Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1) (21 page)

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.

I smiled back. “I’ll be here.” I glanced at Anne, who looked confused. “’Bye, Anne.” I decided to let Connor explain to his sister what was going on.

I closed the car door then waved as they pulled away from my house. Practically skipping to the door, I went inside and set my backpack on the floor before going into the kitchen and cleaning up the dishes left in the sink from breakfast. When I was done, I began straightening up the rest of the house, my happiness giving me more energy than usual.

Then I decided I should take another stab at trying to find the tunnel opening on Google Earth. Once I got the program running, I began my search. This time though, I found a spot that looked promising. I zoomed in, impressed with the clarity of the image. It really did look like an opening of some sort. Making note of the GPS coordinates, I zoomed back out until I could see the hut. The distance looked like it could be right.

A new feeling of hope surged through me. I could actually get back there. Of course I would need to get a GPS device to lead me there or all hope was pretty much lost. When Mom got home I would see if she had one.

The rest of the kids got home a little while later and I tried in vain to keep them from messing up the house before Mom could get home and see how nice everything looked. I managed to get the boys occupied in a game just before Mom got home. I noticed how tired she looked and it suddenly occurred to me how hard it must be for her to have Dad gone and not be able to talk to him or anything.

What kind of world was this where families were torn apart just because someone weighed too much? But knowing that I now had an excellent chance of getting home filled me with unrestrained optimism. On top of that, I had my date with Connor to look forward to. Things were definitely looking up.

“Hi, Morgan,” Mom said, interrupting my thoughts. “How was school?”

“It was great,” I said, a wide smile on my face.

Mom smiled back and I was glad my enthusiasm was contagious.

“What was so great about school?” she asked.

I felt myself blush, knowing I was never that excited about school. “Well, actually, it was something that happened at school. You know that boy who stopped by last night? Connor?”

“The good-looking boy with the brown hair?”

I almost asked her what other boys had stopped by, but knew that would be rude. “Yes,” I said instead.

“Yeah?”

“Well, he asked me on a date!”

“Really? That’s great.”

To my surprise, Mom seemed genuinely excited.

“I knew you’d make friends here,” she said.

I should have known that was her underlying concern—that I would never get out of my shell or make any friends. I pushed aside my annoyance and focused on my happiness.

“When is this big date?” she asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

The smile on her face vanished and a bad feeling spread across my chest. “What?” I asked.

“I’m so sorry, Morgan. But I have to work tomorrow afternoon and I need you to babysit.”

“What?” I squeaked. Yes, my voice actually squeaked. I swallowed hard over the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. “What about Amy? Can’t she babysit?”

Mom glanced at Amy, who was sitting on the couch pretending to read a book. I could tell she was watching us out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t say anything.

“I don’t feel comfortable yet leaving her in charge of your brothers.”

“Why not?” I asked as Brandon suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs that Zac had cheated in their game.

“I did not!” Zac shouted back.

Mom’s attention shifted to the boys as they began wrestling on the floor, both of them near tears.

I glanced at Amy again, whose gaze was glued to the pages of her book and I knew Mom was right. Amy wouldn’t be able to handle the boys for a long period of time. Mom would probably come home to find Amy tied up while the boys tore the house apart.

My shoulders slumped as thoughts of my dream date faded.  I grabbed the cordless phone and went up to my room where I dug Connor’s number out of my backpack. I sat on my bed and dialed his number. After a few rings he answered and as his voice filled my head I momentarily lost my train of thought.

“Hello?” he asked a second time.

“Connor. Hi. This is Morgan.”

“Oh, hey, Morgan. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to bother you.”

“No problem. I’m at work, but it’s okay.”

“Oh. Well I was just calling to tell you I can’t go with you tomorrow after all.”

“Oh. Okay.” He paused. “Is everything all right?”

“It’s just that my mom has to work so I have to babysit my younger brothers.”

He paused again and I worried he would think I was a total loser.

“How old are they?”

