Meant to Be (12 page)

Beeeeep!

Sam and I looked up.

“Oh, there’s my foster mom.”

We both grabbed our school bags and headed
toward the sleek BMW that was idling at the curb. Sam opened the
car door and introduced me.

“Krista, this is Karen, my foster mom. Mom,
this is Krista.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Krista, thanks
for keeping our girl company this past week. My husband and I have
been up to our eyeballs in the case we’re handling. I can’t wait
until the trial is over. Once it is, we can return the favor and
you can stay overnight. Sam has talked about you non-stop and we’re
so happy you moved here.”

“I am too,” I said as I settled into the
plush leather seats of the BMW. Boy, their car made ours look like
a matchbox car, I thought as I inhaled the rich smell of the
leather seats. “Otherwise, Sam and I would have never met,” I
continued on.

“She’s a special girl and we’re glad you’re
friends.”

Sam flushed at Karen’s words. I couldn’t help
wondering if compliments about her had been few and far between
growing up. Were these foster parents the first to ever show any
interest in her?

I felt an unfamiliar feeling of anger well up
inside me. Why did parents abandon their children? Did they not
care about the life they were condemning their children to? Sure, I
had lucked out, but what about poor Sam.

Karen pulled her car up in front of my house.
Sam and I piled out while Karen popped the trunk open so Sam could
grab her overnight bag. She handed Sam some money and told her to
have a good time.

Chapter 7

We stowed Sam’s bags on the floor in my room
before we headed back to the sitting room to listen to music. I
turned the volume down so I could fill Sam in on what she had
missed.

“So, what’s the Dean going to do?” Sam asked
after she heard all the details.

“Mark’s not sure, he’s on some kind of
probation and if word gets out about what he did to Matt, I’m sure
the Dean would discontinue his study. We need to be careful over
the next few months. I don’t want to ruin his whole career.”

“That Matt’s a snake,” Sam muttered. “I wish
I could have seen the look on his face when Mark grabbed his
hand.”

For the first time since it had happened, I
could smile and appreciate the fact that Matt had gotten a taste of
his own medicine for once.

“You’ve got a point. You should have seen the
look on his face. I thought he was going to wet his pants.”

Both of us burst out laughing at the thought
of Matt walking through the hall with wet pants. The
Lush
Trio
wouldn’t think he was so hot then.

“I don’t see Matt letting this slide,” Sam
said, sobering both of us up.

“I know. He can’t be trusted.”

“So, your foster mom seems nice.” I said,
changing the subject.

“Yeah, they’re both nice; I lucked out when
they placed me with them. They act like they like me or
something.”

“They do like you, you’re easy to like. All
your other foster parents were just too stupid to realize it,” I
stated.

Embarrassed by the compliment, Sam stood up
and started browsing through the books that lined the shelves. I
turned up the music and picked up my current book, giving Sam
privacy to digest the compliment. Sam selected a book and settled
into the chair next to me.

I peeked over at Sam whose cheeks were still
slightly flushed; I looked down and began to read my own book. We
sat in compatible silence. After a while, Sam looked up. “I’m glad
we’re friends,” she said simply.

“I am too.”

We smiled at each other, in what I’m sure
others would have called a
cheesy
kind of way. The time
passed swiftly and before we knew it, Mark and Shawn were there
with dinner.

Sam and I bounded downstairs to open the
front door for them with the same cheesy smiles on our faces from
before. It should be sin to be as happy as we were.

“Hi!” we said, greeting them in unison as
they stepped over the threshold. I smiled brilliantly at Mark as he
closed the door behind him.

“Boy, you seem to be feeling better,” he
observed.

“I do! Sam and I have been vegging out all
afternoon.”

“I’m glad. I picked up burgers and fries for
dinner. I hope that’s okay?” He asked holding up a beautifully
greasy brown bag.

“That’s perfect, I love fast food,” I said,
acting like he didn’t already know.

He laughed.

