Page 41 of Losing Faith

Her brows furrow before her eyes widen and she sits up in her seat. “No way. I’ve been stalking him all week and now you tell me he’s afamily friend?”

I’m about to answer her when my brain catches up to what she just said. “What do you mean you’ve been stalking him? You saw him for five seconds, how did you find him?”

She lets out a scoff as she leans back in her seat again. “I can find anyone, Lis.”

That’s not concerning.Choosing to change the topic, I tell her how I know Jackson, and she’s far too invested in this man.

“So he likes you?”

I let out a laugh. “The flowers were a joke. He does not like me.”

She looks like she believes otherwise. “He paid attention to what you said about not liking real flowers and went out of his way to get you crocheted ones? He likes you.”

“He does not.”

She shrugs before focusing on my painting, and when I see her brows furrow, I turn back to the canvas. I keep my eyes on the drowning girl, but nothing looks wrong with it.

“What?” I look between her and the painting as I watch her smile disappear.

“You told me you paint as escapism.”

The pain in my chest intensifies but I don’t say anything as I continue adding more detail to the water on the canvas.

“Are you having a hard day?” she voices gently.

“Every day is a hard day; it’s an addiction.”

I can see her nod in the corner of my eyes. “Are you still sober?”

I can feel her watching me as if her life depended on my answer.

“Yeah, Harmony, I’m sober.”

Her shoulders ease as she nods again. “Mom isn’t.”

I don’t respond because I have nothing nice to say and she clearly already feels like shit.

“When I went to hang out with her that day Ana called you, she was high as a kite.” She pulls her legs onto my couch as she watches me paint. “She thought I was you.”

I go still.

“We don’t have any pictures of you at the house, but Ana says I resemble you a lot when you were my age.”

“Yeah.” I clear my throat before straightening my back. “It’s creepy.”

She goes quiet again and I swallow my feelings as I turn to her.

“What happened?”

Her eyes meet mine before she sits up. “She yelled at me. She kept calling me your name and yelled about how I need to stop hanging out with those lawyers and how they’re snooping around her life.”

Dread begins to eat at me as my heart sinks. Memories of my childhood come in flashes and I force myself to look back at the painting, picking up the brush instead of the bottle in my pocket.

“What lawyers were you with?”

“Mom.” When I notice her brows furrow I try again. “Kathrine Hale is a lawyer and Isaac is with the Bureau. When they adopted Sire, they were looking into adopting me. She was never their biggest fan.”

I steal a glance at Harmony and I can see her confusion. “Why didn’t they adopt you?”

---