Chapter 17

I haven't been able to focus on anything all day long. All I could think about was Gavin. My father. And now I was paying for it during lunch. Vanessa, Bryson, and Landon have all been hounding me, asking me what was wrong.

"Come on. We're your best friends, Aspen," Vanessa whined.

I glanced at Landon who was sitting beside Bryson on the other side of the table. I weighed the costs of telling him about Gavin. I supposed if I didn't say too much about him then maybe Landon wouldn't ask about her.

I took a deep breath and looking down at my hands, spoke, "My... I found my father."

Everyone was quiet for so long that I looked up and saw Vanessa and Bryson had tears in their eyes and Landon looked confused.

"When?" Vanessa whispered.

"About several weeks. It started off with phone calls and text messages asking me to talk to him then he just...showed up...," I trailed off, not wanting to tell them he showed up at my mother's grave.