“You and Sam can go upstairs. I’ll grab some
plates and some sodas,” I said to Shawn. Shawn and I hadn’t done a
whole lot of talking, and I still felt a little self conscious
around him. Usually, Sam monopolized the conversation, or the guys
would converse amongst themselves. They had spent hours
philosophizing how we all managed to wind up together here. They
had theories that ranged from mystical to science fiction, but it
was hard to think of any reason that didn’t sound completely
ridiculous to me.

Mark and I headed to the kitchen and grabbed
some paper plates, napkins, and sodas. We could hear the easy
bantering between Shawn and Sam as we carried everything up to my
loft. It seemed so strange to have so many people over. Growing up,
my parents had lots of friends, but they usually hung out at their
houses so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable around them. For the most
part, it had always been us three, and then when my dad passed it
away, it was just the two of us.

The four of us chatted while we filled up on
junk food. We never seemed to run out of topics. We all have IQ’s
that are higher than average, and we discovered that we have read
many of the same books. Although, Shawn’s taste ran a little more
toward sci-fi and Mark’s seemed more mystical, (which is how we
wound up with the wide spectrum of theories). Sam and I were both
diehard romantics, and loved many of the same classics.

After we were done eating, I grabbed my
laptop and booted it up. While the computer was warming up, Mark
pulled out the small notebook we were using to write down the
connections we all shared.

I read over his shoulder as he added all the
same books we had all read to the list. Sam and I named off others
he had forgotten.

“I made a list of more websites for us to
check out,” he said. “I think we should Google the name ‘Franklin,’
and see what comes up. All this time I thought Franklin was the
guy’s name, but now I’m wondering if that’s a cover. It bothers me
that Krista mentioned ‘Franklin’ to the authorities, but couldn’t
remember her mom or dads name,” he said.

“Well, she was only two,” Sam piped in.

“Yeah, but I think most two-year-olds can say
their own name. We all know we’re smarter than average. So, how
come most two-year-olds can tell you their parent’s names, but
Krista couldn’t? Doesn’t that strike you as weird?” he asked. “I
can’t help wondering if she was separated from her parents a long
time before this ‘Franklin’ person dropped her off.”

“I thought we already decided that this whole
thing is weird,” Sam piped in once again.

I settled on the floor with Sam and Mark on
each side of me, while Shawn settled into the lazy-boy across from
us. I clicked on the Internet icon and soon we were surfing the
web. Technology is a wonderful thing.

I typed in the name ‘Franklin’ on the Google
screen. We could see that the list that popped up was endless and
had multiple pages. I used the mouse to scroll down the list. Mark
wrote down some that might be helpful. The first one on his list
was for a trucking company named ‘Franklin and Sons.’ We all
decided it made sense. Maybe a trucker dropped me off and used the
name on the side of the truck. We all mulled it over, it seemed
plausible.

I clicked onto the ‘Franklin and Sons’
website. It opened to a full page ad that had a big semi-truck on
it. I clicked the icon that showed the history of the company. We
were all disappointed when we read that the company was founded
only five years ago by a man and his two sons.

“Well there goes that idea,” Sam
commented.

I exited out of that page and went back to
the listings for
Franklin
. The next one on the list was for
a pharmaceutical company. We discarded that one and moved on down
the list. We searched for over an hour, but no other websites
panned out. Finally giving up, I switched off the computer.

“I need another soda,” Sam said, rising from
her spot on the floor. “Does anyone else need anything?”

“I do,” Mark and I both said in unison.

“I’ll go with you,” Shawn said as we all
laughed.

Shawn grabbed Sam’s hand and gave her a quick
but searing kiss before he led her down the stairs. I couldn’t help
the shot of envy that sliced through me. I envied the ease they
had. They seemed to know exactly what the other wanted and they
were so attuned to each other, it was like watching an old couple
waltz on the dance floor for the millionth time. They seemed aware
of every move the other was going to make. I couldn’t help thinking
despairingly that maybe Mark and I were not as good a fit as they
were.

I set the computer off to the side and turned
to face Mark and saw that he was staring at me intently. My pulse
sped up when he reached over and twirled a lock of my hair around
his finger.

