Owen and I spent the night eating Thai food, and having sex. In the brief moments we weren't doing those things, we were laughing or watching TV or trying to get the cat to hang out with us. Which she refused. In the morning, we both woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I sat up and answered it, it was Don.

"Hi, good morning." I said, trying to sound wide awake, Owen looked at me questioningly. 

"Hi Evie, I've found some things on your mother. Are you able to talk?" He asked. I brushed the hair out of my face.

"Yes." 

My heart was pounding. 

"Her full name is Kaitlyn Marie Thomas. I've managed to track down her mother and father, they live in Denver. As well as a sister, named Summer who lives in North Dakota. You may find this hard to hear, but there is also record of a baby born to her named Summer Lily Thomas. However, she was stillborn. According to your records, the night her daughter died, was the same night she left you with Leo. Then never came back. The hospital says she signed herself out against medical advice. However, I did manage to contact her family, explained the situation. They are willing to meet with you, if you so wish." He said. I tried to process this. I had grandparents, and an aunt, and maybe they knew where she was. Maybe they knew about me too. 

"Yeah, Yeah I would love to meet them." I said, tripping over my words.

"Great, I've already set up a meeting with them for tomorrow at noon, Owen said you were off." That made me remember, I had work in an hour. I thanked Don, agreed to meet them, and hung up. I slid out of bed, untangling myself from the sheets. I told Owen what his father had said. Owen had just nodded. I turned on the shower and washed my hair and whole body. I braided my hair, and pulled on my t shirt black leggings. I emerged from the bathroom to find Owen pouring cereal into a bowl.

"Your out of milk." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"I wonder why, plus I can't go grocery shopping until my next paycheck hits." I said sighing. From his jeans pocket he pulled a fifty dollar bill, and put it on the counter. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't want your money Owen." I said, taking a bite of his cereal. He shrugged, walking away I picked up the cash and took it back to him. He shook his head.

"Think of it as my gratitude for you last night." He said, and smirked. I groaned.

"I'm not a hooker." I said. He shrugged.

"Keep it, I've got more."

"What do you even do?" I asked. Realizing I didn't even know what his job was.

"I'm the manager of a motorcycle shop." He said. "I told you that at the club." He said, I'd been so hammered I didn't know my ass from my head. But I didn't care to tell him that. I checked my phone, I needed to be at the metro in ten minutes. 

"I've gotta go, but come over sometime alright?" I said, pulling on a sweatshirt. He nodded, grabbing his coat from the floor, where it had been ever since last night. I kissed Mary on the top of her forehead. 

"Bye sweetheart." I whispered. I filled her food bowl, and then left. Owen right behind me, as I locked the door I dreaded the long day of work.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The next day I met Don at a restaurant downtown, it was later in the evening, and I was tired. I'd tried my best to look nice, with long black pants, and a white tank top and a pale blue cardigan. I'd curled my hair and it fell in ringlets around my face. I'd done my makeup and hooked hoop earrings into my ears. Looking at myself in the mirror, I looked like an upstanding member of society, not the girl who bounced around group homes and foster families until I was seventeen. I sat down across from Don, they weren't there yet. 

"What are their names?" I asked him, he looked at his notepad.

"Marie and Jacob Thomas." He said, just then I heard footsteps behind me. I looked up. There was a man and a woman appearing to be in there late sixties standing in front of me. I stood the greet them, feeling awkward as hell.

"Hi Evie." The woman said, hugging me. The man shook my hand. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, good to meet you." I said sitting down with them. They both placed their napkins in their laps. I did as well, following suit.

"Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, I'm Don Miller.  We spoke on the phone." He said. They nodded, Marie smiled, she looked pretty, and kind. Exactly how I would imagine a grandmother to look. She didn't look much like my mother did, although Jacob did. I had no idea what to call them, Mr and Mrs. Thomas felt better than Grandma and Grandpa. 

"Evie, it's good to meet you. You can imagine the surprise we felt hearing we had a granddaughter, for eighteen whole years." Marie said laughing a bit. I smiled, blushing a bit.

"Imagine the feeling I had knowing I had grandparents." I said, taking a sip of my water, resisting the urge to crunch the ice.

"I'm sorry to cut to the chase here, but I have plans this evening. We'd like to talk to you about Kaitlyn, your daughter. Evie's mom."Don said, gesturing to me. Jacob nodded.

"We'd love to be of help, but as I said on the phone, we haven't seen here in nineteen years." He said, a hint of sadness flickered in his eyes. 

"Could you tell us the memory of the last time you saw your daughter?" Don asked. Marie exchanged a look with her husband. 

"Sure, she had just gotten kicked out of living with her sister in North Dakota, we were worried about her. So we sent her to a mental health and rehabilitation program in California. It worked, until she got home. I remember when she got off the plane, she looked so beautiful. She gained weight back, and looked happy."

I watched Don taking notes, it was then the waiter came to our table. I requested a salad, and sprite. My stomach was doing cartwheels. We ordered, then Jacob continued the story, for his wife, who looked like she was about to cry.

"She started using again, at first just a little weed, and then cigarettes, but then it was harder. Her nose was always running, and we couldn't help her. So we said we were going to the psych ward. Then she left, we never heard from her since then. We accepted the fact she was dead, and to us she was. The only thing we heard from her was a call from the hospital once, saying she overdosed on heroin and fentanyl. Nothing since then."

"You didn't go to check on her?" I asked, not even meaning to say it. Jacob sighed, taking a sip of his beer.

"It broke our hearts, to know our baby was in the hospital. We wanted more than anything, to go see her to hold her hand, tell her everything would be okay. But she was self destructive, she stole from us, was verbally abusive, she chose drugs over everyone and everything, including us." He said, then fell silent. 

I was also silent, I had nothing to say. Don nodded. I felt like I was going to throw up.