“We renovated and moved the living space and kitchen to the second story. This is where I work and give lessons.”
Lessons she wouldn’t give me.
“We’ll be more comfortable upstairs.” I follow her up the first flight, and she turns and enters a living room. It’s cheery with reds, yellows and blues, and a dark wooden floor. There are toys scattered all over. I follow her through the dining room and into a kitchen.
“Coffee?” Then she shakes her head. “No. Not coffee. What do teens drink?”
I hold up my cup. “Coffee.”
Kelsey smiles or is it a grimace before she grabs a mug and begins to pour from the pot. Her hands are shaking, and for the first time, I realize she isn’t as cool and collected as I thought.
“Let’s go into the living room. We can watch for your mom from there.”
Once again, I follow her into another room. That’s all I’m doing, following? I should say something. I had all kinds of speeches in my head while I was riding the subway, but I can’t remember any of them right now
This wasn’t thought through, but I’m here now, and I need to make the best of it. As I walk through the living room, I glance over to a wall of pictures. Tons of family photos of her kids, some of the family as a whole, but what makes me pause are the pictures of me.
My heart skips a beat, and I walk over. They aren’t the photos like she has of her kids, but Kelsey has framed articles from the paper where I’m pictured with one award or another. I am mixed in with the rest of her family, as if I am part of it.
There’s only one real photo of me, and that’s the one that was taken when I was born.
The one she swiped along with the rattle box. Beside it is a shadow box with sheet music, a pink rattle, a birth certificate and a picture of her and some guy. I take a step forward. They are so young.
“Is that my dad?”
“Yeah,” she says coming up beside me. Tears are in her eyes, and my earlier anger starts to slip away.
Kelsey walks to a cabinet, opens a drawer and takes something out before coming back to me. “I had a copy made before it started to fade so you would have one too.”
My eyes mist as I run my fingers over the face of my dad. The man who didn’t even know I existed but would have wanted me. “He’s handsome.”
“He was.” She sighs and then clears her throat. “So, you found the letters.”
Nothing like cutting right to the heart of the matter. “Last week.”
She nods and walks to the blue and yellow plaid couch. “Come sit with me.”
I do as she asks even though I’m a little too anxious to sit. I was so pissed coming here, and I’m having a really hard time holding onto that anger.
Sinking down beside her, I sip from my coffee and try to put my thoughts in order. “I found them last week. I was grounded, and one of my punishments was cleaning the house from top to bottom.”
“What did you do to get grounded?”
“I was ticked when you wouldn’t take me as a student, so I left the competition with my best friend, Peyton. We were gone like two hours and freaked our teachers and chaperones out.”
“You shouldn’t have left the campus,” she chastises.
I almost tell her that I already have a mother and don’t want to hear it from her too, but stop myself. “I got suspended for three days, but then I got in more trouble.”
Kelsey frowns. “How, if you were grounded?”
My face heats. I want her to like me and not think I’m a problem kid or something like that, but I’ve already told her I was in trouble. “Peyton had tickets to see Christian Sucato. I’d never seen him perform, and I couldn’t pass that up.”
Her lips quirk.
“I snuck out, but it was so worth it. He is so freaking awesome.”
Now she’s biting her bottom lip as if she’s trying to keep from smiling.
Then I remember what Peyton said about the Christian she went to school with. What if wasn’t still a “what-if”. “Do you know him?”
“Christian Sucato?”
I nod.
“Yes. He’s a very good friend.”
Oh. My. God! “Is he the Christian who went to high school with you? Peyton wanted to think so, but I never really thought it was possible.”
“He is.”
Peyton is going to die when she finds this out. And, she’s going to be so jealous.
“I even played the keyboards for a couple of his earlier recordings. Once when he was still with a band and once when he started off on his own.”
My jaw drops. I have every one of his records, from the very beginning. Now I’m going to have to go through them to see where she’s listed. This is so freaking cool. And proof that there can be a future in music, especially when your mom is Mrs. Dosek and her friend is Christian Sucato.
“I met him at the event. Peyton introduced us, and it was like he recognized me or something.”
“He probably did. He certainly knows your name and has been in this house enough to see the pictures.”
This is so surreal.
“Do you hate me?” Kelsey finally asks.
Talking about Christian Sucato was the easy stuff. The rest is hard. “No.”
“Do you understand?” Tears flood her eyes.
If I’m going to have a relationship with my mom, if it’s allowed, it’s going to be an honest one. Being honest with my adoptive mom is not always easy. She doesn’t get me. She doesn’t understand anything.
I take a deep breath. “I found the box in the attic and looked in it. Mainly because it was the only thing not covered in dust. When I saw the letters, I started reading them.”
“Did