“You are so beautiful. I’ve seen you hundreds
of times in my dreams over the years, but they never did you
justice,” he said, as if he sensed my insecurities.

My breath came out in small shallow gasps as
we stared intently at each other. Was this the moment I had waited
for, was he finally going to kiss me? My palms began to sweat.

I closed my eyes as he slowly leaned toward
me.

My eyes sprung open at the sound of Sam and
Shawn bounding up the stairs.

“Oops sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Sam
said flushing a dull pink.

Swallowing my disappointment, I heard Mark
let out a small groan of frustration. I felt my heart lighten.
Well, at least it seems like he wanted to kiss me this time, I
thought to myself.

Mark stood up. “We better head out,” he said
to Shawn. “We’ll meet you guys tomorrow at the Boardwalk.”

I stood up also. “That sounds perfect. My mom
said I could borrow the car all day. She’s finally going to start
painting tomorrow, so she’s looking forward to having the house to
herself.”

Sam and I walked the guys down the stairs.
Sam followed Shawn out the front door and walked him to the car
probably trying to give us privacy for interrupting us upstairs.
Mark missed the hint though and only paused briefly; he used his
palm to cup my face, but instead of kissing me, he gently rubbed
his thumb over my bottom lip. I shivered from the contact and felt
goose bumps pop up along my arms. Holy cow, if kissing him felt
half as good as this, I knew I was a goner.

“I’ll see you later,” he said.

I smiled a little sadly. We both knew in just
a few short hours we would be with each other in our
dream
world
, and even though the dreams had taken a painful twist,
neither one of us would give them up for anything.

My mom arrived home just minutes after Mark
and Shawn left. I couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief that the
timing had worked out. I just wasn’t ready to cross that bridge and
introduce Mark to her yet.

“Hey girls, how was your evening?” My mom
inquired, setting her overflowing bags on the settee that was
against the wall just past the front door.

“It was fun.” Sam and I burst out laughing as
we answered at the same time again. We were like two halves that
had been put back together.

My mom smiled at our light hearted mood. “Do
you girls have any interest in playing games with an old lady for a
little while?”

“Mom, you’re not an old lady,” I protested,
standing up to get some games.

“Ugh.” I groaned dismayed, as I began the
search for a deck of cards that was buried somewhere within a
cluster of games spilling off the overflowing shelves. How the
closet had gotten this bad when we only had been in the new house
for a few short weeks was beyond me. I lifted the Monopoly and
Pictionary games out of the way and caught the Scrabble board as it
slid out of its torn box. Finally, I spied the cards shoved all the
way in the back. Juggling the games with one hand, I plunged my
free hand toward the back of the shelf and groped around for the
cards, praying silently that my hand wouldn’t encounter any creepy
crawlies. I detested bugs and usually strayed away from placing my
hand into dark corners.

We decided to play rummy since Sam had never
played it before. Mom briefly explained the rules to Sam while I
forged into the kitchen to make all of us hot fudge sundaes.

Sam kept us in stitches while we played the
game; she had a hard time remembering the rules, so she made up her
own. We laughed at her outrageous rules and soon we were all making
up our own rules. We played cards late into the night, laughing and
joking around.

Finally, my mom yawned and announced it was
way past her bedtime. Sam and I were still hyped up from the ice
cream, so we continued our game upstairs. We sat on my bed for
another hour gossiping, while we played.

By 1:00 a.m. our sugar rush had disappeared
and we were ready to turn in. I put the cards away and pulled out
my trundle bed for Sam while she used the bathroom. When Sam was
done, I shuffled to the bathroom; I washed my face and brushed my
teeth. As I reached over to switch off the light, I caught a
glimpse of my reflection and was amazed at the differences. I
barely recognized the smiling girl who looked back at me. Mark and
Sam had changed my life. The seriousness that had always circled my
eyes was now replaced by laugh lines.

I crawled in bed and switched off the lamp,
mumbling a goodnight to Sam and within minutes we were out.