The three of us drove for about an hour in silence until we found a hotel. Brent checked in while Reese and I plopped down on the couches in the hotel lobby to wait for him. When Brent finished with the clerk, he motioned to me and Reese. I told them I was starving and they agreed to take me to the hotel restaurant for food.
The waitress was our age and I noticed she kept flirting with Reese, who paid no attention to her at all. I half hoped it was because of Brooke – that maybe he had feelings for her. I knew he lived his entire life with the idea that things were going to be so different than they had turned out.
Our food arrived and we ate quietly. You could feel the unanswered questions floating through the air, so thick you could reach out and touch them. I remembered how quickly Brent arrived at Reese’s house and was still curious as to how he managed it, so I decided to break the silence.
“Um, how did you get to Reese’s house so quickly?” I inquired. “I took the Audi, so you didn’t even have a car.”
Brent smiled secretively, letting out a low chuckle.
“Hmmm, I probably need to show you that one,” Brent laughed, telling me to go up to the room. I looked at him questioningly. “Just do it.”
I placed my napkin on the table and took the room key from his hand. Reese smiled as I walked by. He was obviously in on the secret.
I opened the door to our room and started to walk to the couch. Brent appeared out of nowhere across the room, opposite the door.
“Whoa, how did you do that?”
Brent shrugged. “I jumped. It’s one of my new abilities. I actually thought it was impossible, even for one with our gifts.”
Brent went on to explain that after I texted back, telling him I was going to Reese’s, he centralized his thoughts on the house and he was there.
We went back to the restaurant where Reese was still eating.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Reese said as we sat down. “I can do something new, too.” he said and then looked around to make sure he would not be seen. He briefly changed his appearance to the waitress that had been flirting with him. “So cool, right?” he chuckled. “I always wanted to do that.”
Old Reese was back with all his boyish immature charm and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You have to be responsible with it, Reese,” Brent scolded.
“Yes, I know, dad. Thanks,” Reese said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Brent shook his head, obviously disapproving of Reese’s public display.
“Okay. I know the two of you have been avoiding it, but what happened after I left?” I asked, moving my eyes from Brent to Reese, waiting for one of them to answer me.
They both went on to fill in the gaps. Brent explained how it was actually Reese who figured out his dad had either been adhered to or someone was using his semblance. He knew emotionally there was no way his dad had lived his entire life knowing his mother’s secret and concealed it so well.
“I could feel it when I spoke to him,” Reese said. “When you backed out of the driveway, I was positive.”
Reese told me how Brent could practically read his thoughts and before Reese’s father could do anything, they restrained him. They learned that Reese’s dad helped Logan lure me from the house, but had no idea where I was headed. Their abilities had grown and Reese was able to retract the Adherent from his father while Brent absorbed it. His father didn’t remember anything about what happened.
“So, he doesn’t know about you?” I asked.
Reese’s features drew inward, tightening the creases around his eyes.
“No, and he won’t. It was wrong of me to tell him. I love him. He’s my dad and I can’t take fatherhood away from him even if I am angry with my mother,” Reese admitted, and I was proud of him.
I smiled at the realization he was growing up.
“So, then what happened?” I asked.
They looked to each other and then to me. Brent’s phone whistled at just that moment with a new text. A broad smile stretched across his face. He replied quickly to the text and set the phone on the table face down. He gave Reese a quick glance and Reese nodded.
I felt a twinge of jealousy. Who could be texting him that would elicit that reaction from him.
Get a grip Claire; it could be his mother, for Christ sake. My subconscious scolded me. I really needed to put a muzzle on her.
“I see you found your phone,” I said to Brent, remembering I had tossed it in the grass before I went to see Logan.