Alex adjusted his position so that he was sitting in front of me. Then, ever so gently, he placed his fingertips on both sides of my head. The unexpectedness of his touch made me shiver.
“One, two, three, four, now you’re not sad anymore!”
He removed his hands. I laughed.
“I should have clarified that we were, like, six,” Alex said with a smile.
I found his gaze, feeling my heart lift. “I think it worked.”
We stayed there until midnight discussingCrime Bossand our summer plans and arguing over the best Slurpee flavors. It was Alex who finally suggested we head home, but not before walking me back to my street.
When I got back, I saw Jay had texted me.U ok?was all it said. I knew I should have opened up to him, but I was fine now. So that’s what I told him.
I look back at my father. I don’t want apologies. I want a do-over. I want to go back and change all the awful things that happened in the past for a more favorable future.
My fingers twist around my lotus necklace.
“I’m mad at you for not being better,” I say, surprised at how easily the words erupt from my mouth.
“I’m mad at me for that, too.”
“And I’m not ready to forgive you,” I continue. “It’s going to take a lot more than getting a job and cooking dinners and small talk to get me to trust you again.”
My dad nods. “I know that.”
I pick at a piece of my chipped desk. “So when are they leaving?”
He looks right at me, his eyes softening. “Your Aunt June took you in when you had nowhere else to go. Granted, I know that was one hundred percent my fault. But she still took you in.”
I’m quiet for a long moment. I know Aunt June didn’t have to open up her home to me, but the other option was foster care. There was no way she would have let that happen.
“I know it’s hard for you having them here, but their lives fell apart, too. They know they’re the ones responsible for their actions, but I want to believe in second chances. Not just for me, but for other people, too. And if I can offer them a second chance here, just temporarily, then I hope I’m helping in a small way. Does that make sense?”
I nod. I understand where he’s coming from, but he could have at least run his plan by me before I came home.
We sit in silence for a moment. He hands me my twenty dollars, and I take it from him.
My eyes find my twelve-steps list folded in the corner of my desk. I told myself I’d learn to forgive my dad, but it isn’t as easy as writing it on a scrap of paper.
The front door opens from downstairs. I hear a set of shoes enter through the front hallway followed by a loud… bark?
I glance over at my dad, eyebrows raised in question, but he looks as puzzled as I am. We jump up at the same time and rush down the stairs.
Nonnie’s standing by the front door. She’s holding a large grocery bag in one hand and in the other, a leash. A leash attached to a huge, black Labrador retriever.
“Oh, hello.” Her voice is intentionally sweet. The big dog laps at her hand, then thumps his tail on the ground in excitement. “Do we have room for one more?”
TWELVE
AS IT TURNS OUT, IT’Shard to say no to a kindhearted lady who is old enough to be your grandmother, so the dog gets to stay.
“His name is Wallis,” Nonnie told us as she scratched behind his ears. “He’s been at the Cedarville shelter for almost three years! Can you believe that? How could no one adopt this darling?”
I wouldn’t exactly use the worddarlingto describe Wallis. He is basically a small horse. His paws are nearly the size of my own hands and every time he pants, globs of drool drip on the floor.
When I was little, I used to beg Grams for a puppy. I swore on my favorite pajama bottoms that I’d take care of it—including cleaning up its poo.
But Grams always objected. “When you learn to make that bed of yours every mornin’, maybe I’ll believe you.”
