Page 25 of Mika's Heart

Taylor chuckles at her. “You’re always starving!”

Arin wanted pizza so we went to the little place down on the corner from the shop.

Sitting across from Taylor, I find myself watching him out of the corner of my eye, comparing our facial features.

“Where have you been living? I mean before you came to Alaska.” Taylor asks after our pizza is delivered to our table.

“Ohio. My parents have always lived there as far as I know.” His eyes widen when I say parents.

“You’ve been with the same people your whole life? They were good to you?” He asks gently.

“Yes and no. I think they’ve had me since I was at least a few weeks old. They had pictures of me as a baby. As for whether they were good to me, they weren’t exactly abusive or anything. They just weren’t exactly nice. They always made me feel as though they didn’t really want a child.”

I squirm around in my seat remembering my parents.

“They told you that you were adopted?”

“No actually. I wanted to get my drivers license which required a copy of my birth certificate. They refused to allow that. I snooped in dad’s office until I found it but it looked different than my friend Jan’s birth certificate. You could easily tell that it was a fake.” I shrug, taking a small bite of my pizza.

“How did you find out about Taylor?” Arin asks curiously.

“Once Jan and I knew the certificate was a fake, we started looking for babies born around the same time that I was, that went missing. We knew that if it were a legal adoption, my papers would still be real. I came across a story online that they did on you and your sister that went missing from the hospital.”

I look up into his eyes that are looking straight at me with wonder.

“Now that you are here, I know Taylor may have so many questions but we have plenty of time for that. I’m about ready for my bed and I know you are too.” Arin smiles at the two of us.

Taylor looks like he wants to ask more questions but I am thankful to Arin for calling it a night.

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