Page 61 of Never Alone
"His teacher wanted to confirm we got the email about the field trip in three weeks."
"I read it this morning."
"He got a permission slip. It's on the fridge."
"I'll sign it tonight."
Noah was watching the two of us the way he watched parents on TV shows—checking the texture, learning the shape of the thing he was supposed to be learning.
Cole set his fork down. "I want to talk to you both about the GAL."
I set my fork down, too.
"What's a GAL?" Noah asked.
"Guardian ad Litem," Cole said. "It's a person the court is going to send to talk with us about how things are going. They'll want to come to the apartment. They'll want to talk with you. They'll want to see how we live."
"When?"
"Inside the week."
Noah thought about that. He chewed his potato carefully.
"What do they want to know?"
"Whether you're safe. Whether you're being taken care of. Whether the adults in your life are doing right by you."
"Are they going to ask about Dad?"
"They might. You can answer however feels true to you. You don't have to perform anything for them."
Noah nodded.
"Mom." He had turned to me now. "Can I ask something?"
"Of course, bud."
"Can I have my own room?"
I hadn't expected the question. Neither had Cole, from the small still beat that landed between us across the table.
"You don't like your room?"
"I like my room. I just—I'm nine. I think I should have my own room."
"You sleep with me."
"That's the part. I think I should not be sleeping in the same room as my mom anymore."
He said it the way he said most things now—careful, deliberate, the way a kid said something he'd thought about for a while before bringing it up.
"Bud—"
"Mom. I'm nine."
I looked at Cole. Cole was looking at me. His face hadn't moved. His hand was on the edge of the table.
"Also," Noah said, and now he sounded like a kid who'd been working up the nerve to make the second half of his point, "wouldn't it look more real to the lady from the court if I had my own room? She's coming to see how we live. If she sees me sleeping in the same room as my mom, she might think it's weird. And if you and Cole are getting married, you should be in the same room. That's how it usually works."
