Chapter 6 #2
“Yes, Mary forwarded his entire email to me with his permission. Apparently, he wrote you a letter and provided you with a bunch of information. I haven’t opened the letter or any of the attachments. I forwarded them straight to your email.”
“Why didn’t Mary send me his stuff herself?” I ask curiously. It would have been more efficient.
“She’s feeling awkward after how your meeting on Thursday went. Since I was the one to send her your list, she thought it would be best to send his response to me. You should have her responses as well when you check your email.”
“Okay, I’ll check Sarah. Thank you.” Sarah offers to remain on the call with me as I read the info, but I’m trying to be brave, so I tell her I’d like to do this part myself. She reminds me of my breathing exercises before we say goodbye.
Placing the laptop back on the oak desk, I jog downstairs. Sue is sitting in the living room watching The Food Network. “Sue, I’ve finished my schoolwork, but I got a call from Sarah. I’ve gotten responses from Mary and my father. I’m going to read through the emails in my room.”
“Okay sweetheart. That was a fast response. Do you want me to come upstairs with you?”
“No thanks. I think I want to read them alone. Can I tell you about them afterwards?”
“That would be great, Summer. You holler if you need me. I’m going to keep watching the Spring Baking Championship. The contestant is making a fruit tart that I want to try baking soon.”
“I will, Sue.” I head back up to my room to face my future. With a deep breath, I open my laptop again after getting comfortable on my bed, back against the wall, and check my email. Sure enough, there’s an email from Mary and one from Sarah. Opening Mary’s email first, I start reading.
Summer,
It’s difficult to break this type of news to someone.
CPS contacts the family first to gauge their interest in taking in the minor.
A background check is conducted next, before notifying those involved.
I was hoping you would have been excited to be reunited with family.
Your father has to have a home inspection by the local CPS office before anything else happens.
That is scheduled for this week. If the home inspection goes well, you will be placed with him.
You have no say in that decision. Maybe we overwhelmed you with too much new information, but I did my job and followed all proper procedures.
After talking to Sarah. I wanted to clarify that I haven’t provided your father with any specific details of your situation yet.
Just that there was an accident where you lost your family, you are being fostered by Sue, and there were special circumstances in your case.
Mary
Typical Mary, blunt and no genuine apology. What sticks out again is that I have no choice in leaving. I don’t feel brave anymore and need some support. I want to call Sarah again, but I’ve already talked to her twice today. “Sue,” I call out.
“Coming, sweetheart,” she hollers back. I hear her climbing the stairs, and then she enters my room. She must read the emotions on my face. “Oh dear. What did you read that upset you?” She takes a seat on the bed beside me.
“Nothing in particular. It’s becoming real that I’m moving again. I read Mary’s email. Here, you can read it for yourself.” I turn the laptop around and hand it to her. Sue quickly reads through the email and hands the laptop back to me.
“What can I do, sweetheart?”
“I don’t know, Sue. I mean, I have no idea where I’ll be living. Is it in the same state or far away? What is my father even like?”
“We can answer some of those questions with the email from him. Why not open it up and see what Zander says?”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“I’ll sit right here with you, sweetheart. You’re not alone.”
I click on the email from Sarah and scan it. It’s a forwarded email from Zander to Mary.
Mary,
I was happy to get your email today. I’ve attached a letter for Summer, answering all her questions, and also attached some pictures and information about my company and my resume.
Tell her she can google the company and go to the website.
There’s lots of information there. Heck, she can google me too.
If she needs anything else, please reach out to me.
I’m an open book for her. Anything she needs, please let me know.
Zander
I tap on the first attachment marked “Letter” next.
Dear Summer,
I can’t imagine how strange this is for you. After all this time, finding your father. I have to admit I’m nervous about writing this letter to you. I don’t want to mess this up. I’ve always wanted kids, but had none.
I guess I’ll dive right in and start with the basics. My name is Zander Finn, and I’m 42 years old. I live outside Charleston, South Carolina. I was an Army officer. I now own a security company and do government contract work as well.
I’ve attached pictures for you to look at so you can get to know me. I may have gone a bit overboard with sending you everything, and I apologize if I sent too much.
I have limited knowledge of your current situation.
Please understand that everyone important to you is also important to me.
I have no intention of taking you away from anyone.
The more people that care about you, the better.
Anyone you care about is welcome to come and visit here anytime, and you can travel to Virginia as often as you wish.
I would really love to meet the people you care so much about when you’re ready and thank them personally for taking care of you before I could.
Please tell me if you need anything else, Summer. You have my email now. Contact me whenever you’d like. Or call or write to me (Mary has all my info). I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet you. Zander
I swallow, licking my suddenly dry lips, a slight shiver causing my body to tingle. He’s real and seems thrilled about finding me. He wants me to stay in contact with everyone here. Wow…just wow.
