Page 41

Sierra

I look at the box that has dust on it, my heart hammering in my chest, my knees just a touch weak, and my palms are clammy. And I don’t even know if there is anything in the box that will help me. Nothing. I just know this box might hold some answers, but nothing in life is this sure.

When I woke up this morning, something pushed me to go check the local high school.

I don’t know why, but it was like a force I couldn’t really explain.

So now here I am with the box in front of me, and it feels like I’m really lifting the cover off Pandora’s box.

“I’m so nervous.” I laugh. “It’s crazy, right? ”

“A little bit,” Caleb replies with a sly smile. “Do you want me to open the box first?”

“No.” I shake my head and pull up the top of the brown box, seeing the old yearbooks stacked in two piles. “I don’t think we should start twenty-five years ago since she was having me, so maybe twenty-six years ago.”

I grab the one on top that is just twenty years old, placing it beside the box and then going one by one until I find the one that is twenty-six years old.

“It smells old,” I tell him as I crack open the book.

The pages are glossy and some stick together.

“How different it was back then,” I say as I look at the first page of the whole school outside taking a group shot.

“Lots of bucket hats.” I laugh as I search the crowd, trying to see if my face pops out.

I turn the pages. With each page, I feel like someone is going to jump out at me, but nothing happens.

We see the pages for the graduates first, a couple of pictures of different groups of friends.

A couple of pictures of activities that had been happening around the school year: a barbecue, a Christmas one, a ski trip.

My eyes roam over the last names, and when I get to D, there is nothing there.

I move along to eleventh grade, checking for anyone with the Dyson name and also come up empty.

I go until the ninth grade and then close the book.

“Well, one year done,” I say, trying not to feel defeated.

“Baby, the chance that you’d find it on the first try was slim to none.” He puts his arm around me, and he pulls me to him as he kisses the side of my head. “Nothing has come easy this whole journey, you really thought you would open the first one and boom, it would be there?”

I feel the dryness in my eyes as I blink and turn to look at him, staring at me. “I know it was crazy, but I did think I would open it and it would be there.”

He shakes his head, grabbing the next one and opening it up, as I place the one in my hand to the side.

He opens it up and isn’t like me when he looks for the Dyson name.

He doesn’t take a second before he goes to the graduating year, seeing no Dyson, and then going to the rest of the grades.

It takes him a full minute to place it on top of the other one and then he grabs the next one.

“Every single time we place one on the side, it feels like a lid is being shut,” I tell him, and he smiles.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he responds, picking up the next one.

He then fans the book until he gets to the graduating class and comes up empty, and then stops when he gets to eleventh grade.

“Holy shit!” he exclaims and I look over at the picture his finger is on.

It’s Fiona Dyson. I gasp when I see her.

Our features are very similar. We each have the same color hair and her eyes are blue, whereas mine are a green hazel.

“Do you think?” he asks as I take the book from him, my eyes fixated on her as she smiles at the camera.

“I have no idea,” I answer him. “I spoke to Sonia and she said we know who you are. So it could be.” I turn the pages to the younger grade and then finally, three years later, I find Sonia.

She looks very much like Fiona. Her hair is a darker color—almost like a chestnut—and her eyes are brown, but they have the same shape of eyes, which are mine, along with the same nose.

“It makes no sense that they were here this year and then gone,” Caleb notes, grabbing the yearbook after the one in my hand, and he finds the page. “Here she is again,” he says, “so they left town after this year.”

“How are we doing here?” The librarian comes over and smiles at us.

“Amazing,” Caleb answers her. “I was wondering how one would get a copy of a certain yearbook?”

“That would depend on if there are any extras,” she says. “Usually we print twenty extra, just in case you have a student who forgot and then those go into storage.”

He grabs the one in my hand and then closes it so she can see the year on the front written in silver. “We were looking for this one.”

“Let me check in the storage room,” she tells him.

“Would you like me to help you?” he offers her and she smiles bashfully at him.

“That would be lovely,” she says, turning and walking toward the room.

“If she wasn’t seventy,” I start to mumble, “and I was confident in what a catch I am, I would seriously wonder who else you are flirting with all day long.” He chuckles, giving me a kiss before leaving and walking out of the room.

I look down at the picture of her, it’s the younger her. The next picture the year after shows how much she changed in a year. I find Sonia and she looks even younger with braces on. My hand hovers over her picture.

It’s a couple of minutes later when I see the door open, the librarian walking out first followed by Caleb, who holds the book up in his hand. “We found one,” the librarian says.

