“Isn’t coffee supposed to stunt your growth?”Phil asked, eyeing the cup.At least it was half milk.
Charlie snorted.“I think that ship has sailed.”
“Well, drink up before the CPS people get here, just in case.”Phil looked out at the living room again, where Ben occupied himself plumping the already plump couch cushions.
Rolling his eyes, Charlie finished his coffee.“You guys are worrying about nothing,” he said, sticking his cup in the dishwasher.“You’re way more qualified to raise kids than my mom, and she has four.”
Phil hadn’t thought to worry about Charlie’s siblings before now, but the thought of more kids growing up to be as staunchly self-sufficient as he was by age fourteen made Phil’s heart hurt.
The lady from CPS arrived twenty minutes late.She probably had other cases to deal with, other families to see, but it rubbed Phil the wrong way.By the time the doorbell finally rang, Ben was vibrating out of his skin.
Phil had envisioned a white woman in her fifties or sixties, a harried blonde with too much on her plate, a formal visit that would be over fast.Instead, a Hispanic woman, who had to be younger than him, stood at the door.She introduced herself as Clara Rodriguez and proceeded to peer over every inch of Phil’s house with the air of someone expecting to find drugs or weapons behind the paintings.
Phil busied himself brewing fresh coffee while he waited for her to be done, and Charlie helped him put out the good coffee cups on the table in front of the couch.
“So,” Ms.Rodriguez said after she’d inspected Charlie’s room, the bathroom, and the contents of the fridge in as much detail as her clipboard full of notes demanded.
As they all gathered on the massive sectional, it struck Phil that he hadn’t sat on the couch like this once since his injury—prim and proper with a straight back at the very edge of the seat.The couch formed a bigLin the middle of the living room, and to keep his knee happy, Phil usually sat in the corner with his legs extended in front of him.On evenings when he didn’t have to be at the arena, Ben joined him, leaning back into the cushions and propping his feet up on the table or curling them underneath himself.He didn’t cuddle up into Phil’s space or anything, but he certainly didn’t keep to his own side of the couch, instead staying close enough for their legs and arms to brush together.
Today, Ben sat a deliberate six inches from Phil, both feet on the floor.
Ms.Rodriguez cleared her throat.“This is an unusual situation.”
“Is it?”Ben asked.
Phil was used to hearing him as Coach Morris, when he affected a deep, gruff tone, or as Ben at home, when he spoke a little more softly but still evenly and self-assured.Now, his voice sounded too high, too questioning.
“Mm-hm.Normally, when family members apply for guardianship, they have a preexisting relationship with the child.You indicated on your forms that you never met Charlie before he came to stay with you two weeks ago.”
“That’s correct.”
“So what qualifies you to take care of him over his biological parents?”
Charlie snorted loudly at the word “biological.”
Phil gave him a warning glance.
“My parents threw me out, lady,” Charlie said.“What do you expect me to do, catch a bus back to Utah and tell them the state of California decided I had to live there, so can we all just forget I used to be a girl?”
“I understand this is a tough time,” Ms.Rodriguez said.“But my job is to help the judge make the best decision for you.A big part of it is making sure you’re not going from the frying pan into the fire.I have to ask these questions.”
“I don’t have to like it,” Charlie said mulishly.
“How about you wait upstairs, then,” Phil suggested.“Put on some music, try to relax for a while?Or you could hit the gym.Working out always helps me relax.”
“Only because all you do is work out,” Charlie said, but he headed to the home gym, and a minute later, they heard the blast of Olivia Carpenter or Sabrina Rodrigo or whatever teen actress had become a pop star that week.
“I’ll have to talk to him before I leave,” Ms.Rodriguez warned.“But it might be better to do this part without him.So, we were saying…”
“Right.”Ben steepled his fingers.“Well, it’s like Charlie said.His parents are…not the most accepting people.When he came out, my mother—his grandmother—sent him here.”
“Why didn’t she take him in?”
“Oh, she would never.”Ben smiled ruefully.“I haven’t been back to Utah in almost twenty years, but they call sometimes when someone in the family needs something the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would disapprove of.”
Phil froze in his seat.According to Ben’s CV, he’d spent most of the last twenty years coaching hockey in Utah.Which meant Ben hadn’t been honest with him, and he’d also lied on his application to the Sea Lions.Had he even coached hockey before?
“So you’re taking Charlie in as a favor.”