I check the rest of the attachments and see he sent a lot. There’s 3 jpeg images and a bunch of documents. Deciding to send them to the printer, I reopen the letter and pass Sue the laptop. “Here, you can read his letter. I’m going to grab the rest of the attachments I sent to the printer.”
“Are you sure you want me to read this, sweetheart? I imagine it’s pretty personal.”
“Yeah, I do. Go ahead, Sue, I’ll be right back.
” I walk down to the little office Sue uses to grab the sheets from the printer, but it’s still going.
This is so overwhelming; my emotions are all over the place.
He’s real. I have a father. My life is so surreal right now.
After the printer finally finishes, I take everything back upstairs to my room.
Sue quickly wipes her cheeks when she sees me and smiles. “That is a lot of sheets, Summer!”
“Yeah, he mentioned he might have gone overboard,” I wave them around. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. He seems like a nice man. He’s excited to meet you, and he wants us in your life. I admit I was worried about that part, but it looks like it will work out. Let’s see what you’ve printed out there,” she pats the bed beside her.
I sit down and spread out the pages on the bed between us.
A picture catches my attention, so I grab it.
This must be him. Zander. He has light brown, wavy hair that curls around his ears and neck, and laughing green eyes the same shade as mine.
His face is lit up with a huge smile, and he has a dimple on his left cheek.
There are a few crinkles around his eyes that suggest he smiles a lot.
His skin looks tanned, and Zander has a straight nose and a square jaw.
“Oh, Summer, he has your eyes and smile,” Sue comments as she leans over to gaze at the picture.
“You think so?”
“Yes, definitely. Oh, and look, you have the same dimple!”
“Yeah, we do,” I reply thoughtfully as I stare at him. “I always thought I looked like Mom, but I see myself in Zander too.”
“Let’s check out what else he sent us, shall we?”
We each grab some papers and start looking through them.
There’s a picture of Zander in an Army uniform and another in a suit.
A satellite photo shows what I’m assuming is his house.
I can’t tell much, but it appears he has land surrounding him.
He sent his entire resume to me. He went to West Point and was in the Army until age 37.
Seems like he’s been all over the world.
He started a company, Finn Enterprises, in South Carolina after he left the military.
I see some military jobs listed. That must be the contract work he mentioned. He’s a pilot too.
I set those papers aside and keep digging.
He printed off a few pages about his company.
Looks like he provides security and transport of some kind.
I grab my laptop and bring up the company website, which looks professional.
Zander is the CEO, and there’s a thumbnail pic of him.
The company is small, but it appears the employees are mostly ex-military, too.
I quickly search for Zander Finn in South Carolina and find several news articles to save for later.
The last page I printed is a handwritten list that he must have taken a picture of.
It’s a list about him. Favorite color, favorite restaurant, favorite foods, hobbies, favorite movie and tv show.
I look up at Sue and see her smiling at me. “Did you see all of it?”
“Yes, I believe so. He genuinely wants you to get to know him. I received a text from Mary while I was watching the Food Network. She would like to set up a video call between you and Zander. She said she texted you and Sarah as well. Are you ready for that?”
“This is moving quickly, Sue.” So darn quickly that I haven’t had time to wrap my head around all this yet.
“These things tend to, sweetheart. It only took me a week to get you, remember?”
“I guess you’re right.” Ugh, this is so hard. I don’t want to move.
Grabbing my phone, I see texts from Mary and Sarah, so I open Mary’s first. She wants to video call tomorrow. I check Sarah’s text next. She texted everyone at once. Apparently, we will video call when I’m ready and not a minute sooner. I chuckle. “Sarah is being protective,” I tell Sue.
“Yes, she is, and rightfully so, after last Thursday.”
That causes me to grimace.
“No, Summer, you did nothing wrong. We handled that poorly, as I’ve already said. Sarah is ensuring you come first with all of this, as she should.” Sue pats my hand.
“Okay, let’s set up a morning video call with everyone. I’d rather not worry about this all day tomorrow, so let’s get it over with.”
While we wait for responses, Sue helps me gather up the papers, and I place them on my desk with my laptop.
“How about some Gilmore Girls and popcorn, sweetheart?”
“That sounds nice, Sue.”
I grab my phone and head to the kitchen, gathering the popcorn bowl and sodas for us.
Sue pops the popcorn on the stove while I melt some butter in the microwave.
Once everything is ready, we head to the couch.
I cover myself with a blanket while Sue brings up Netflix.
Shortly after the first episode, I get a text from Mary saying 9am works.
She will come to the house beforehand with her laptop to videoconference Sarah and Zander.
“9am is good for everyone. Mary is coming by a little before nine with her laptop,” I tell Sue.
“Good sweetheart. I have a good feeling about Zander.” Sue smiles at me, patting my arm.
We watch a few more episodes before heading to bed.