Liam Rawley
“Your dad will be picking you up later,” Brady mentioned after we arrived at the school. He was still being secretive and yes, I still wanted to know what he was hiding so badly but from the looks of it, he won’t be telling me any time soon.
“Yeah, okay,” I said awkwardly.
He just stared at me like he was studying my expression. I didn’t looked all too happy about the thought of him disappearing again but I didn’t had the time to get into it.
“I’ve told you, it’s nothing bad.”He lowered his voice.
“And I’ve told you that I trust you.”I said rather harshly, “I’m sorry.”I sighed, “I just get all worried when you disappear like that.”
“I want to tell you but right now is just not the best time.”He explained.
“If you trusted me enough, we wouldn’t have this conversation,” I said coldly.
“Aren’t you tired of this?”He said frustratedly, “It’s always the same argument with you. I’m not the one with trust issues, you are. I’m an adult and I have adult problems that you won’t understand.”
Suddenly, my face got all red and I tried to get out of the car but the door was still locked. I couldn’t even look Brady in the eyes at the moment.
“Wow,”I let out a humorous laugh, “I can’t believe you. Even after everything.”
“Look, I don’t want to fight with you.”He surrendered, “I’m really not asking all that much from you.”
“Just open the door.”I said coldly, “I have a class to go to.”
“I’ll see you tonight and we can talk.”He said, looking all regretful about it.
“I have plans with my dad, “I mentioned.
“We’ll talk soon.”He said and unlocked the door.
I did not waste any time getting out of the car and walked inside the building.
Brady Hutton
“So…”I said awkwardly, “What do you guys do?”
I went to the Jones’ house because they finally invited me to talk even though things were getting awkward while I hold the cup of tea in my hand.
“I’m a writer and my wife is a family therapist.”He mentioned, “And you?”
“I’m a deputy working at the sheriff’s station,” I said casually.
They gave each other a glance before turning back to me, “We figured.”Mrs. Jones said with a soft chuckle, “You have that look.”
“What do you mean by that.”I raised my eyebrows.
“You just seem…tense, that’s it.”She shrugged.
“Okay…”I said awkwardly.
“It’s not a bad thing.” Mr. Jones added, “But smile a little so that the twins won’t be scared when they see you.”
If the twins see me.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”I nodded, “Do you have any pictures of the twins? It’s been so long and I just want to see what they look like now.”
“Of course,” Mrs. Jones took out her phone and sat next to me, “This is from last week when all of us went to visit my mother.”She showed me a picture of the twins, wearing matching red shirts and they were smiling widely, showing Jamie’s teeth gap. Both Jamie and Janet grew 4 years older. They looked extremely happy and that was enough to make me feel better.
“What are they like?”I asked.
“They’re the sweetest kids in the world.” She said joyfully, “They are always happy and just know the right things to say even though they are still very young.”
I couldn’t help but let out a smile.
“I have to ask, “I said seriously, “Do they know that they’re adopted?”
“They do.” Mr. Jones assured, “We adopted them when they were 4 and they don’t ask much about their parents.”
“So, they don’t remember about what happened?”I asked.
“They say that they don’t but we’re not sure if that’s the truth.”Mrs. Jones took a glance at her husband.
“How so?”I raised my eyebrows.
“You just have this feeling as a parent to sense if there’s something going on with your children.” Mrs. Jones said.
Just then, the door opened and a young girl, not older than 17 walked in. I got caught off guard when I saw Jamie walking in and not long later, Janet came from behind him.
“The kids are early.” Mr. Jones remarked calmly.
“I can come back another time,” I said seriously.
“No,” Mr. Jones stopped me from standing up, “Maybe you should see them.”
“Are you sure?”I asked and took a glance at Mrs. Jones.
“You should.”She said softly, “Just don’t mention the whole brother thing.”
I nodded and sat back down.
“Kids, come on here.” Mr. Jones called and all of all three of them came inside of the living room. The twins starred at me blankly while the teenager didn’t played her phone.
“Brady, this is our daughter, Rose.”He introduced me to the older girl.
“Yeah, hey.”Was all she said while looking through her phone, “My friends are waiting for me. I have to go.”She said to her parents.
“Be sure to-” Mr. Jones never got to finish his sentence as his daughter walked out, “Anyways, Jamie and Janet, I want you to meet someone.”
“Who is he?”Jamie whispered to Mr. Jones.
“He’s a friend.” Mr. Jones assured, “Go ahead and say hi.”
Seeing the twins was already enough for me but them coming near me and lending me their hands to shake was just surreal.
“I’m Jamie.”He introduce himself but didn’t even looked at me in the eyes. He seemed shy.
“I’m Janet.”She said, looking more confident than Jamie.
“Hello Jamie, hello Janet.”I smiled widely, “I’m Brady and it’s nice to meet you.”
Liam Rawley
“Mom!”I exclaimed and hugged her tightly, “What are you doing here?”
I thought that my father had something lame planned when he said that he had a surprise for me but seeing my mom after a bad day made me felt a lot better.
“You told me that you had a rough couple of months being here so I’m here to make sure that your time here is a little less terrible.”She explained, “And where is that excuse for a man?”
“I’m right here, Brenda.”My father sighed.
“You should shave.”She remarked.
“And you should wear less makeup.”He shot back.
“Wow, real mature, Mason.”She let out a humorous laugh, “And I thought that you’ve grown after so many years.”
They sure haven’t settled their differences.
“I’m not doing this with you.”My father gave up, “The two of you can catch up and I’ll go and not kill myself.”
My father went away and I grabbed my mother’s hand to bring her to the couch as we sat next to each other.
“Doesn’t your father cleans up?”She said in a disgusted tone.
“I do, “I mentioned.
“Sorry,” She muttered, “How are you? I know that you’ve told me everything already on the phone but I want to know if there’s anything new.”
“Nothing really.”I mumbled, “I just had a really bad day.”
“What happened?”She asked softly.
“Well, first, I got into a fight with my-“I paused at the last part.
“Boyfriend?”She finished my sentence.
“How did you know?”I raised my eyebrows.
“Your father told me.”She said casually.
“So you two do talk,” I said with a grin.
“Only when we have to.”She shrugged, “Then what happened?”
“Then, this Cindy girl won’t leave me alone because she wants me to be her Vice President, and to top it off, dad came to pick me up with the sirens on, “I explained.
“Why would he do that?”She asked.
“I don’t know, he saw a kid with a drink or something outside the school.”I shrugged.
“I’m sorry that you had a bad day.”She said softly, “Can I take you out for something to eat and cheer you up?”
“I’m not supposed to go out without dad or the deputy he hired for me.”I reminded.
“Right,” She muttered, “But I’m an adult and I can take care of you.”
I thought about it for a second before hearing the doorbell ringing.
“I’ll get that.”I stood up and went to the door only to see Brady standing in front of it after I opened it.
“Hi.”Was all he said.
“It’s not a good time,” I said coldly.
“Why not?”He raised his eyebrows.
“Why are you here, Brady?”I asked rather harshly.
“I came to apologize.”He said seriously.
“You already did the first time you lied to me.”I reminded.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so cold to Brady but even after everything, he still saw me as a child that didn’t deserve to know whatever he was hiding from me.
“I want to tell you every-“
“Hey, you’re that deputy.”My mother came outside with her handbag on her arm, “Good, we need you to accompany us for dinner.”
It really wasn’t the best time for my mother to meet Brady.
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