The Price of a Gift (The Price of Secrets Series)

by Ashley Drake

  I started laughing again, without the tears this time. "Did I tell you how much I missed you?"

  Chapter 5

  "What's wrong Hannah Banana?" My dad paused from singing with the radio long enough to ask.

  Before I could answer, mom chimed in. "We thought you would be excited that we are getting the house with the pool."

  Their questions were reasonable, seeing as I haven't said a word to them since I woke up this morning. But I'm not ready to talk about the dream I had last night. Dad would want me to tell him the whole dream in detail and then he would go over every little part. Normally that would be just what I would want him to do, but this time I felt like this was private. Like Samantha trusted me with something and I needed to keep it to myself for a while. I will tell them later.

  "I just don't understand why I have to go to the closing with you guys. It's gonna take forever and I could be finishing up packing my room."

  "We're doing this as a family. Like I told you, before we know it you will be off to college. Your daddy and I just want to spend as much time, and do as many things, with you as we can. Besides, the movers are at the house as we speak packing whatever is left. Aunt Elena is there overseeing everything."

  "I don't want strangers touching my stuff." How gross, grown men having to handle my panties.

  "Well if you had all your things packed already, like I told you to, no one would be touching anything of yours except the boxes." I think she likes being right. I think she absolutely loves rubbing her rightness in my face. "But lucky for you I asked Elena to pack your dresser for you instead of the movers. So now you have nothing to drama about".

  Dad spoke up. "Oh no! What ever will you do Hannah?"" He's such a bad actor.

  "You're both dorks." I said while rolling my eyes, for dramatic effect, for their benefit. "There's no way I can be related to you two." Dad stuck out his tongue at me through the mirror and mom turned and winked at me. Exactly the results I was trying for. They get on my nerves and make me mad on a daily basis but as far as parents go, they're pretty much the best. And although I would never admit it I think they are kinda cool......for old people.

  Getting closer to the lawyers office I could feel my stomach knotting up. I'm really gonna miss that house, it's where I've lived my whole life. I hope Samantha understands why I'm leaving. That's what I was telling her in my dream last night, that I'm just a teenager and I have to go where my parents go, that I have no choice. I could tell she sensed that subconsciously I was a little relieved we were leaving because I was hoping the shadow guy won’t be able to follow me to the new house. She already knows she can follow me wherever I go, she proved that the other night. Samantha kept crying that I have to help her or she will be stuck here forever. Then it was like I was pulled back in time. One minute Samantha was at the foot of my bed, then the next thing I knew I was standing outside in a pasture like setting. The moon was so bright I could see the reflections of its light dancing along the top of a pond at the bottom of the hill. I felt myself being drawn to it. As I started to walk, I could feel the soft, wet grass under my feet. I looked down not only to find myself shoeless, but also dressed in a long white nightgown thingy. (This is what she was wearing in my room the other day, not a dress). Like something out of Little House on the Prairie, this show my grandma used to watch reruns of. But it didn't faze me, at the time it felt right. So I continued walking slowly down the hill trying not to slip on the dewy carpet of grass. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself and I realized how clean and fresh the air was. The closer I got to the water the more my heart began to race, yet I couldn't stop walking, I had to see what was waiting for me. I was praying please God don't let anything jump out of the water. And please, please God if I go into that pond, which looks like that’s where I'm heading, don't let something grab me. At the water’s edge I could hear the frogs and crickets singing in the background. Beyond the pond I could see that the pasture ended and woods began. The last thing I remember is a woman screaming 'Samantha'. Then I woke up. I thought Samantha would appear to me, but she never did. The experience frightened me. For the obvious reason that, hello, it’s like my mind freakin time traveled, and that was the first time that has ever happened. But mainly I feared I wouldn't remember everything, or that I would miss something important. I understood that I was taking the place of Samantha and that meant she heard me call out to her that I needed more to go on when she left me the morning Jaycee got home. Out of all the living impaired that come talk to me, Samantha is my favorite. She has never tried to scare me, well until last night. We have a few things in common even though we were born about 100 years apart. We are about the same age and we both love and want to protect our families.

