Read Love Found in California (The Washington Triplets) for Free Online Page B

least the old Mya would eventually come around. Since Mya was the first to move away and has been gone the longest, she’s missed out on more. She doesn’t know anything about how Mom and Dad were before Mom passed. I imagine she’s pissed as hell about this email from Dad. She can’t possibly understand why he would be proposing to Janet and marrying her so soon after Mom’s death … but I have a different insight to the situation.
     
    It was end of the summer, I should have been packing for college, but I was in my room with the door locked. Sometimes for good measure I’d put my desk chair under the door handle, mostly at night before bed. Just in case, I’d tell myself. Marisa and Mya’s voices floated outside the door as they walked in and out of their rooms. Then I could hear their footsteps, as well as my parents’, moving down and out of the house to load the cars up. My mom was taking Marisa and my dad was taking Mya.
    See, it’s better I’m not going to college. Who would have taken me?
    I lay in my bed, the same as I had been doing almost the entire summer. Well, at least since the neighborhood party in June. That’s exactly when my life changed. Permanently.
    “What is her deal? Is she even going to come out and say goodbye to us?” Mya asked Marisa. Her tone was clipped and edgy, but I knew she was hurt by my withdrawn behavior over the last couple of months.
    “I don’t know, Mya. I’m sure Mom will talk to her,” Marisa replied sweetly.
    Tears pierced my eyes and I didn’t bother holding them in one bit. They slipped from my lids, fell from cheeks and soaked my nightshirt. I cried quietly though. Everyday I got better at crying silently to myself.
    Knock, knock. “It’s me Mik, it’s Mom. No one else is here right now,” my mom whispered through the tight crack of my door. Hesitantly, I got up from my bed and opened the door. My mom knew the routine and closed it after, even locking it up.
    “Honey, my precious girl, please tell me,” she continued to whisper as she wiped the tears from my face. I shook in front of her and my knees wobbled. Her arms came around me, holding me up, and then guided us to the bed. Weakly, I crumbled into her lap and let her stroke my long hair.
    Everyday she tried to find out what had me secluded, depressed and anxious. I wanted to tell her, wanted to tell someone, but was too hurt; devastated, scared, nervous, afraid, guilty … the list went on. It’s funny how I had been going on daily in my life with no real highs or lows of emotions, but now I had realized that it only took something more life-changing, significant, to hit a high or low, as in my case. Now all kinds of emotions I never dreamed of feeling were constants.
    “Mom, just tell them goodbye for me, please. I can’t, I can’t do it.” I uttered the words as regret already filled me. I knew I would regret it as soon as I said it.
     
    Staring blankly at the screen, I add replying to my sisters again to my list of issues to cover with my therapist. While I’m at it I need to actually reply to Dad’s email too. This need to fix, repair and rebuild my relationships with my family looms heavily in my mind. Ryan being the very first and most important person I need to mend my relationship with.
    My fingers started typing as if on their own accord. They flew feverously across the keyboard revealing my secrets. I couldn’t stop myself; it all flowed out too easily on the screen. The details didn’t hold me back like when I was in front of someone. Feelings of relief invaded me from a deep place that still had miles to travel to be in full bloom.
    When I look up at the clock, I see I’m almost twenty minutes late for work. My mouse hovers over the send button, hesitantly, and then reality hits me and I click on Save Draft .
    Ryan took care of getting a rental car, and when I get to the garage I’m not surprised to see a Lincoln Navigator parked in my spot. He had told me he asked them for