Secrets Return (Leftover Girl Book 2)

by C. C. Bolick

  “Are you sure?”

  I’d never been more sure about anything. “I had some issues in school and I missed Bailey like crazy. If everything will go back to normal, I’ll be fine.”

  “School starts next week, but you don’t have to rush. We won’t make you go back until you’re ready.”

  I laughed bitterly. “What if I’m never ready?”

  “I’ve already arranged to home-school you for a while.”

  “Mom, I’m fine.”

  She stood. “Want to help with dinner?”

  Finally, a normal question. I threw back the comforter. “Sure.”

  Mom stepped back, eyes wide. “We’re having pizza. You really want to help?”

  “I just did three weeks of physical therapy with only hospital food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What do you think?”

  She grinned and reached a hand out for mine.

  * * * * *

  That night I sat at a picnic table Dad had added to our backyard. I pressed in my earbuds and listened to all of the music Bailey had downloaded for me over the summer. “Don’t want you to miss anything,” she said, but I still resented her for not staying in my room long enough to talk about why she’d never called. Some best friend she turned out to be. Staring at the sky, I wondered which star belonged to Chase, while hating myself for not remembering precisely which one he’d pointed out.

  I focused on the music player, only inches from my fingertips, and wrapped my mind around the plastic. Move across the table, I thought and closed my eyes. When I looked again, the blue screen was more than a foot away. Excitement flooded through me. Had I really moved it?

  When Dad sat down beside me, I jumped and pulled out the earbuds.

  “Don’t get uncomfortable,” he said, holding up his hands. “What were you doing just now?”

  I looked up. “Counting the stars. We used to do that, remember?”

  “Of course,” Dad said, “back when you still cared about learning the constellations. Now what do you think when you look at the stars?”

  “I’m wondering how many of those stars have planets and how many of those planets might be someone’s home.”

  Dad chuckled. “Probably most of them.”

  I couldn’t see if the smile also danced in his eyes. “You believe in life out there?”

  “Maybe not what we’re used to, but it’s kind of lonely to think we’re it.” He put a hand over mine. “What shall we do tomorrow?”

  There was only one thing I wanted to do. “Can we go to the creek?”

  “The one you got in so much trouble over last year?”

  I nodded.

  He pulled back his hand. “Tell you what—we’ll go there tomorrow, but not until after dark. We’ll have a midnight picnic. Your mom is going to love this.”

  “Dad?” I asked.

  “What is it?”

  “What if you hadn’t found me in New York?”

  Dad hesitated. “I would’ve found you. Lorraine always says it was fate, right?”

  “But what if you didn’t?”

  “You shouldn’t worry so much and you shouldn’t try so hard to remember. I promised to help you, but you’ve only moved farther from us. That wasn’t my intention.”

  “I’ve tried, Dad, really I have. I don’t think it’s possible anymore.”

  He put an arm around my shoulders. “You’ll remember when you’re ready.”

  “I was ready last fall.”

  He squeezed. “All you’ve remembered is a name and a date. Are you sure there isn’t more?”

  There was a whole lot more, just not what I needed most. I needed time to figure out what happened that night. What could be so bad I wouldn’t want to remember?

  “There’s more, I can feel it,” he said.

  “I had a memory last fall, when you were in Tokyo. My real father,” I started, but choked on the words.

  “Yes?” he asked, his voice sharp.

  “He was holding me on his lap, reading a book. He called me Kay Ray.” And I had called him Daddy.

  “Did you see his face?”

  Dad’s voice felt wrong. Had I said too much and upset him? I never wanted him to think I’d trade all the years we had. Again, I tried to make out his eyes. “No.”

  “Sometimes I think your mom and I had it wrong.” He sighed. “Would your life be better if you’d never heard of the Naples?”

  I laughed. “And tell me what instead?”

  “At five we could’ve told you anything. Maybe even that your mom and I were your real parents.”

  I considered keeping my current name forever, and the thrill of knowing I’d been loved by two people unconditionally. Two people who I’d built real memories with, who were right in front of me. “I’d be okay as Jessica Delaney, if you and Mom hadn’t told me different.” There was some truth in my words. I could feel my love for them both, rising up to merge with the pain of losing the life I’d once had.

  “That would have been a lie,” he said, rising. “You’d be just as heartbroken learning the truth.”

  * * * * *

  Bailey handed me another book as a hair dryer roared to life behind us. I flipped through the thick, glossy pages, each containing a different style of hair.

  “I like this one,” she said, forcing a page in my face. “Layers would look good on you.”

  “Take your time,” Mom said, from the seat to my other side. “Make sure it feels right.”

  I glanced around the salon. There were two cuts, one perm, and a blow-dry session going on. Reaching across Bailey, I grabbed a mirror from the table beside her. Nothing had changed with the ragged brown falling from my head, or the inch and a half of white blond glowing like someone had painted my scalp and held it under a black light.

  “Change will be good,” Mom said as she flipped through a copy of People magazine.

  Each picture seemed the same to me. Boring. Until I stopped on a girl with short sandy hair that spiked from her head.

  “This,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Bailey said.