“What?” I asked, not understanding why he would care.

“Your brothers. How old are they?”

“Um, they’re eight and ten.”

“Well why don’t you bring them with us?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it, not sure if I’d heard him right. “What?”

“Morgan, I was going to take you bowling. They’re old enough to come along. There’s no reason we can’t still go out. They can play too.”

“Really?” I asked, just managing to stop the squeak that nearly came out.

“Sure.”

“Well, okay. I guess that would work.”

“Cool. I’ve got to get back to work, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Pressing the
off
button, I raced downstairs to tell Mom the news.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” she asked, a look of uncertainty on her face.

“It’s either that or don’t go out at all.”

“If you’re sure,” she said.

I glanced at my brothers, who were now quietly watching TV. “They’re not that bad.” When I looked back at Mom, she just smiled.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have GPS?”

“Yeah. You know how Dad is about getting gadgets. We got it before . . . well, before he left.” She paused. “Why?”

When she mentioned Dad leaving, I felt my heart lurch a little as I was reminded yet again about the craziness of this world. But that was exactly why I needed to use Mom’s GPS. “Can I borrow it sometime? Is it mobile?”

“Yes, it’s mobile. But why would you need to borrow it?”

“Well, I just have such a bad sense of direction. I thought it would be interesting to use it sometime.” The lie came easily and I felt ashamed. But I knew my reason for lying was legitimate and if Mom knew what had happened (assuming she’d believe me, which I knew she wouldn’t), she would let me do what I needed to. “Is it in the car?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mind if I see how it works?”

“No.” She smiled. “It’s the least I can do after you worked so hard to clean the house.”

I smiled back, her appreciation warming me. I went out to the car and found the device in the glove compartment. Evidently she hadn’t used it in a while, because the battery was dead. I brought it in the house and plugged it in, then played with the commands. Deciding to enter the coordinates for both the hut and the tunnel, I went and got the paper where I’d written down the information, then entered in both sets of coordinates and set them as favorites

I decided to do a dry-run of sorts and I selected the saved favorite for the tunnel. After a minute the GPS had acquired the satellite and the first direction I would need to take appeared on the screen. My heart pounded and I knew I was one step closer to getting home.

Before I went to bed I put the GPS and its charger in the pillowcase with the other items and felt comforted knowing it was there when I was ready.

Chapter Twenty-Five

When Connor knocked on the house the next afternoon, Zac and Brandon raced to answer the door before I could stop them. They were beyond excited to go with us and I wondered if they had ever gone bowling before.

“Morgan! He’s here! He’s here!” Brandon yelled from the open doorway.

My face reddened as I looked at Connor standing right next to my eight-year-old brother. Trying to pretend I wasn’t as excited as them, I said, “Yes, thank you.” But when my eyes met Connor’s and I saw his lips form a wide grin, my heart began pounding so hard that I thought I was in danger of passing out.

“Aren’t you gonna invite him in?” Zac asked loudly from the entryway.

“Uh, yeah.” I tried to unobtrusively wipe my suddenly sweaty hands on my jeans, then I motioned toward the living room, glad I had taken a few minutes to straighten up. “Come in.”

“Thanks,” he said as he walked past Brandon, who still held the door open.

He walked toward me and stopped a few feet away, then turned toward my brothers, who were barely controlling their excitement. “Well, guys,” he said. “Who’s ready to go bowling?”

“We are!” they shouted in unison.

I couldn’t help but laugh at their reaction.

Connor turned toward me. “What about you? Are you ready?” He stepped closer and murmured, “After all,
you’re
the one I really want to spend time with.”

This time my heart felt like it had stopped beating for a moment. And just when I’d thought of a clever answer, Brandon yelled, “What are you guys talking about over there?”

My clever answer evaporated as the blood left my brain and rushed to my face. But Connor turned away from me and didn’t seem to notice my embarrassment.

“All right, let’s get this show on the road.” Connor walked toward the open door.

