“I do.”
“So why would he lie about all that?”
“I couldn’t begin to guess.” But it couldn’t be good. After all, Brett absolutely knew her phone number by heart. She was also 100 percent sure that he knew she hadn’t changed it.
In addition, she also knew that he hadn’t tried to contact her in weeks. “Is that all he said, Mom?”
“Pretty much.” She paused. “Except, now I don’t want to talk bad about him, but Brett sounded off, actually. Almost like his voice was slurred.”
“Slurred?”
“Yes. I thought it was so strange, I signaled for your father to pick up the extension and listen in too.”
Just like they were on a cop show or something. “What did Daddy think?”
“Your father thinks the same thing that I did. We think that maybe he was drunk and forgot your number.” She took a breath. “I’m not saying that would be right, but I guess it’s possible, even on a Wednesday night.”
That was her mother. In her mom’s world, no one imbibed on a school night. “Hmm.”
“What do you think, dear? Could that be it?”
“I couldn’t begin to guess. But don’t worry about it, okay?” she murmured. “I’ll call him and figure out what he wants.”
“Oh. Okay,” her mom said, already sounding relieved. “I hope nothing is wrong. I mean, you said you quit modeling.”
“I did.” Thinking quickly, she said, “Maybe he got a payment for one of the shows I did last month and he’s trying to forward it to the right address.”
“Oh.” Her voice brightened. “Well, now, that would make sense.”
“Yes. Again, please don’t worry, Mama. I bet he was just confused. No big deal.” Realizing what she’d just said, she shook her head. Now she was sounding like Gunnar and she didn’t even know him.
“All right then. So . . . how are things with you?”
“So far, so good.”
“Are you missing modeling?”
She allowed herself to think about it for a moment. “No, not really. I mean, I do miss parts of it, but I was ready for a change.”
“I, for one, am glad that you’re going to put your mind to use now. God gave you a good one, you know.”
“I know.” She’d also heard that same reminder from the time she started school.
“Any chance you want to move back to New York soon?” Her mother’s voice held a note of hope in it. “Daddy and I sure miss you. I can’t believe we won’t be seeing you until after Christmas.”
She missed them too. She hadn’t seen her parents all the time when she was in New York, but it had been nice to be able to hop on the subway and see them in their brownstone in Brooklyn. “I’m going to hate not seeing you too, Mom, but January will be better. We can have a nice visit then. It won’t be rushed.”
“Have you found a permanent place to live yet?”
“Not yet. I’m still enjoying living with all the girls and getting to know Traci and Shannon.”
“All right. I understand.”
She still sounded sad, though. “Mom, if you want, you and Dad are welcome to come out at Christmas. It’s going to be hectic, but if you want to be in the midst of the chaos, you’re welcome to be here. You could meet Shannon and Traci when you’re here too.”
“I’ll talk to your dad. I do feel bad that we haven’t met your sisters, and a little bit of chaos might do us some good.”
“Then book a ticket or drive on down.”
“You know what? Maybe we will. I want to get to know those girls.” Her mother’s voice sounded a little wistful.
“Hey, Mama?”
“Hmm?”
“Did you only want to adopt one girl?”
“Kimber? What are you talking about?”
“Did you know that I was one of three siblings?”
There was a pause. “No, dear. All we’d done was fill out the paperwork and said we were hoping for a baby.”
“Would you have taken all of us?”
“I . . . well, I think so.” Her mother sounded stressed. “Kimber, dear, of course I’m sorry about what happened with Traci and Shannon and that the three of you were separated. No one ever told us you had older sisters needing homes too.”
“I know.”
“Is there a reason you’re asking me about this now? It was all a really long time ago.”
“You know how I told you that Traci was in foster care and never adopted.”
“Yes?” Her voice was strained.
“Well, Shannon’s mom said that she never knew there were three of us. I just wondered if the adoption agency told you the same thing.”
“We’d wanted a baby. We’d been on a waiting list for years. Hearing about you was the best news ever.”
Kimber noticed that she didn’t exactly answer the question. But suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know. It wasn’t like the past could be changed anyway.
Kimber pulled back out onto the road and when she hung up after a few more minutes of conversation, she was pulling up to her building. The Christmas lights that they’d hung together in the small front yard and around the door were twinkling merrily. It had been a small miracle that they’d done such a good job. It had turned out that each of them—Jennifer and Gwen included—had had strong opinions about how to decorate a house for Christmas. Boy, they’d laughed and argued . . . and then gotten mugs of hot chocolate and stood together in the front yard to admire their hard work.
Kimber had loved every second of it.
Now, looking up at the house, she realized that she might not be exactly sure who she was, but she did know one thing for certain.
At last, she was home.
CHAPTER 7
the mouse king: He’s the mischievous king of the magical soldier mice. The Mouse King declares war on the Nutcracker and his tin soldiers and a battle ensues.
Bridgeport High was pretty big. Each day, there were at least four hundred students in the building. That meant that there was always someone walking in the halls. There were always a lot of people. That was fine, but it made it kind of hard to have a private conversation with anyone.
Jeremy had been pulled out to speak to Melanie in the office. They were supposed to talk twice a month and every once in a while she liked to meet with him at school instead of at Gunnar’s house. They had talked—and really, there hadn’t been too much to say; everything was good with his foster dad—and now he was walking back to class.