Page 50 of Someone Like You
“She just graduated Texas Christian University. I foundthat out before I flew to Indiana.” Dawson sighed. “I guess she couldn’t be any older than twenty-two or so.”
Dawson explained that he’d given the girl his number, but he hadn’t expected to hear from her. “She was very upset.” He’d gone on to say he thought the girl would eventually figure out he was telling her the truth. But that didn’t mean she’d want to connect.
When the call ended, Louise had gone into London’s room. Her daughter hadn’t lived there for years, but it was still hers. The posters of adorable kittens and puppies, and her cheerleader pom-poms pinned to one wall. Her old high school clothes still lay in a heap on her closet floor. She’d been sorting through them a week before the accident. Finally ready to give them away.
A project she never finished.
Louise had turned to the other wall. Hanging there were sketches she’d done of monkeys and lions and giraffes. On the dresser stood a framed picture of the two of them. Louise and her precious London, the day she graduated high school. London had gone to college in Portland for one reason.
So she would be close to Louise. Her daughter loved being home, loved working with her mother at the coffee shop on Twenty-third. She was an only child and other than Dawson, her parents had always been her best friends.
Right until the end.
Then Louise had curled up on London’s bed and rested her head on London’s old pillow, and for nearly an hour Louise had grieved.
Not only the loss of London. But the loss of her sister.
Why hadn’t she and Larry tried again?Sure, herpregnancy hadn’t been easy. But that didn’t mean a second one would be as bad. Louise had clenched her fists, breathing in the scent of London’s teenage perfume, the one that still lingered on her comforter.
I should’ve been brave,she thought to herself.We should’ve demanded they implant those embryos in me. And then Maddie would be my daughter … and London would’ve had a sister.
Larry had found her there when he came home. Louise told him the news. “Dawson found London’s sister.”
Then, without a word, Larry had done something he’d never done. He crawled into London’s bed with Louise. For the next half hour they held on to each other. Every doubt plaguing Louise had battered Larry’s conscience that night, too. The endless what-ifs, the choices that could’ve changed everything.
“Maybe if she’d had a sister, she wouldn’t have been so … free-spirited.” Larry had wiped a few tears from his cheeks that night. “She might have settled down and married Dawson and by now … by now we’d be grandparents. We’d at least have London’s child.”
The sad possibilities were all too much. Despite the windy rain that day, they had gone outside for a walk. By the time they returned home, they had talked out all the scenarios and let it go. What was done was done. They couldn’t go back and change things. “Besides, the girl doesn’t want anything to do with us.” Louise explained that Maddie hadn’t known she was adopted. “Best to just move on.”
Larry agreed, and that was the end of it.
Until Dawson called with the update. “She’s coming to Portland.”
“Who?” Louise had no idea what he was talking about.
He hesitated … and that was her first clue. When he spoke, he sounded dazed. “Maddie West. She … wants to meet you. She wants to know about London.”
So now, any minute, the girl who could’ve been theirs if Louise had been more brave, would walk through the door to find out about the sister she missed out on knowing. If Maddie hated them, Louise couldn’t blame her. And if that was the case, they would have a civil dinner and—
The doorbell.
Louise waited for only a few seconds. Then she brushed her hands on the dish towel and hurried to the entryway. Already Larry had the door open and in a blur, Dawson and Maddie walked into the house.
Tears weren’t part of the plan tonight. Louise and Larry had talked about it, nothing that would make Maddie uncomfortable. This needed to feel like any other dinner, a meal with friends. A simple, sweet time of food and conversation. That was the plan.
But facing Maddie West, Louise had no control over her reaction.
The resemblance between this girl and London was astonishing. Louise brought both hands to her mouth and then dropped them. “Hello.” With hesitant steps, Louise approached the girl.
“Maddie.” Larry gave the girl a side hug. “Please, come in.”
“Thank you.” She looked from him to Louise. “Thanks for having me. I know … it’s not … it’s not the best circumstances.”
Louise still couldn’t breathe. She followed her husband’s example and gave Maddie a side hug. But as she did, her tears spilled down her face. No amount ofdetermination could’ve stopped them. Maddie stood there, like she wasn’t sure what to say.
“I’m s-s-sorry.” Louise pressed her fingers to her cheeks. “You … look so much like her.”
Maddie gave the hint of a smile. “I do. I looked at pictures on Dawson’s phone.”
