Destiny (Waiting for Forever) Read Online Free PDF Page A

nasally voice then fell silent. We were barely able to hear the voice over the crackling of the speakers, but it was at least understandable. It seemed like we had only just stopped in Houston, but I was glad to get off the bus and stretch.
    If I was lucky, they would have a coffee shop with some of that caramel coffee like I’d had in Houston. I had a feeling I was going to need it.
     
     
    “S O EXCEPT for that letter, you haven’t heard from Jamie in over a year?” Sarah asked a few hours later. When we boarded, she wanted to hear all about going to California and looking for Jamie. Her voice overflowed with sympathy. It was as if she was trying to imagine how she would feel if she hadn’t heard from her boyfriend in over a year. The ache in my chest had gradually intensified as I told her about my relationship with Jamie. She had been honest with me, so when she asked me why I was on my way to San Diego, I didn’t have any reason to lie to her. Ever since the bathroom incident in Houston, she had been a constant by my side. We’d had breakfast together in San Antonio and talked about music. She and I had similar taste, though hers tended to stray a little too far toward pop where mine leaned more toward alternative.
    “No, I haven’t. I figured out from his letter that his parents put him in some kind of….” I looked around, making sure no one was listening, and whispered, “Gay rehab.” Resuming normal volume, I added, “I have no idea where to even start looking once I get there, but he’s my whole world, and I have to do everything I can to find him.”
    Sarah pulled her feet up underneath her in the seat and twirled her straight blonde hair around one finger. “You’ll find him. I know you will,” she said as if there were no way I could fail. Her optimism was nice but sorely misplaced. Chances were good that I would never find him, but I refused to think about that possibility. I had the address of the rehab center, so I knew I at least had a place to start.
    “What about you? What are you going to do when you get to San Diego?” I asked her gently, turning the subject back to her so I didn’t have to talk about Jamie anymore. My heart hurt more with each passing hour, knowing that he was getting farther and farther away from the place where I would start looking for him. There were millions of people in San Diego; I had no idea how I was going to find just one.
    “I don’t know. I’ll go over to the training center and see Ryan, I think. He’ll know what I should do from there.” She looked uneasy, like she’d gotten on the bus and not thought that far ahead. I hoped she had enough money to find a place to stay.
    “What if they won’t let you see him, or if he’s been transferred?” I asked gently, and she blanched.
    “They can’t have transferred him, he would have told me,” she said, but her voice had lost the confidence she’d spoken with earlier.
    “You’ve been on the road for a couple of days, and it takes a couple of days for mail to get from California to Florida. Even if he’d sent you a letter, it might be sitting at your parents’ house. Does he even know that you’re coming?”
    “I…. No, he doesn’t,” she admitted, and I turned all the way in my seat to face her, leaning my back against the bus window and taking her hand.
    “Sarah, you’re not old enough to get any kind of job to support yourself. Your boyfriend doesn’t know that you’re coming and may not even still be in San Diego.” She started to interrupt me, but I held up a hand. “You have parents that love you and are probably worried sick about you. I’ve been in foster care all of my life, Sarah. You have no idea how lucky you are to have them. Whether or not they like Ryan, they just want what’s best for you. But Jamie and I are both adults, and you’re only sixteen. If you want my advice, I think you should put your battery back in your phone and call your parents. When you turn