and only a dim glow lit the horizon. She sighed. None of this made any sense. Annie was still occupied, so she climbed up the crumbling steps and stood for a moment on what was left of the platform at the top. From here, she could see literally everything, even behind some of the smaller boulders she had searched. She was alone.

  At that moment, a strange idea popped into her head. What if he had climbed up the bridge and kept on walking? What if it wasn’t really broken?

  She knew the thought was absurd. She was standing here, and the bridge was broken. William Rose could not have kept on walking. Yet the thought resonated with something deep inside of her, a feeling she did not understand rising from her chest. She walked forward to the broken edge and looked over. He still wasn’t down there. The water swirled below her in freezing ribbons.

  Carefully, she put her right foot over the edge, feeling the space.

  There was nothing there, of course, only air. Laughing at herself, she pulled her foot back before she lost her balance. The odd feeling passed.

  Feeling defeated, she climbed down and made her way back to her car. Underneath the disappointment, though, a new feeling was building. Determination. She was going to find out what was going on with William Rose.

  3. Zander

  As she was pulling into the garage, next to her mother’s car, Quinn’s phone buzzed. After pressing the button to close the garage door, she flipped open the phone to read the text message. What she saw there sent her thoughts spinning in a completely different direction.

  Hey, Quinn,r />
  Just wondering if you’d decided

  about the party. Let me know, okay?

  -- Zander

  She stared at the screen for several seconds, trying to sort out her thoughts. Behind her, Annie unbuckled herself, opened the car door, and went inside, but Quinn wasn’t ready to move yet.

  This was real. Zander really wanted her to go to the party. She didn’t know what it meant. Was this supposed to be a date, or was he just asking her to be nice? When they were younger, he’d always been a little protective of her. Were people starting to think she was strange because she never went to parties, and he was just trying to help her out? She didn’t know. Of course, she thought, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, there was only one way to find out.

  She pulled the key out of the ignition, grabbed her backpack, and walked inside the house.

  At 7:15, she was ready to go. Figuring she had fifteen minutes or so before Zander arrived, she crossed the hallway into her little brother’s room. “Hey, buddy. What’cha doing?”

  Owen looked up from his book. He was often lost in his own little world, but he would usually come back to reality for a little while for Quinn.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, his watchful eyes taking in her soft, white sweater and crisp, dark jeans. She’d even put on a little make-up, though it seemed sort of silly to do so, given that she’d also packed a swimsuit in her purse for going in the hot tub.

  “Zander invited me to a party.”

  Owen raised an eyebrow, which made her giggle. Her brother was mildly autistic, and he didn’t always have the right social reactions, but somehow he’d always been tuned in to Quinn.

  At that moment, the doorbell rang. All of the color drained from her face. Zander was early. Was she ready for this?

  “Have fun, Quinn,” Owen said.

  She nodded, and leaned over to kiss him on the head.

  After taking several more deep breaths, she headed down the stairs. When she was about halfway down, she spotted him, standing there at the bottom, watching her. When she caught his gaze, he smiled. Oh.