The Lost Child

Chapter 8

"Hey, the guys and I are going to the bowling alley, do you want to come with?" Orian asks, after he knocked on the closed bedroom door, and I told him he could come inside.

Shaking my head, feeling slightly happy that I'm being included when they don't have to include me; "No thanks, but I appreciate the offer. Maybe next time."

Orian nods, but seems a little disappointed as he shuts the door behind himself. Grabbing the bag of books, I head toward the door, when I hear the front door open and then shut, and car doors slamming shut, and engines starting. What I hadn't planned on was for Ryan still being here in the house. When I walk into the living room, I startle when I notice him sitting on the couch, watching the telly.

"Want a ride?" Ryan casually asks, turning off the tv, and placing the remote on the coffee table in front of him before looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Um, no thank you, but I appreciate the offer," I mumble, forcing my rapidly beating heart to slow down to a correct beat. "I thought you went with them to the bowling alley."

"Nope, I hadn't planned on going already, but I decided to stay here after Reid told me you're plan of walking to the library," he replies, standing, and walking into the kitchen, and to the shelf by the door to grab his keys from the bowl as he slips his shoes on. "Well, come on, son, let's go."

"I'm sorry for fucking up your plans tonight, and your life now, along with their lives," I sniffle softly, standing still in my spot as he opens the front door.

"Come on, we're gonna drop these off if that's what you really want," he states, avoiding my comment. "After that, you and I are gonna stop at a local cafe for a non-alcoholic drink and a snack, and we're gonna talk."

"Okay," I sniffle again, wiping my eyes dry on my long sleeve shirt, and following him out of the house.

Ryan shuts and locks the door behind us, and we settle ourselves into his truck, and we stop at the library, and I drop the books in the outside drop box near the door. Walking back to the truck, I silently climb back inside without looking at my biological father as I stuff the bag on the floor between the seat and the arm rest. Ryan drives us to this local cafe, and parks, and we head inside, and sit across from each other at a table near the window in the back corner after we've each ordered a drink and a snack.

Folding my hands on my lap, and wait for Ryan to begin speaking which he does after a moment of silence; "Look, I cannot even begin to understand how you're feeling with your mom and step-father being dead, and being uprooted from your home, and then uprooted from a foster family you got along with. I'm sorry that William made you feel however you're feeling about your enjoyment of reading. I won't apologize for him because he sometimes doesn't think before he speaks. I can't imagine what it's like for you growing up as an only child, not knowing that you have three older brothers, and a father who you never knew existed."

Swallowing harshly against the sudden lump that's formed in my throat, I give Ryan a sharp nod of acknowledgement of his words before roughly speaking; "I can't begin to explain to you or anyone else how much I miss mom and um, Greg, but I'm angry at them at the same time for what they did to me, to you, and to my brothers. I should have been allowed to know you four, and spend time with you, and that the four of you should have known me, too. The only thing I can promise you is that I'll try to be more like you and my brothers, and not such a loser and a nerd."

Ryan shakes his head at me; "Lake, you don't need to change who you are, or who you want to be for us, or anyone else. If you want to change, make the changes for yourself."

Before I can reply, a server brings over our drinks and food, sitting these on the table in between us, and leaves us with a smile, and after they've walked away, that's when I answer Ryan; "I understand what you're saying, and I'll do my best that if I make changes about me, it'll be for me only. I'm sorry for coming into your lives, and screwing everything up in one day. I'm gonna work on not screwing things up more in your house."

"You're not screwing anything up, Lake, I promise," Ryan assures me, but I have a weird feeling in my soul that he's just saying this because he's my biological father, but maybe I'm wrong. "What do you say after we're done here, we go shopping, whatever you want or need? Clothes? Books? Art supplies? Anything within reason."

Chewing on my lower lip as I think for several seconds before shyly asking; "Can we get some clothing, and maybe a book, please?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ryan agrees before changing the conversation to a topic I'm not ready to discuss with him, or anyone else. "The lawyer contacted me yesterday, about your mom and Greg's Last Will and Testament, and there is a reading of this Monday afternoon, okay? This is all I'm going to say about this until we're home with your brothers. I just wanted to give you a fair heads up, so I didn't blind-side you when I bring this up later."

"I appreciate this," I murmur, rapidly blinking back tears of anger and sadness at the mention of mom and Greg, and Ryan nods in understanding.

Several hours later, Ryan and I arrive back home, and while we're climbing from his truck, the guys pull up in Vincent's truck, parking behind us. They make it to the front door as Ryan unlocks the door, and we enter the house.