  The blood drained from Mom’s face. “Don’t cut it. Style it any way you want, but please dye it back brown like mine.”

  “But you said…”

  “I know what I said, but after the last few months I’m not ready for this kind of change. Please, I want my daughter back. I want your hair to be brown like mine. Call me biased, superficial, or even a bad mom, I don’t care.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I want the daughter I love to look like me again.”

  I stared at Mom. She was none of those things. I loved her and would do anything to make her happy. “I’ll keep it brown.”

  She wiped her eyes and smiled. “Really? All it takes is me begging?”

  “No,” I said, smiling back. “All it takes is you loving me. You’ve never said you wanted me to look like you. I always dyed my hair because I wanted to look like you.”

  Mom threw her arms around me.

  Bailey snickered. “You’re not going to cry again, are you?”

  I wiped my eyes. “No.”

  She laughed. “I was asking Aunt Rainey.”

  Mom pulled back and grinned. “I hope we have a thousand more days like this.”

  * * * * *

  My hair wasn’t the exact shade of Mom’s, but it was close enough. Her face sagged after our two hours in the salon, and I figured she’d take us home. To my surprise, she took us to an expensive restaurant downtown.

  Mom chatted about new stores added to the downtown area over the summer, about classes starting, and anything else she could think of. When she spotted our principal, Dr. Greene, through the window, she went to meet him on the sidewalk.

  “I love it,” Bailey said.

  “My hair?” I asked.

  “Being back.”

  I stared at her. “You don’t sound convincing.”

  “Bullship.”

  I choked on my tea. “What?”

  “You can’t imagine what it was like out th
ere. In Colorado. It was ducked up.”

  Did I hear correctly? “This is getting weird. Are you cussing or what?”

  “Dad wouldn’t let us cuss. Pade and I made up all kinds of weird sayings. We’d change the first or last letter. Now I can’t get the stupid games we played out of my head.”

  “You should have called,” I said.

  She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry. Dad was so strict. He took our cell phones away in April.”

  Was she lying? “That’s your excuse? Don’t I deserve more?”

  “Yes,” Bailey said, looking at me again. “He didn’t have a phone in the house, other than his cell. At eight o’clock every night we were allowed to call Mom. But I should have found a way.”

  “Why did he take your phones?”

  She took a long sip of tea. “You know Pade always cussed more than he should.”

  “So did you,” I said with sarcasm. “Before.”

  She nodded. “Dad didn’t like it. He banned all cuss words from the house. One night in April, he and Pade had it out. Pade was determined to find a way to come home, and so was I. Mom didn’t want to hear us complain about Dad. She wouldn’t bring us back.”

  Bailey sighed and rubbed her arms. “We were eating that night and Pade let loose. Dad called him a screw-up and Pade told him off. Dad slapped Pade and my brother fought back. I was scared, Jes—they were throwing punches and…well, let’s just say they gave it everything they had. Dad grabbed Pade’s arm and dragged him to the library.”

  I pictured Mr. Sanders. He and Pade had stood level with the same dark hair. I’d seen him once, from across the yard on the night before Pade and Bailey left Credence.

  “When I say dragged, I mean all-out kicking and screaming from Pade. Dad locked the door to his library, so I couldn’t do anything but pound on the door and beg for him to stop.”

  My eyes grew as I thought of Pade. No one had ever fought him.

  “I’ve never heard Pade use such awful words, but after a few minutes the room went silent.” She swallowed. “When they came out, Dad wouldn’t look at me. Pade was holding his jaw. My brother was crying, can you believe that? Pade ran for the stairs, but he’s never told me what happened in there. Whenever I ask, he locks up and stares off into space.”

  “That’s the only time they argued?”

  “They argued almost every night—that was just the last time Pade raised his voice to Dad. Heck, it was the last time he even looked at Dad.”

  I stared at Mom, still talking to Dr. Greene outside the door.

  “Sometimes I’d watch,” she said. “Sometimes I’d hide in my room.”

  “What did Aunt Charlie say?”

  “I didn’t call Mom. I spent the next two weeks in my room. Literally.”

  “What about school?”

  “We didn’t go to school. Dad hired private tutors for math, history, and then some. It seemed like every day someone different showed up. When I wasn’t taking those stupid lessons or eating dinner, I stayed in my room.”

  And I thought my past was messed up. “Was he in some kind of cult?”

  “I’m not sure about a cult. He never talked religion or brought any weird preachers to the house. We didn’t talk unless spoken to—that was usually reserved for dinner.”

  “Why all the black clothes?” I asked, pointing to her shirt. “Even your lips are black.”

  “It was to piss him off. Pade thought of it. We went through all the clothes he put in our closets and wore only the black stuff. Once a week, we went into town and were allowed to shop for two hours.”

  “I can’t believe he let you buy black lipstick.”

  “He didn’t,” she whispered. “I stole it.”

  I shivered thinking about my one experience with shoplifting. Lisa had convinced me to skip school. We’d rode to the Save-All where she gave me a quick course in stuffing my pockets and dodging the cameras. I didn’t know it was all planned by Tosh, or that Lisa would leave me there to get busted for skipping school. An hour later she and Jarrod had died when the semi slammed into their side.

