Shattered Girl (Emmy)

Chapter 133

The next few days were pretty uneventful. Patrick had asked Jamie to return to Aruba to deal with the release of my mother’s remains, and there had been several meetings with the family attorney, Since the kidnapping, I didn’t stay in the house alone. The guys tried to be subtle about it, but I wasn’t dumb. I knew what they were doing and just accepted it.

I also shared with them about the talk Patrick, and I had about wanting to understand my mother’s choices and dealing with the fact that I would probably never get answers to why she made them. Drew had taken me out into a shady seating area in the backyard for one of these talks..

Drew had always been interested in mental health and helping people, especially soldiers returning home and dealing with PTSD. He had taken every opportunity the military offered him, and while he was no expert, he had learned quite a bit, and he was helping me a lot.

“Being angry at your mother and this situation is normal,” Drew said. “It’s something we have been talking about a lot these past few days.”

“Well, I have plenty of anger at the moment, I admitted, running my fingers along the design that decorated the arm of the chair I was sitting in

How many

my years had 1 missed her and wished she was there with me or had taken me when she left? I just wish I could understand…Why did she even have me if she would just leave me behind because she didn’t want me? She could have given me up for adoption or had an abortion. It’s not like my parents were married. Why did she wait until after I was born to leave? At the same time, even if I had the answers, I don’t know what to do or how to deal with the answers.” I sighed, looking up at Drew, hoping he would somehow have the answers I sought.

“All right, let’s pause momentarily and come at this from a different direction.” Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

One of the reasons I liked talking to Drew about this was that he didn’t always push me. Even when I wasn’t sure if talking helped, I still felt better getting it off my chest. He also wanted me to be able to fix myself with the tools I had been learning from him. I knew he and the other guys would always be there for me, but I liked that he wasn’t trying just to jump in and fix everything for me.

“Emmy?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“It’s okay. Do you want to keep going, or are we done for the day?”

“You don’t need to baby me,”

“I’m not. You have had a lot of traumatic things happening to you in the last few weeks. Dealing with it all is going to take some time. I don’t want to overwhelm you.

“What else did you want to talk about?”

“Do you want to find out if you have any other family?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I love our life right now, I don’t know if I want to throw a wrench into that by adding other people.”

“That is something only you will have the answer to Drew stood and stretched. “Now, is there anything else you want to talk with me about? Or are you ready to call it a day?”

“I think I’m good for now; I can’t think of anything else, I admitted. He had left me plenty to think about, but I was ready for a break.

“Good, the guys have been blowing up my phone. I think they said something about going to play laser tag.” he said, glancing at his phone before holding his hand out to me.

“I’m on

on your team then,” I said, linking my hand with his and following him toward the house.

It took a while, but we were finally all loaded into the SUV. Patrick was driving, and Mike was riding in the front seat. I sat between Drew and Jake in the middle seat, and Josh was in the back row. I had been quiet during the drive, just staring out the window. When Patrick slowed and turned into the parking lot in a very industrial area, I felt something was up. This did not look like a laser tag place. Granted, the only time I played laser tag was at a classmate’s birthday party in elementary school. It had been at a family fun center with an arcade, bowling, miniature golf, and go–carts.

“This doesn’t look like laser tag,” I said, Josh chuckled, then leaned forward from the back row, kissing my cheek before poking lake and telling him to pay up. Jake passed his twin some cash, and I looked even more confused as I glanced between them. “What is going on?” I asked, looking back and

forth at the twins.

“I bet jake you wouldn’t question where we were going until we got there, and he thought you wouldn’t say anything until we got inside,” Josh told me.

112

The rest of the coat hald hack their laughter.

ked bagging back in my seat

said, ning to lok at me from the front seat. I stuck my tongue out at him even as I began giggling. bear the moments, several race cars poiled in and parked. I save several couples get out, along with a couple of groups of people similar to

How

mest more

watched the walk toward the entrance of the building

The gently, where are we? Ild in my mot serious voice

look was the tone when covered, leaning forward again and wrapping his arms around me from behind.

Wayne beard of dubs before, right?