Read Sunshine's Kiss for Free Online Page B

and shut the door behind him. He stared at the door for ages, waiting for Jesse to come back in and tell him it had all been a huge joke, but the door never opened.
    Time passed slowly. Sam moved from the bed to the window and then to a chair in front of the fireplace. After a while, he found his way back to the bed. And still, no one came in, leaving Sam alone with his thoughts, as chaotic as they were.
    Eventually, the sun started to set and the room grew dark. Sam sat in the darkness, his mind jumping from one thought to another, too confused to settle on just one. When it started to get cold, Sam shed all of his clothes except his boxers and drew the blanket up over his shoulders, snuggling down into the mattress.
    He realized he was taking Jesse’s bed, but he just couldn’t find the motivation to get up and move. He didn’t even care at this point that he had his keys back and could leave anytime he wanted to. He just wanted to sleep.

    * * * *

    Sam glanced toward the door when it opened. He had been staring out the window, watching the sun rise through the curtains and wondering why Jesse had never come back the previous night. He half hoped that it was Jesse coming in and was half afraid that it was.
    “Samuel?”
    “Hey, Mom.” Sam quickly sat up and pushed the blanket down around his waist as he watched his mother walk in with a tray in her hand.
    “I brought you something to eat.”
    “I’m not very hungry, Mom.” In fact, his stomach was twisting in knots. The thought of eating just made the cramps worse, even if it had been nearly twenty-four hours since he had eaten. The mere thought of food made him want to puke.
    “Well, you may not feel like it, but your body needs nourishment. You never came down to dinner last night. I won’t let you skip breakfast.” Sarah Bishop walked across the room and set the tray of food down on the nightstand next to the bed, and then she sat down on the bed next to Sam, reaching out to gently pat his hand.
    “Jesse asked me to come up and talk to you. He said you might have some questions.”
    Boy, did he have questions . Sam had a million of them. He just couldn’t think of which one to ask first.
    “And before you ask, yes, I’ve known about the McCaffreys since a few months after we moved here.”
    “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Sam asked. He smacked himself on the forehead and groaned. “And how did I not know?”
    Sarah sighed deeply. “In the beginning, I didn’t want you to know. You were just a child, and children speak the truth when asked. I was afraid that you would say something to someone and bring the authorities down on us, or worse.”
    Okay, he could see that. Images of government experiments gone wrong flashed through his mind. He could really see that. This was not a secret that could be let out. But that still didn’t explain how he had gone so many years without knowing about it.
    Was he that oblivious?
    “And when I grew older?” Sam asked.
    “By then, so many years had gone by and you never seemed to have a clue, so I just let things be. On nights when everyone needed to run, I sent you to spend the night at friends’ houses or put you to bed early. And everyone was given strict instructions not to shift around you or say anything.”
    “Were you ever going to tell me?” Sam growled.
    “I would have told you if the need had arisen. Until you were twenty-one, it didn’t matter. You were oblivious, and then you were gone before I could say anything.”
    Sam frowned, narrowing in on one word. “Twenty-one? What was different when—” Sam suddenly knew. “That’s when Jesse kissed me for the first time and when Mr. McCaffrey made me leave.”
    “That’s when things changed.” Sarah looked partly sad and partly glad. It was a confusing combination of emotions.
    “What changed?”
    A slight smile came to Sarah’s lips. “Jesse challenged his father for one. He didn’t kill Andrew, but he made him leave. The ranch has