“We did,” Caleb confirms, “and she gave us fifty percent off since it’s been a long time, so instead of thirty-five dollars it’s seventeen fifty.”

“Oh.” I put the box down before going to my purse.

“I gave her a twenty and told her to keep the change for all her help,” he mumbles when he gets closer to me.

“My hero.” I smile at him.

“Let’s get these packed back up, so I can put them back and then we can leave.” I nod at him as he places the books back in the box in the same order, then turning and following her back into the room. I hold the book to my chest as if it’s my most prized possession.

He comes out of the room followed by the librarian, who locks the door behind her. “Thank you for all your help,” Caleb tells her as he puts his hand at the base of my back and ushers me out of the room. We stop at the office where we both hand in our badges before we walk out.

“So, successful?” he says, slipping his hand in mine.

“I would say so,” I tell him. “I wonder where they went to after.”

He shrugs as he opens the door for me and kisses me before I get up and in.

He buckles the seat belt around me before he walks around.

His phone rings as soon as he sits down.

“Yeah,” he answers, putting it to his ear.

“I’m just finishing something up.” He starts the truck. “Give me twenty.” He hangs up.

“Everything okay?” I ask him as he pulls away from the school.

“Yeah, that was Theo, asking me to go see him for something.”

“Why don’t you drop me off at the bakery? I’ll have a coffee and then walk home.” I look over at him as he just nods.

We pull up to the bakery, and as he parks I lean over to kiss him. “Thank you for today,” I tell him. “I’ll take care of you tonight.” I wink at him before reaching for the door handle and letting myself out.

I slam the door and head toward the bakery, pulling open the door and immediately being hit with the smell of baked goodness.

I look around and see that some of the tables are taken by a couple of people before walking up to the pink display case and looking at the donuts they have in there.

It’s Everleigh’s specialties, but she changes them almost monthly.

“Hey,” Everleigh greets, walking out of the back room, wiping her hands on the apron around her waist, “this is a surprise.”

“It is.” I smile at her. “I was out with Caleb and he got a call, so I told him to just drop me off here.”

“What can I get you?” she asks.

“I’m going to have a latte with some cinnamon on top,” I tell her, “and then give me whatever donut you think I should try.”

“We have a new one this week,” she states, grabbing a plate and then white wax paper.

“It’s called Fall into Apple.” She places the donut on a tray as I look at the little pieces of apple crumble on top of the donut covered in white drizzle icing.

“It’s as if an apple pie and an apple crumble had a baby.

” I laugh at her. “Go and have a seat, I’ll bring you the latte.

” She motions with her chin as I grab the tray and head to the corner of the room, pulling out one of the cast-iron pink chairs, before placing the tray on the table and sitting down.

I place the yearbook beside the tray, looking around as Everleigh comes over and places the latte on the tray.

“What do you have there?” she asks, pulling out the seat in front of me and sitting down.

“I think Mom is in here,” she says, laughing as she opens the book.

I gasp. “Really?” She looks at me with her eyebrows pulled together.

“Yeah, I think so. Mom!” she shouts for her mother, who comes out of the kitchen a couple of seconds later.

She looks around the room, spotting Everleigh sitting with me. “Must we shout?” she scolds her, coming to the table.

“Sorry, I was too lazy to get up and come and get you,” she admits. “Look at this.” She holds up the yearbook and Ms. Maddie’s eyes go big.

“Isn’t that a blast from the past,” she declares as she grabs it and opens it, seeing the teachers first. “I had this teacher, and I think he’s still teaching.

” She points at one of the guys, laughing, then goes through a couple more.

“This is like four or five years after I graduated,” she says. “What are you doing with it?”

“Did you know the Dyson family?” I ask, and she nods.

“I graduated a year before the brother did,” she says. “I want to say his name was Kevin, but I could be mistaken.”

“What happened to them?” I sit practically at the edge of my seat.

“There was talk about one of the sisters falling in love with someone from the wrong side of town and the father was having none of it, so he up and moved everyone away,” she relays.

“Which sister?” My hands are practically shaking.

“I think the older one,” she hesitates, not sure. “He was from up north somewhere.”

“Do you know where they went to?”

“I want to say Jefferson County, but I’m not really sure.” She shrugs. “The mom came from big money,” she fills me in. “Her father owned the newspaper in town, along with a couple of them from all over the United States.”

“Well, that makes sense now,” I mumble, thinking the story of me being left was only run once and nothing else after that. “I think he sold it a couple of years ago, but I’m not sure.” She looks up from the book. “What’s with all the questions?”

I smile at both of them, the tears escaping without me even knowing. “Fiona Dyson is my birth mother.”