"Can I see?"
Dean turns the screen toward me.
I move the cursor to the drop down menu. "Right there."
He takes the laptop back and types in whatever information they need. "It's spinning. Maybe the site's broken."
"Just give it a minute." I put my hand over his on the table. He takes my hand and holds it while he nervously stares at the screen. "Okay I think I got it." He leans in closer to the screen. “October 12th. That's only a few weeks away!"
"Dean, relax. He's not getting out on the 12th. That's the hearing date. And like I said, they may not give him parole."
"How do they decide?"
"It depends. They only give it to people they think are safe to let out."
"That's definitely not him."
"Then you probably don't have anything to worry about."
He shuts the laptop and leans back in his chair. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Helping me figure that out. I was scared shitless he was going to get out and show up here."
"Do you think he'd really do that? If he got out?"
"I don't know. It's hard to say. He'll want money. That'll be his first priority. He knows I don't have any but he might come back to take something he could sell, like my car."
"Your car doesn't work."
"He could take it apart while I'm at school. Sell the parts."
"Let's not worry about that right now. He's not getting out anytime soon."
"What about after the hearing? If they let him out, how soon would it be?"
"Depends on what they decide, but it could take months before they release him."
Dean nods. "That gives me some time."
"Time to what?"
"Think about what to do if he gets out. I might need to get out of here. Get an apartment. I don't want to risk him coming here and seeing Jake."
"Are you going to tell Jake what's going on?"
"No. I want to keep him out of this. I'll tell him if I need to."
"If your dad doesn't get parole, what happens when his sentence is up? To you and Jake?"
"Jake will be 18 by then so he'll be an adult. My dad can't try to take custody back. I'll hopefully be at college but I'll still take care of Jake. I'll get an apartment wherever we end up."
"Do you have any idea where that'll be?"
"No clue. I'll go to whatever college wants me to play football. There was a scout at last week's game. There should be more showing up this week." He scoots his chair back. "Come here." He pulls me onto his lap. "I can't thank you enough for helping me with this stuff. I had no fucking clue how it works. I would've spent days trying to figure it out and you did it in a few minutes."
"Which means we have time for other things." I slowly smile as my hand runs over his chest. "I'm officially single now."
