Unfortunately, it didn’t make things better to acknowledge that things could’ve been worse.
“Twenty dollars,” she told Sebastian.
Sebastian handed over cash. He also passed the bouquet he’d purchased back to her.
She gave him a questioning look.
“For you,” he told her. “I appreciate what you did for me last fall.”
“That’s kind of you, but you don’t need to give me flowers.” She extended them back in his direction.
“They’re yours,” he insisted. “Thank you again.” After nodding at her politely, he stalked toward the spaghetti line.
Behind him, he could hear Ben and Leah exchanging good-byes.
Ben caught up and fell in step next to him. They walked in silence for several strides until Ben said, “Hold up a minute.”
They both came to a stop.
Ben stuck his hands into his jeans. “Leah was the woman who was with you in your car after your accident?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Me neither. I passed her table just now and recognized her.”
Ben shifted uncomfortably, looking toward one of the gigantic human-filled balls. It revolved slowly down its course.
Sebastian held himself motionless, still struggling to absorb the fact that he’d found Leah and lost Leah in the space of less than ten minutes.
“I really care about her, man,” Ben said. “We . . . we don’t typically have the same taste in women. But this time we do.”
“Obviously I’m not going to get in your way.”
“Look, I’m sorry about this. I know how much you liked her.”
“I don’t even know her. I talked with her six months ago for a short period of time. That’s it.” Sebastian set his body in motion again, finding it too hard to stand still.
The situation made him feel guilty, which it had no right to do. Until now, he hadn’t known the woman in his SUV was the Leah Ben had a crush on. The situation also made him feel resentful toward Ben. It had no right to do that either. “Who’s Dylan?” he asked.
“He’s Leah’s younger brother. She has custody of him.”
“Why does she have custody?”
“Their parents divorced when Dylan was young. After the divorce, Leah’s mom forced Leah’s dad out of the kids’ lives, little by little.”
“And her dad accepted that?”
“Yeah. Over time he let the kids go. So then Leah and Dylan were left with just Leah’s mom. Ten years ago, she accepted a job overseas and voluntarily relinquished Dylan’s custody to Leah.”
“How old was Leah ten years ago?”
“Eighteen. Dylan was seven.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows shot up.
“Until I met Leah,” Ben said, “I didn’t even realize that eighteen-year-olds could be granted custody of younger siblings.”
Sebastian was no stranger to issues pertaining to orphans. “In most states, including Georgia, eighteen-year-olds can gain custody of a younger sibling so long as they’re able to show that they have the means to support them both, somewhere safe to live, and so on. How did Leah have the means to support herself and her brother at that age?”
Ben tapped him on the arm, stilling him again because they’d almost reached the food line. “So, I’ve told you, right, that Leah was a math prodigy?”
Sebastian gave a short nod.
“By the age of four she could do algebraic and quadratic equations. One of her elementary school teachers took her under her wing and made sure she was challenged, gave her all kinds of resources and opportunities. By ten, she was into complex numbers and math theories.”
At ten, Sebastian had been into skipping school and hating the world.
“She stayed in public school through eighth grade,” Ben continued, “then was offered a scholarship to the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at the Clemmons School.”
“I’m not familiar with it.”
“It’s basically a boarding school for girls who are off-the-charts smart in math. She graduated from there at eighteen with both a high school diploma and her bachelor’s degree in math. Can you relate to any of that?”
Ben knew he could. Sebastian, too, had graduated from college at eighteen.
Ben scratched the hair behind his ear that he kept shaved close to his skull. “She didn’t tell me this part, but I’ve read articles about her, so I know that she was then offered a chance to pursue her PhD free of charge at several of the best mathematics programs in the country. She chose Princeton and was all set to go when her mom took off. Leah ended up turning down Princeton’s offer and looking for jobs as a math teacher.”
“She wouldn’t have had the certifications to teach, though. Would she?”
“No. But she immediately enrolled in an online master’s program. If you have a BA in a subject and can show that you’re pursuing a master’s degree that will lead to certification, you can teach . . . assuming you can convince a principal and a school board to hire you.”
“Which is the route she took?”
“Exactly. She was hired as a middle school math teacher in Gainesville while she was getting her master’s. I’ve never heard of anyone else becoming a teacher so young. It’s rare. But then, she’s rare. Her math mind is one in a million. She should be working as a professor at a university, but instead she’s here, teaching our most advanced math students. It’s a shame for her, but it’s been awesome for the kids. She’s an excellent teacher.”
Sebastian’s mouth tightened. He’d never considered his lack of siblings to be fortunate. But because he hadn’t been saddled with family responsibilities, he’d been free to accept the medical school offers that had come his way. “Why did she move to Misty River?”
“Dylan. He was struggling in Gainesville. His grades were terrible, and his friends were rough. She decided it would be best to give him a fresh start.”
“How’s that worked out?”
“Well, for the most part. I think he still gives her plenty of reasons to worry, but he’s doing much better than he was.”
A frazzled-looking gray-haired woman whistled and flagged Ben down by waving both arms.
“Got to go,” Ben said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
As Sebastian approached the man who appeared to be in charge of the spaghetti line, he allowed himself one last look in Leah’s direction. He could only make out her bright sweater.
Disappointment snarled inside him, prowling for an outlet.
Math prodigy Leah Montgomery could not be his.
Your DNA results are in! Discover your heritage! popped up in Leah’s email inbox two weeks after submitting her second sample.
Immediately upon seeing that subject line, her blood pressure escalated in a rush.
This time the message found her while she was sitting on the bleachers at a track and field meet, cheering for her students. During a long break between events, she’d checked her phone.
She clicked the link in the email, then asked God for His peace and strength as she typed in her username and password.
The screen populated, and Leah stared at the same ethnicity pie chart YourHeritage had served her the first time. She brought up the screen showing her genetic matches. The same unfamiliar pictures and names appeared in a long line. Haskins, Brookside, Schloss.