"She got him in trouble," I corrected. "Those girls were coming after her, and Zeke knows Faith needs to keep things clean because of our custody case."
A million expressions crossed this woman's face. "You know what people say about my son, right?"
"He's a punk, and he makes his own trouble. Sounds like most of us when we were that age," I said. My opinion of this boy was changing at light speed, but his mother didn't need to know that. "I also know he doesn't have a man in his life - father figure, I mean. I know you're working two jobs, which means he's just about raising himself, right?"
"More true than I want to admit," she said softly, glancing at the door as if worried she'd be overheard.
"So, let me give you my number, and you can text me. I've got some friends helping me with the single dad thing, and it's made life a lot easier. And if these two are friends, then there's no reason he can't come over and do homework with her, or whatever. But next week. She's grounded for a bit."
"Same," Emily agreed, unlocking her phone and offering it to me. "Just warn those guys that my kid might have questions."
"One's a shrink, so he knows how to deal with it," I assured her. "And make sure Mr. Smith knows that the other girls started it? Our kids were just defending themselves."
"Thanks," she said, turning for the door the moment I passed her phone back.
When she opened it, I called for Faith and let her know it was time to go. My daughter hugged Zeke quickly, shocking the boy, then hurried to follow after me. But I could see the way that kid smiled at her back. It was part surprise and part relief. It looked a lot like how I'd felt when I ended up at Southwind.
Damn it, I was going to take the kid under my wing, wasn't I?
Faith followed me silently out of the building. There were only a few minutes before her last class was done, so I might as well take her home. The girl hugged her notebook hard against her chest, her bag slapping against her side, and her head was down. I could understand why she'd done what she did, and yet I kept thinking about how Meredith was going to use this against us, so I refused to tell her it was ok.
But when we got into my truck, she couldn't take it anymore. "Dad, I'm sorry, ok?"
"I know you are, cupcake," I assured her.
"I didn't start it. It's just that when they started saying things, I said something back. I thought that would be ok, and then Olivia swung, and Zeke shoved in. She hit him, he hit her back, and Esther grabbed my hair, then the teachers broke it up."
"But you're ok?" I asked, backing out of the parking lot.
"Zeke's going to be in so much trouble."
"His mom thinks he's getting detention too." I glanced over. "I also told her that we'll give him a ride home."
"Yeah?" Faith asked.
"You're grounded, and that's so you can spend some time thinking about how you could've handled this better. You're going to clean the kitchen and bathrooms to prove that you're willing to help out. But I'm not taking away your phone."
Her head snapped over. "You're not?"
"No, because it's easier to deal with a bully when you have a friend, so I don't want you to think that you can't talk to Zeke." Damn it, a smile was breaking through my lips. "And his mom said he can come riding - but later, since it sounds like he's going to be grounded too."
"I love you, Daddy," she breathed, sounding so relieved.
"I love you too, cupcake," I swore. "Just know that your mom is going to make a big deal out of this. Faith, we said one month - "
"It'smorethan a month," she groaned. "A month and a week!"
"And you haven't even made it two weeks," I pointed out. "Tell me, is saying something to those girls worth going back to live with your mom? Because if you want to, I understand. But if you still want to stay with me, then that's what you have to think about first."
"But when you got in a fight to help Ash..."
"That's different," I told her. "That's the reason I'm not mad at Zeke, because he got into a fight to protect you. You, Miss Thing, should've walked away. You should've gone somewhere else with Zeke and complained about it. You should've been the bigger woman, and stopped things before anyone swung, because until I have full, legal custody of you, getting suspended from school means no more Onyx, no more watching that silly show with Ash and Cy, and no more living at Southwind."
She chewed on her lip for a little too long. Then, when I turned back onto the main road, her leg began to swing, thumping against the seat. Next, she sighed. I knew she was thinking hard about something, so I just focused on the road until she was ready to talk about it.
Just as we reached the crossroad, she finally turned back to me. "Zeke's gay, Dad. It all started because they called him a faggot and I said that's not a nice word. Then I kinda said that he couldn't be gay because he likes me."
The laugh came out so hard that I snorted. "Aren't you a bit young to be his beard?"
