Page 46 of A Foster Fling
I try to shake off the feeling as we make our way home but once we get on my street and I see that car in the driveway, the feeling worsens. Liam laces his hand in mine, locking our fingers together in a strong hold.
“What did you do this time?” I joke, trying to get a reaction out of him but he gives nothing away. I have to tell myself I’m being irrational because he hasn’t done anything that I know of. It’s just my insecurities messing with me, I guess.
“I plead the fifth,” he smirks, but it doesn’t have the effect like it usually does. He looks worried.
“He’s probably here to just check in, like he said he would be. Remember?” I try to soothe both of us.
Making our way inside, I see Frank in the kitchen with Mom. Her tear-stained face is red and puffy. “What’s going on?”
There’s a box on the kitchen table with some of Gabe’s stuff in it. Journals lie open with his handwriting on the pages.
“Jesus, Cole, what did you do?” Mom questions, getting to her feet, examining me with worried eyes.
I gently push her hands away from my face and look back at Liam who’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Just had a bad wipeout at the park. What’s all this?”
“Oh, Baby.” Mom sobs, tears spilling down her face again. “I found some journals that Gabe wrote. Some of them are dated around the time he…he…I think maybe we might get some answers finally.”
“Its okay,” I comfort her, closing the journal on the table and wrapping her in a comforting embrace. My heart is beating a million miles a minute.Will we finally understand why Gabe did what he did?
“Why are you here?” I look at Frank.
“Your mother asked me to come over for support while she read them.”
“You couldn’t call me?”
“I tried but your phone was off,” Patting my pocket, I don’t even feel my phone. I must’ve left it at Derek’s.
Shit, Derek. He’s probably worried about me too.I make a mental note to go over there later and let him know things are fine.
“You can go now,” I tell Frank, helping my mom sit up straight. Picking up the contents on the table, I start packing it up in the box she got it from. I don’t even know where she found this at. I haven’t seen anything of Gabe’s since we moved and packed it all away.
“I’ll take this for you,” Liam steps in, taking the box from my hands and heading up stairs.
Frank leaves and I help my mom upstairs to her room, tucking her into bed. “I’ll make some lunch after I shower. Get some rest.”
She doesn’t say anything as I quietly leave the room, shutting the door behind me. As I make my way to my room to grab a change of clothes, I hear mumbling and shuffling in Liam’s room. Without knocking, I open the door. I want to talk to him and see if he will stay with me and read the journals.
Liam turns quickly, hiding something behind his back. My brows knit together in confusion.
“What are you doing?”
Liam shakes his head, acting as though he’s not trying to hide something. “Nothing.”
Looking at the open box of stuff on his bed, annoyance sets in. “Why do you have Gabe’s stuff?”
“I didn’t know where to take it, so I just brought it in here.”
“And you opened it?” I question.
“Yeah.” he shrugs his shoulders as if it was no big deal. “I was just curious if there was anything from when I was here last time.” Liam steps forward, bringing his hand up to my chin. His touch settles my worry, but not the voice in the back of my telling me something is off. “I’ll put it back, I’m sorry.”
Liam places a kiss at the corner of my lips and I melt into him, almost forgetting about this entire thing. “Just put the stuff in my room. I’m going to shower.”
“I’ll join you.” He smirks and my body reacts instantly, craving more of what we just did on the beach.
Liam closes the box, putting the journal he had in his hand on top of it.Was he reading it?Him wanting to know if there was anything in there about him makes me wonder the same thing. Him and Gabe hung out a lot back then, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he mentioned him in some of those journals. If they weren’t at the skate park, they were in his room listening to music.
They were in his room, a lot.A new thought sinks its teeth into my head and I have to ask.