  "Come on Han. We are gonna be late." Mom thinks we're late if we're not 15 minutes early. I hadn't realized we had parked and they were standing outside of the car waiting on me.

  "Look Marie. The Carver's are here." Dad said.

  Following my parents gaze, I watch four people open the car doors of a white SUV. The dad looks to be the same age as my dad. He's a little taller than my dad and cute. Of course I don't think my dad is cute, even though Phoebe thinks he is. But Phoebe is a slut so you really can't go by her judgment. Her only requirement in a guy is a pulse. I love her but I gotta call them as I see them. There was someone behind the dad but I just couldn't... awww he's a cutie pie, looks a lot like his dad except for the hair and skin tone. He looks to be about 11 or 12. I will have to get Jaycee to tell her little brother about him. They might be in the same class together when school starts back. The wind started to blow and I could see, out of the right corner of my eye, hair flowing. Long black silky hair that was attached to the most beautiful woman, not on TV, that I have ever seen. Looking at that hair and her dark skin tone, she had to be American Indian. She was putting her sun glasses on top of her head as she laughed at something the little boy said. The dad must have heard it too cause he reached over and tousled the boy’s black hair that was like his momma’s. I had forgotten that there were four of them until they all, a little irritated, stopped and turned back toward the car. At that very second several things happened at once; my ears began to ring, tingling goose bumps popped out on my arms and legs, drool threatened to run down my mouth, and I saw him. The gorgeous black haired guy, with raven dark eyes looking back at me. I couldn't breathe. I've seen hot guys before. But he's different, he's the one. Dang, cryptic much? Here they come. You'll be fine, just be yourself.

  During my little pep-talk I heard my dad say, "Good afternoon Charlie." While reaching to shake his hand. "Beautiful day to buy a house."

  The man, and I'm going out on a limb and guessing his name is Charlie, returns the handshake. "Hello Avery, It sure is. Who is this lovely young lady?"

  Dad put his hand on my lower back and pushed me forward. This is my cue to be all proper. "This is our daughter Hannah. Hannah, this is Dr. Carver and his wife Sarasvati."

  My turn. "It's so nice to meet you."

  Sarasv-something smiled and said. "Please call me Sara. You're a beautiful girl. Marie, she looks just like you." And with that the two mothers paired off and started talking about, what I could only guess would be, mom stuff. I tried to slip away, but Dad wasn't done with me yet. I figured this is kinda what show dogs feels like. Shake Hannah, speak Hannah, stay Hannah.

  "And these are their sons David," the younger boy smiled, blushed and made his getaway toward his mom, "and Daniel."

  Daniel, it fits him, all six feet of his hotness. Dad finally let go of my back and started toward the office doors with Charlie. While I'm still standing here staring at this perfectly flawless guy. "Hey." The tanned Adonis spoke. Ohmygosh, his voice is hot too!

  Ok Hannah, get a freakin grip! Say something smart. No, say something funny. Oh for goodness sake say something you idiot, anything is better than just staring at him. "So you're moving into my room." Ok I was wrong, that was nowhere near better. Fix it. "I mean into my house. My old
house. Well it's not an old house but it's old to me since we are getting a new house." Somebody shoot me. "And I just figured you would pick my old bedroom because it's the biggest." Shoot me now. "It's purple but you can paint it if you want." Shut up shut up shut up! Even though the purple room would so match his aura right now.

  He was just standing there just looking at me. Why you ask? Cause he thinks you're a mental case and doesn't want to make any sudden moves, dummy.

  "Hannah let's go." My mother's voice has never sounded so sweet.

  Ok, end on a high note. "Well I guess I'll see ya." That was better than talking about paint colors.

  "Good to know it's not just me." He's first sentence to me, and it made no sense. And he's just walking away. No wait. He stopped and held the door open for me. Well of course he did. He thinks the act of opening a door is too complicated for me after that worst first impression of all time.

  Ok just walk through the door with a shred of dignity, without tripping. Good you made it, now be nice. "Thank you." Now, walk away as fast as you can Hannah.

