Path to Deciduous (Sequel to Road to Evergreen) | #Wattys2018

F i f t e e n

Songs for this chapter:

Ella Henderson- Missed
Green Day- Wake Me Up When September Ends

***
"I'm watching her talk. Watching her jaw move and collecting her words one by one as they spill from her lips. I don't deserve them. Her warm memories. I'd like to paint them over the bare plaster walls of my soul, but everything I paint seems to peel."

—Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies
***

Adam's P.O.V

Everything is adding up and I'm just going to explode.

It wasn't my intentions to act as a jerk back there. She deserves the offer she got and I'm happy for her. But I'm a selfish bastard that always wants her all to myself. Maybe her getting away each day might reduce the worries. Maybe then, I could get to the end of this.

I exit the building and pull out a cigarette. What now? I could walk for five minutes to see Lucian. Or I could call Riley, meet him up, and let it get to the end of this. Or I could simply stay alone, let the silence calm my ease. But who am I kidding? This silence will kill me.

Half way through the smoke, I dig my phone out and dial Riley. He gave me a number that I could hit him up whenever I needed to know the whole truth. I cut him off when he told me the reason. But now I'm ready to know the truth.
***

"A burger and fries on me?" Riley offers. We're sitting in a non crowded bistro.

"Sure," I sigh, my stomach growling. He gave me an address and I could see with the way he's acting with the waitress, that he comes here often. The window splashes the sun across the table which only causes me to hide in the shadows.

"How's Spencer?" He asks. I chuckle. "Just like always."

He frowns. "So he isn't mad at me or I don't know- " I cut him off.  "He didn't show me any sign of depression. He's moving on, so just let it be." His jaw tenses as he rubs his eyes. My words might have hurt him, but he hurt Lis.

"So," I lean forward, resting my head on the fist formed of my hands. "Explain yourself."

He smirks. "Eager, I see."

"Cut the crap Riley. I'm not here to enjoy a bonding moment with you." The waitress interrupts us as she places our plates in front of us. He digs right into his food but I sit there, waiting. He grabs a handful of fries and shoves them in his mouth. I wait till he swallows and then he says, "I had a break down that night. I knew it wasn't her fault. But I wanted answers and no one was giving them to me." His voice starts rising. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure she told you details so I'm going to cut to the part. I didn't understand who the person was, who shot her. She was a women, mid thirties."

My eyebrows strike upward. "A women? Do you have a name?"

He takes a bite and I impatiently wait. "I do, now. After long ass research, I found out more than I anticipated."

"What does that mean?"

He sighs. "It means that the women's name is Maria Fredrik. Rings a bell?"

"No." Should it?

"Come on, Adam. Connect the dots together." He pushes.

"That's Max's last name," I immediately say. "Max's mother?" My voice comes out as a whisper. "She shot Lesley? Why in the world would she do that?" 

"Let me tell you a little bit about Maria." He wipes his mouth with a napkin. "She knows Lesley. She used to know her much much more before her father, Trenton Parker, passed away. But when he died, she disappeared along with him."

I frown, eyes wide. "I don't understand. What does her father have to do with this?"

"Adam," he sighs. "Maria was Trenton's bestfriend."

"What?"

"And now, she's his wife." My heart starts beating faster. I rub my chest, feeling an uncomfortable pain.

"He's dead." My voice comes out serious.

He leans forward. "He's not."

"What the hell do you mean he's not? Her father died in a car accident a year ago!" My voice starts rising. "I met Max's father. His name is..." I whisper the last part, "Trenton Fredrick." My eyes widen as I slowly lean back. Is this even possible?

"What a small world, eh?" He says. This can't be true. "Adam, I now this is a lot to take in, but it will make sense."  He tries to comfort me. He changed his last name? Maybe it's the same Trenton or a coincidence. This doesn't make sense. If Lesley's father is Max's father then...

"Lesley has another brother. Max is her brother," I say.

"Voila! I got to give you some credit. You're smarter than I thought you were." He continues his burger.

"Riley, if what you're saying is true, that her father is alive, then why did he fake his death?"

"That part, I'm not quite sure of yet."

"This is fucked up on so many levels." I shake my head.

"I have a theory," he leans in. "He cheated on her mother with her bestfriend around six-five... how old is Max?"

"Seven."

"Around 7 years ago. And then he had no other choice but to fake his death and be with his other new family."

"That theory has a lot of holes."

"How so?" He arches an eyebrow.

"It's been seven years, Riley. It's odd that none of them found out. Didn't they ever ask about Maria? Wasn't there a body when the car accident happened? It doesn't add up.

Lesley's been living with me for a month now. How come she never ran into him?"

"It might he a coincidence. Good timing, I'm not-"

I cut him. "She saw him." He stares at me with confusion. "She saw him. She told me she saw a ghost of her father. She thought she was hallucinating. But it's true. She actually saw him."

He sighs. "I didn't mean to find out about this. I just stumbled upon it when I was trying to solve my sister's suicide," he shrugs.

"I need a smoke." I get out of the booth and head outside, allowing the warmth to fill me. I dig a fag and light it up. The door bell opens behind me and I find Riley following. I inhale a long drag and exhale upward, enjoying the burning sensation in my throat.

"Are you going to tell her?" He asks. He stands beside me, and shoves his hands in his pockets. We both are staring at a parking lot.

"Will I even be able to? This isn't a white lie, Riley. Fuck," I curse out. "Why did you tell me and not her?" I suck in smoke.

He shrugs. "Like you said, it's not a white lie." When I ignore him, he keeps pushing. "So what now?"

I sigh. "I don't know, Riley. I need to make sure whatever you said is actually true. I need to see it in my own eyes. And then, I'll find a way to tell her without breaking her heart." I flick the cigarette to the floor and turn it off with the bottom of my shoes.

"Maybe you can stage it. Let her see her father face to face, and then she would believe it instantly," he offers.

I scowl. "And after that? She'd know I knew all along and hid it away from her. That will only cause her to blame me for her father's mistakes, that I didn't tell her earlier." I shove my hands in my pockets and inhale the fresh warm air. "I'm taking that burger to go."

After that, I head inside, ask the waitress to pack my food and head out. Riley urges me not to tell anyone that I met up with him. I agree and drive to a supermarket to buy beer. I grab a dozen of bottles and head to the only place that no one would find me.

My own piece of meditation.