Page 49 of Someone Like You
He took both her bags. “I figured you might need help.”
If Maddie had thought he was handsome the first time they met, she had underestimated him. She could hardly wait to hear about the connection this guy had shared with her sister. The thought reminded her that despite the laughter from a minute ago, Dawson had to be grieving London’s loss.
He held the door open for her, and once they drove off, Dawson spent the first ten minutes asking about her flight and about Connor. “I’m happy for you, Maddie.” His smile was more melancholy. “I always thought I’d be married by now.”
Maddie wondered how old he was. She had a thousand questions. Once they hit the interstate she started with themost important one. The most urgent. “Do you have a picture of London?”
“Here.” He tossed his cell phone to her. “The code’s all ones.” His eyes stayed fixed on the road. “Pictures of London are about all I have in my photos.”
For a few seconds, Maddie stared at him. “You were in love with her.”
He glanced her way. “I was.” He worked the muscles in his jaw. “She only wanted to be friends.”
Which meant Maddie knew exactly one thing about her sister.
The girl was crazy.
Maddie took Dawson’s phone and opened his photos. The first batch of pics was of the two of them on Jet Skis. They showed Dawson and a girl who must’ve been London racing down a beautiful, vast river. Maddie couldn’t make out the girl’s features.
But the next was a selfie of Dawson and the girl, and after that an up-close picture of what had to be London. Time stopped. It was like looking in a mirror. Maddie’s heart began to pound. She brought her hand to her lips. “She … she looks just like me.”
“Yes.” Dawson looked over long enough to catch Maddie’s attention. “That’s why I kept staring that day.”
Maddie understood now. She looked at the photos again. London was so pretty, long layered dark hair and beautiful eyes. In these shots it was hard to tell what color they were. But in more ways than Maddie could count, they shared an uncanny resemblance.
And of course they did. She and London were sisters, after all. Fertilized in the same petri dish.
“So … how old was she?” Maddie still had no idea.
“Twenty-eight.” Something in Dawson’s expression told Maddie this was hard on him. Talking about London. “We were the same age. Became best friends our senior year of high school.”
Maddie nodded.Twenty-eight. Did that mean she and her embryo siblings sat in some doctor’s freezer for more than five years before being brought to life? The idea seemed outlandish. How could tiny babies last that long in a freezer? Another question for later.
For a few minutes, Maddie fell quiet. She watched the city pass by out the window and she felt the strangest sensation. Like she was home. She’d always wondered what this part of the country looked like, always wanted to visit and now she understood why. Portland was quaint with buildings of vintage gray and black. The place beckoned her soul. Again she caught a quick look at Dawson. He had turned Christian music on the radio. Another thing she hadn’t asked—whether her sister was a believer.
“Dawson.” She studied him. It was time to find out. “What happened to her?”
He drew a quick breath. As if even the mention of losing her caused him more pain than he could handle. But after a few seconds he narrowed his eyes. “She died in an accident.” That was all he said. All he seemed able to say. “We’ll talk about it at dinner, if that’s okay. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Of course.” Maddie settled back in her seat. Because she just remembered something else. In three hundred seconds she wasn’t only about to hear the story of what happened to London. She was about to do something she had never imagined doing.
Maddie was going to meet her biological parents.
17
Ever since Dawson told them about Maddie West, Louise’s emotions had been all over the place. And now that the girl was about to walk through the door, Louise didn’t know what to do or how to act.
Homemade lasagna was in the oven and the salad was ready to be tossed. Already Larry was in the living room watching out the front windows. She wanted to join him, but then … she wasn’t sure. The girl hadn’t known she was adopted until just a few days ago.
Who knew how she would feel meeting them now?
Louise leaned against the kitchen counter and remembered the evening when Dawson called with the news. Larry had been at the office and Louise was at the computer, paying bills.
“I found her.” Dawson had sounded tired. “I just landed in Portland, but I had to call. It was definitely her.”
He told her how Maddie had thought he was a stalker and how she’d had no idea she was adopted. “She’s beautiful. Just like London.”
“How old is she?” It was one question that mattered. Because if Maddie had come from the embryos she and Larry had donated, then she would probably be in her twenties.
