“They were smokers. He has scars on his back and arms from cigarette burns. You can check if you don’t believe me.”
“We believe you,” Mom says, reaching to squeeze my hand for a moment. “We’ll do everything we can to keep you and Javi together, I promise.”
I know I haven’t done anything to earn their help, but I care too much about helping him get better to even pretend to protest.
“Thank you,” I say, giving her a soft smile.
“Is there anything else we need to do on our end?” Dad asks, his voice hoarse, and I’m surprised to see his eyes shining while he watches Javi interact with JJ and Marley.
“Call around and see if you can get him an appointment with a doctor to be seen. Make sure he has all the necessities, and you’d be able to pass an inspection if the emergency placement is approved. We want to be able to argue that Javi is being taken care of and he’s safe here,” Nora continues, and Mom jots something down on her paper.
“We can do that,” she says, tucking her shoulder length blonde hair behind her ears. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. We really appreciate your help.”
The doors open behind me, and Javi’s footsteps are quick. “B, are you done? Can we hunt for shark teeth again?” he asks, appearing next to me, and JJ pops up behind him.
“Shit, ah, I mean, shoot? Sorry,” JJ says, cringing, and I chuckle under my breath. “He’s fast.”
“I think we’re done,” I say, glancing at my parents for confirmation, and they nod. “Let’s go look for shark teeth.” I ruffle his dark brown hair, causing a happy laugh to sound from him.
“I bet I can find more than you and JJ!” Javi takes off through the doors again.
He makes everything a little easier.
I can feel everyone watching me at all times. It wouldn’t shock me if my family were taking turns sitting outside my bedroom door at night to make sure I don’t run away or requesting I wear an ankle monitor with GPS tracking. I didn’t do myself any favors by disappearing up the beach with Kaitlyn the day I came back.
It’s only been a few days, but Javi’s moved past his initialwariness of my family to the point where he’ll now respond if they talk to him. He’s careful to stay in the same room as me, and I feel a little guilty for using him as a shield to avoid the conversations that need to be had, especially after what I had to reveal during the meeting with their lawyer.
The emergency placement was approved by some miracle, and my parents were able to get him an appointment with a pediatrician first thing tomorrow morning.
When Mirabelle walked in a little bit ago, I couldn’t help staring at her visible baby bump. I don’t know if I should ask questions, but Henry has me on edge after the warning he gave when my sister ran into the bathroom.
I guess he has some ad campaign filming on a beach in the area, and Mirabelle wanted to spend the day here instead.
He wanted to make sure I knew if I hurt her, he’d hurt me.
I don’t think anyone besides Javi would try to stop him.
Currently, Mira’s silently watching me eat from across the table, and it has me sitting on the edge of my seat. I’ve never known my sister to have nothing to say.
I swear she never used to stop talking, so the silence is unnerving.
She picks up her glass of orange juice to take a sip, and Javi wiggles in his chair. “You’re not going to drop that, are you?”
Mira pauses and looks at him with curiosity. “Why do you think I’m going to drop it?”
“When you were here before, you dropped a glass.”
Jesus, Javi. Blunt much?
“I was surprised to see you, and it slipped.” Mirabelle’s brown eyes shift to meet mine before looking at Javi.
He’s had a lot of questions since we arrived, but they’re questions I don’t have all the answers to.
“Are you surprised this morning?”
A quiet laugh slips from her, and she smiles. “No, I’m not surprised today.”
Clearing my throat, I hope this doesn’t backfire on me. “When are you due?” My gaze drops to her bump for a moment, and her face softens.
