Chapter 19: The Search and a Phone Call

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Dom got up at eight the next morning and headed downstairs after dressing in his work clothes. As he came down the stairs, he saw Jesse and Brian in the living room watching TV.

"Morning," Brain greeted and Dom grunted in response, not feeling too awake yet. He headed into the kitchen and found Mia making breakfast.

"Hey," she said passing him a cup of warm coffee.

"Hey," Dom replied, taking a sip.

"So…"

"So what?"

"You know what. What did you think of July?" Mia asked as she began cooking breakfast.

"She seems okay."

"Well you haven't scared her away yet so that's good."

Dom gave his sister a glare, even as she smiled at him.

"You better watch it. It's too early," he warned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, quit your whining. So what did you really think of her, and be honest," Mia demanded.

"I told you, she seems alright. I don't know too much about her but I can fix that."

"Jesse?" Mia mused with a frown, not always happy with her brother's method of gaining information.

"Well for starters, but I'll also talk to her today."

"Yeah and we all know how that's going to go." Mia gave a laugh at Dom's glare. "So what are the plans for this morning?"

"We got races tonight, so we're going to head down and do weekly checks on the cars. And Jesse put some new parts in the Seven that he wants to check over," Dom answered, grabbing the morning newspaper and sitting down at the table."

Mia finished making breakfast and everyone dragged themselves into the kitchen, lured in by the smell of food. Breakfast was had and soon after everyone left to the garage.

Half way through checking over the cars, Dom headed over to Jesse.

"Jess, we got something to do."

"What?" he asked, looking up from the engine.

"I want you to look up July for me."

"Alright," he said immediately, wiping his hands on a rag.

The two headed in to the office and Jesse started to work his magic on the computer. Within moments he had July file up and read it.

"Let's see. Name, July Jones, age eighteen. Born August ninth, 1984. They have her current address as here in LA. No felonies or misdemeanors. A couple speeding tickets, but other than that she's clean."

"Does it say anything about where she use to live?" Dom asked, looking over Jesse's shoulder.

"Ah, no but she has school records with San Pedro Valley High in Texas, so she wasn't lying when she said she was from Texas."

"Wait, if she's eighteen, doesn't she have a year of school left?" Dom asked.

"According to this no, she actually has extra credits. They already gave her a diploma," Jesse said, bringing up a copy of a diploma and her transcript.

"What about her parents?"

"Let me check."

Jesse was quiet for a few minutes and then he turned back towards me.

"What?" Dom asked noticing the sad look on his face.

"Dom, her parents are dead."

"What?"

"There was an accident. Someone attacked them, her parents were killed and then some people adopted her and I guess when she turned eighteen she left."

"No wonder she didn't want to talk about it," Dom thought aloud, remembering how July closed herself off last night when he asked where she was from.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Jess, let's not tell anyone about this yet. I don't know her well enough but I know she would be pissed if we all found out by looking her up."

"Yeah, this is big."

"Thanks Jesse."

"No problem," Jesse said as he shut down the computer.

"Let's go finish up the cars."

"Wait." Jesse fished around in his pockets and finally pulled out a piece of paper. "Here."

Dom took the scrap of paper from him and found Jesse's jumbled handwriting on it. "What's this?"

"A list of parts. It's for July, for her car. Man, I can't wait to get my hands on that Soarer," Jesse said rubbing his hands together and a gleam appeared in his eyes.

"Down boy, it's her car first off and second, you haven't asked."

"Fine, just give her that list and tell her it will make her car way better for racing."

"Okay," Dom said and put the list in his pocket. "Let's go finish the cars first."

By noon they had finished the team's cars. They headed down to the store for lunch and then went back to work. Around one, Dom went home. He trekked upstairs and took a quick shower, then put on some jeans and a wife beater. He grabbed a black button up shirt as a last thought and threw it on. As he walked down the stairs, buttoning his shirt, the doorbell rang.

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Earlier:

July's eyes fluttered open and things slowly came into focus. She snuggled into the blankets and looked over at the clock, seeing it was a little after ten. She slowly stretched out her body and then curled back up. She had only been in the house for three days but it already felt like home and that freaked her out a bit. This was a totally strange house to her but yet she felt she was exactly where she should have always been.

She lay lost in thought when Mike popped into her head. He was leaving home today to come see her. A smile broke out on her face at the thought of seeing her best friend. July slapped herself on the head when she remembered what they talked about. She was supposed to call home.

Crap, crap!

July sat up in bed and grabbed the cordless that she had set up.

I guess it's not too early to call over there, it would only be like noon. They should be home, she mused.

Turning on the phone, July punched in the number she knew by heart and listen to the phone ring. Each ring felt like it dragged on forever and just as she was about to hang up, someone picked up the phone and her breath caught as soon as she heard their voice.

"Hello?" a tired, feminine voice answered.

"Hello," she replied, keeping her voice flat.

"July?" Mary asked and July could hear the hope in her voice.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Oh, July, honey, we were so scared. We thought something might have happened to you," she sobbed.

"I'm fine. I'm just calling to say that I found the lawyer and everything is settled. I am staying here," she deadpanned. It was hard to remain neutral. She wanted to yell in anger and jump for joy at the same time from hearing her voice. Half of July was mad at what Mary had done and the other half was just content from hearing her voice.

"You mean in LA?" Mary whispered into the dead silence the hung between the two.

"Yeah, in LA."

"Mike came over yesterday for dinner and told us he was going to go see you," Mary said after a moment.

"Oh."

Mary gave a sigh and July could hear the tears in her voice.

"Look, July, we weren't-"

"I don't want to talk about it," July said, cutting her off.

"July…"

"Mary, I don't want to talk about it. I just called to let you know I was alive and I am going to be living in LA now, this is my home now." July could feel the tears she was repressing slowly trail down her face as she said the words. It hurt more than anything to say those words to her but at the same time it felt liberating; she was free. It was terrifying and exciting at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Mary softly said.

"Are you really?" July asked, her anger coming to the surface.

"July, we are so sorry, you don't know how sorry we are, but please think about it. What else were we suppose to do?" she pleaded.

"I don't know…look, I'm going to get going. I'll call sometime," July said in a rush and hung up. She put the phone back and stood up.

July went into the bathroom and stripped. She turned on the shower and stepped in and let the hot water wash over her. The tears came like a flood. She laid her head against the shower stall and let them fall. She cried for that little girl who lost her parents, she cried for that girl who lived a false life, she cried for that women who might never know the truth.

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Some time later when her chest hurt from sobbing, July cleaned up and got out, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She felt as if she were looking at someone else. She dried her hair out and then stuck it up into a ponytail, leaving a few wisps of hair down to frame her face. She went back into her room and shifted through her drawers, finally pulling out a pair of black jeans she'd cut to mid-calf and a white tank top. After dressing she slipped on her sneakers and then headed down stairs.

July had some cereal for breakfast and then stood there; she was restless. With nothing else to do until she got the car parts, she cleaned the house and did what little laundry she had. She was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch when she looked up at the clock. It was one. She only had another hour till she'd go over to meet up with Dom. She finished eating and then headed out to the garage, doubled checking over the list she had made.

She zoned out and by the time she checked the clock again it was ten minutes to two. Stuffing the list back into her pocket, she headed up to her room. July grabbed her wallet, her keys, and some money and stuffed it all into her pockets.

She left the house, locking it behind her and headed over to Mia's house. Walking up the porch, she couldn't help but be nervous. She smoothed out her shirt and ran a hand over her hair. Satisfied that she looked okay, July stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell, hearing the sound of footsteps before the door swung open.

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tbc…