  After two hours of hearing ‘and sign here and initial here’ we were finally back in the car. I didn't get to see Daniel while my parents were signing contracts in the first conference room, and the Carvers must have finished before us because when we left the second conference room was empty. That was probably for the best. I didn’t think my ego could go round two with him today. I'm totally gonna ignore the disappointment I felt of not seeing him again. I didn't ask his age but he looks to be 18 or 19 and will more than likely start college this fall. So I'm sure he will find a college girl who DOESN'T talk like her parents are also first cousins. So just let it go Hannah. After spazzing out in front of him, the good news is you're never gonna see him again and the bad news is you so want to.

  "I'm taking my two girls out to eat to celebrate. Then to the new house to start unpacking." Dad announced, while turning right at the stop light.

  Good to know it's not just me. What did that mean? Ohmygosh! I didn't even notice it. I didn't pick up anything from him. Well, I did see his purple aura but nothing else. Not what he was feeling or what mood he was in, nothing. I have to ask about him, but then they will think I'm interested. I'll ask about the family instead.

  "Hey Dad where did the Carver's move here from?"

  "Dr. Carver was the chief of staff at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When he received the offer to take over a former colleague's practice, he discussed it with Sara, and they decided to take it. They wanted a simpler, slower pace of life."

  Dang is it in the water or something? "There's a lot of that going on around here." I couldn't help but get a jab in.

  "Well I think it's nice." Of course you would Mom. I was gonna say it out loud but then she added, "Hannah, honey, you're going to love the new house. How about you invite some friends over to swim sometime soon?"

  Yes! Sometimes complaining and whining pays off. "Ok, I will get together with the girls to plan it."

  Pulling into a parking space at the restaurant, my dad turns around and looked at me. I thought he was gonna tell me to just suck it up and get over it. So he shocked me when something totally different came out of his mouth. "Han, you’re upset. No, that's not the word, you're anxious about something. What's wrong? "

  Crap, block him and make this sound good. "I'm just worried about this new house feeling like home and if I will be getting any new visitors, if you know what I mean." Good job.

  "Don't worry about that Hannah Banana. You will love it. As for the other thing, well, you're getting better with handling that. You always have us to go to for guidance." His eyes soften and he patted my knee letting me know he felt like he said the right thing. I felt a little guilty not telling him the truth, but I really didn't even know what the truth was.

  My butt vibrated. It was a text from Jaycee.

  Hey. She text.

  Hey whatcha doing? I replied.

  Jake just dropped me off at home. Don't think I'm gonna keep him much longer.

  I can’t say that surprises me. Shocker. I teased.

  Hahaha Shut up. WRUD?

  Just signed papers on both houses now getting ready to eat. Idk why though cause I'm not hungry. I’ve already had my foot for lunch.

  What???? She asked.

  Never mind. I'll tell ya later.

  "You owe me for helping you do this. I just got my nails done." Jaycee was standing in my garage wearing a t-shirt tied in a knot at her waist and a holy pair of cutoff jeans. She had a ball cap on with her pony tail sticking out the back. Even dressed like that she still looked like she could be on the cover of a magazine. I hate her. A ball cap won't fit on my head with my curly thick ponytail, and I'm wearing one of my dad t-shirt that looks like I'm wearing a dress because it's so long you can't see my old middle school gym shorts on underneath.

  "I'll give you my first born. It's only four walls, we can have it painted in no time." I grabbed the two gallons of paint marked 'Hannah's room' and the paint trays. While Jaycee got the paint rollers, drop cloth, stirring stick and the key thingy that open the paint lid. We left the garage, through the kitchen and headed to my room on the other side of the house.

  I'm glad the house is all on one level. (I secretly didn't like having the entire upstairs to myself at the old house. It still stung to think of it as the old house.) With this split bedroom floor plan I still had some privacy from my parents. While Jaycee and I laid out the drop cloth and set up everything to paint, I told her all about Daniel and how I turned into a blubbering fool in front of him. She laughed and made fun at every chance she could get. It's her way of being supportive. Before I knew it, we had the first coat finished.

  "Let's take a break and go put our feet in the pool." I said.

  Jaycee smiled, "And we can plan a pool party for Saturday." We grabbed two bottled waters from the kitchen and went out the back door. My mom was cleaning the pool while dad was setting up the patio furniture.