  “I know it was wrong,” Bailey said. “I slipped the makeup in my pocket and asked the cashier to ring up an extra pair of socks that was the same price. I never went back to get the socks.”

  “So, your dad was rich and you were stealing?”

  “Yeah,” she said and laughed. “That about sums up my experience in Colorado.”

  * * * * *

  The moon that night was almost as bright as the sun. White beads of light glistened along the water’s surface, giving the creek an ethereal feel. Sweat formed along my brow, for the August heat had not yet lifted for the night. I sat on the bank and removed my shoes, easing my feet into the chilly water. My toes slid along the rocks. Something grazed my ankle—maybe a fish.

  Pade sat beside me. “Feeling better?”

  “Sure,” I said, staring across the water.

  “You don’t sound sure.”

  We sat in silence until he spoke again. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you got sick.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “No,” he said and turned to me. “I’m glad we had a reason to come back from Colorado. I thought Dad would never let us leave.”

  “Bailey told me how controlling he was.”

  “Oh yeah?” His shoulders sagged, mirroring the way I felt.

  I shouldn’t have asked to visit the creek, not when this was where Chase chose to tell me all about his home planet. My home planet. The smell of pine trees in the thick air almost choked me as the memories felt like something I could touch. “Have you talked to Terrance?”

  If Pade noticed the waver in my voice, he didn’t mention it. “I haven’t been much of a friend for the past six months. I called him after coming back to Credence, but he hasn’t bothered to dial my number.”

  “What about school? This will be your senior year—time to plan for college.”

  “Dad wants Bailey and me to start work in his business the day after graduation.”

  I was almost out of things to say. “What about football?”

  Pade stared across the water. “I won’t be playing football this year.”

  The desolation in his voice brought tears to my eyes. I turned away so he couldn’t see my face.

  “Dad made me promise,” he said. “It’s the only way he agreed I could finish school in Credence.”

  “Why does he hate football?”

  “He’s afraid I’ll get hurt. He doesn’t want me wasting my future on some ‘stupid sport’.”

  “Bailey talked like he was some freak in a cult.”

  “You don’t understand how rich he is. I always knew he had money, but all those years I had no idea.”

  “Bailey said he hired tutors and wouldn’t let you go to school.”

  “His house is more like a compound, but I don’t think he’s in a cult.” He shook his head. “How do you think Mom financed all the stuff in your new house? Dad bought everything, and he could do it a thousand times more before his bank would even think about calling.”

  I thought of Aunt Charlie, swiping a card in every store. Even though Mom was her sister, it had seemed a bit much at the time. “Why would he help us like that?”

  “He and Uncle Justin went to college together. They were best friends.”

  “There’s got to be more,” I said.

  “Oh, there’s more. One night Dad sat in the library drinking, more than he should have. He said he owed everything to your father, even his life. It was ridiculous. He could drink, but we couldn’t cuss?”

  “What do you think he meant?”

  Pade shrugged, but I had the feeling he knew more.

  “Dad never talked about what happened in Colorado,” I said, “beyond how he supposedly met Mom.” There were too many secrets in our family, more than I could process. Dad’s family, Mom’s family, not to mention my own secret past. Looking down, I focused on a rock lodged in the bank. In my mind,
I gripped the rock, pushing until…it broke free and rolled, landing against Pade’s foot.

  He spun to face me. “Did you hear what I said?”

  I looked up at Pade, fighting a grin. I’d moved something with my mind. No doubt this time. My power had returned.

  “So, we’re there again.” Frowning, he stood and walked away.

  Watching him leave, my heart soared. Pade still cared for me. The creases in his face told of the pain, of how he’d missed me. I’d hoped for this feeling, and yet in that same moment the torment of why we could never be filled my heart with dread. We were different—not just in name and family like he’d once insisted. He was from Earth and I was from another planet—one I must get back to. Loving Pade would only end in heartache for us both.

  It was time to find Chase and show him I’d found my power.

  If only I knew where to start.

  Another Tosh

  I ran across the courtyard, wishing Mom and Dad hadn’t fussed over every detail of the upcoming day.

  “Wear your new sunscreen,” Dad had said, reminding me of the new tube at the corner of my dresser. I’d looked at it for days, avoiding the thick goo that Dr. Baynor had insisted would keep me ‘safe.’ Whatever that meant. In the end, I’d rubbed it on, thrilled the smell had improved even if the stickiness seemed worse.

  “Maybe she should stay home today,” Dad said, looking to Mom. “Jes doesn’t look one hundred percent yet. I can call out and stay with her.”

  Not in a million years, I thought.

  “She’ll be fine,” Mom said and patted my cheek. “I’ll talk with your new teachers. There’s no reason we can’t make everything easy for you this first day.”

  Nothing about this day would be easy.

  It was déjà vu from a year ago.

  The last bell rang as building three came into sight, but I froze when I noticed two girls near the entrance.

  Rachelle stood, back against the building, in the shadow made where a metal roof overhung the brick wall. A figure leaned forward as she cowered, the girl’s chin nearly six inches above Rachelle’s fearful eyes.