I followed him as I took a deep breath to try to calm my emotions. He turned to make sure I was coming and winked at me. We’d been on our date for less than five minutes, but already I was falling harder for him.

After herding the boys into his car, he opened the passenger door for me and I slid into the seat. He climbed into the driver’s side then turned to the backseat where Zac and Brandon were bouncing on the seat.

“You have to put your seatbelts on before we can go anywhere,” he said.

I looked at him in surprise. It seemed most teenagers didn’t care about seatbelts, though my mom had always drilled it into us to wear ours.

“What?” he asked, catching me looking at him.

I just smiled.

He grinned, then leaned toward me and whispered, “I think it will better if they’re locked down back there, don’t you?”

This time I laughed as I nodded. “How do you know so much about little boys? You don’t have any brothers, right?”

“Number one, I used to be a little boy,” he said. “Number two, I have three nephews close to their age.”

“We’re ready, Connor,” Zac said.

“Good job, guys,” he replied as he looked back to make sure they were actually belted in.

The drive to the bowling alley was uneventful. I was almost afraid to talk to Connor for fear that Zac or Brandon would jump in to the conversation and say something embarrassing. A short time later we arrived and as soon as the car had stopped the boys were pushing past each other to get out of the car.

“They’re sure full of energy,” Connor said as we watched them dash toward the entrance.

I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a complaint. “Yeah.” I began to walk faster. “And we’d better hurry or they’ll tear the place apart before we get inside.”

Connor just laughed as he caught up with me and we rushed inside. To my relief, the boys were actually waiting for us.

“You guys are slow pokes,” Brandon announced.

“I tried to keep up, but you guys are just too fast for me,” Connor said.

When I saw the look of delight on Brandon’s face, I felt my heart melt for Connor even more. He was being so sweet to my brothers even though he had no reason to.

The four of us went to the counter and rented our shoes and Connor paid for the lane. We had to spend some time showing my little brothers how to bowl, confirming my suspicion that this was their first time bowling. Even though it seemed Connor was giving more attention to Zac and Brandon than to me, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the three of them having so much fun.

After we’d been bowling for about forty-five minutes, I sat on one of the chairs by our lane. To my delight, moments later Connor slid in to the seat next to me, a smile on his face.

“I think they’re getting the hang of it,” he said, motioning to my brothers who jumped in excitement any time a pin fell over.

“Yeah, they had a good teacher.”

“Thanks. It was fun to teach them.”

He leaned closer to me and my pulse surged. “What about you?” he asked. “Do you need some private lessons?”

“Am I doing that bad?” I asked, laughing.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” He smiled. “I just thought it would be nice to have some time on an actual date instead of babysitting.”

“I see how it is,” I said. “You’re just using my brothers to get close to me.”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “That’s it.”

Though I was exhilarated by the attention he was giving me, I had to control my eagerness. After all, I would be gone in just a few weeks.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“A little,” I said, though I was actually ravenous.

“Great. I’ll get us something to eat.”

I watched him walk away and went to help Brandon, who was having trouble holding the bowling ball right. I was so focused on my brothers that I didn’t realize someone had walked up next to me until I heard my name.

Startled, I spun around to see who was talking to me. It was Lori.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, a smirk on her face.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted.

“Bowling, duh.” She laughed and turned toward the three girls standing a little ways behind her. They laughed too.

I hadn’t seen them there and felt awkward to have them watching me.

“How sweet of you to take your baby brothers bowling.”

“I’m not a baby!” Brandon shouted.

“Whatever,” Lori said, rolling her eyes.

I felt the urge to slap her, but kept my hands to myself.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to your babysitting,” she said, a look of derision on her face.

“Actually,” I began, about to explain I was on a date with Connor. But just then Brandon shouted “Food!” We all turned to see Connor carrying sandwiches in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other. At the look of shock on Lori’s face, I couldn’t keep the broad smile from forming on mine. “Like I was about to say, I’m not just here with my brothers.” I paused as Lori turned back to me. “But I guess you can see that.”