  "Hey Mom, it's ok if we put our feet in right? We are done with the first coat."

  "That's fine. Did you get any on the walls?" She laughed. We looked down and saw paint all over our clothes.

  Jaycee had a streak of purple across her forehead, I wiped it off for her. "Purple is your color."

  She gave a snotty smile. "Every color is my color."

  I rolled my eyes at her but couldn't hide my grin. "Ok let's talk about Saturday. I think it should just be you, Phoebe, Kayla and me. It will be fun. We can have another one later but the four of us needs to catch up." I suggested.

  "Fine, but when are you gonna learn everything is more fun with boys?" she asked trying to look innocent.

  "I'll try to remember that. But it will be nice to just be silly and not have to worry about getting our hair wet cause there won't be any boys here to see us." We sat in silence for awhile watching Mom tell Dad to move the table to the left, then the right, then back to the left again. I knew it was time to get Jaycee away from my parents when she started joining in telling my dad 'no, a little more to the left'. He gigged her, only after making sure Mom wasn't looking, and I thought Jaycee was gonna fall in the pool laughing.

  I stood up and reached down to give her my hand. "Let's go finish my room before he pushes you in."

  "It looks great." Jaycee said as we stood back to admire our paint job. "We are awesome. Now can we plan a big back to school pool party?"

  "Ok but can we plan while we eat?"

  "Of course, I'm starving. We need to get some paper so we can write out an invite list." She realized I didn't follow her out the door so she came back into my room. "What's wrong?"

  "My diary! Jaycee I left my diary in my hiding spot in my old bedroom!"

  "Oh sh..."

  "Ladies," my Dad walked in and Jaycee didn't finish her sentence, thankfully, "the room looks really good. I'm impressed. Hannah what's wrong?" He finally noticed me standing in the middle of the room like a statue.

  "OhmygoshDadwehavetogobacktotheh
ouse!"

  "Slow down, I didn't understand a word of that."

  "We have to go back to the old house. I left my diary!"

  "Honey I'm sure the movers got it."

  "No Dad, I had a place in my closet where I hid it." I was holding back tears.

  "Calm down, I will talk to Charles when they get back and ask him to get it for you."

  "No, I have to go and get it myself. I can't risk anyone reading it. You know what’s written in that book. Wait, where are they?"

  "They came in for the closing but had to go back to Tulsa to help the new chief of staff's transition be a smooth one. They won't be back until school starts, maybe even a week later. So don't worry, I will send him an email and ask him to let me know when he returns, and I will take you over there." He said calmly.

  "Can't we just break in and get it?"

  "That would be illegal. You can use a notebook to write in until we get it."

  I knew I wasn't gonna win this one. "Ok, but please just don't tell him what I left or where it is." A small tiny place in the back of my mind whispered that means I will get to see Daniel again!

  I finished putting my shower curtain up in my bathroom, I kept my same zebra striped theme with purple accents for it and my bedroom. I liked having my same stuff from the old house, it helped me feel more at home. I even had my bed facing the door just like my old room. My parents made sure this was the first room finished. I thanked them and even helped them get their room put together so they would have a place to sleep tonight. When we got here yesterday Mom didn't want the movers bringing the boxes into the house cause she wanted to unpack room by room. She says it makes decorating and organizing easier. It was late last night, after unloading the boxes off the truck and into the garage, so we slept on the floor. It took Dad two hours this morning before he started walking without being hunched over. So, of course I helped them set up their room. I can be a good daughter every once in a while. Mom picked a whole new color scheme for their room. She went with tiffany box blue walls with a brown and blue comforter with chrome accents. It went really well with the espresso furniture they already had. To top it all off, dad put a chandelier where the ceiling fan had been. It looked fancy. When I was done helping them I went to my room. I climbed on my old familiar bedspread with my new temporary diary. I had so much to write. This time it had nothing to do with supernatural stuff. This time I was gonna be an ordinary teenage girl and write about boys. Well, one boy in particular- Daniel. I wrote all about being a complete moron yesterday afternoon when I first met him and about my hidden excitement of the possibility of seeing him again in about two or three weeks! Maybe next time I won't make a fool of myself.