Page 27 of Rescued
“Their beds will be delivered tomorrow, and then I’ll be ready to schedule my home visit.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Maryanne clicks away at her keyboard, or at least I’m assuming that’s what she’s doing. “I’ll perform the initial home visit, and then after that, if the kids are placed with you, we’ll coordinate with local DFCS offices for their case after that.”
“If?”
More clicking. “Yes, I’m not anticipating any issues, given the information you’ve provided, and you know we like to keep kids with family where possible.”
I nearly roll my eyes. If that was the case, they’d already be here with me. “I understand.” I swallow hard. “And what happens if you don’t approve the house?”
“I don’t think that will happen. Each child will have their own room?”
“Yes. But… I’ll be in the living room. Is that okay?”
“That’s not a problem at all. We just need to ensure that each child has their own room, a bed with sheets, electricity, running water, and food.” I’m opening my mouth to speak when she continues. “And also that the home is reasonably clean and can pass safety checks.”
I wonder if I should get Jasper out here to take a look at things and make sure it’s all up to par. A couple of months ago, I watched him lay new flooring in his house, so I’m sure he could do a quick check for me.
At the thought, a sharp pain ricochets through me, nearly doubling me over. I can’t do that, obviously. For one, I’d have to bespeakingto Jasper, which I’m not. And for two, I’d have to tell him about Salem and Nora, which can’t happen.
Though I am starting to wonder how I’m going to handle that. I can’t just… hide two kids from my friend group forever. Unless I want to cut all of them off too.
And truly, whyhaven’tI told Jasper? Okay, sure. He doesn’t want kids. But we don’t have to be together. We can just befriends. I can let him in. I can trust him. I want to, but I’m so afraid. What’s the alternative, though? Never talk to anyone again? I can’t do that either.
“Arlo, are you there?”
I shake myself from my thoughts. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m here.”
“Does all that sound good?”
I have no idea what she even said. And I’m not going to admit that I didn’t hear her. What if that’s a tick against me? “Yeah, that sounds great.”
“Perfect. So I’ll see you next week. Thursday at around 5 p.m., give or take some driving time.”
I nod dumbly. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Pulling my phone from my ear, I drop the appointment time in my calendar. I’ll have to talk to Luca and make sure I’m home for that.
Home.
What a crazy concept. I have a new house.
“Alright, well, I’ll let you go for now. But don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.”
“Thank you.”
Hanging up the phone, I take another look around. This is gonna work just fine, I think. There’s a lot I still need to do, but I think I can manage it in the next week.
I’ve put off calling Salem. I want him to know that I’m gonna be getting him, but I don’t want to call yet. I don’t want to get his hopes up again, only to have them dashed.
We’ve all had way too much of that already.
Thedinerwasbusyas hell when I first got here, but now it’s slow as hell, and I’m bored. And also not making any money to replenish my almost empty bank account.
The thing is, we Montgomerys are used to living in poverty. Growing up, I went to bed hungry more often than I didn’t, and I loved school if only because I was promised two meals a day.
Winters were cold without heat, and the summers were unbearable without air conditioning, but I survived. That doesn’t mean that’s how I want to live my life now, and it’s damn sure not what I want for Salem and Nora. They deserve better than what I got.
Better than empty stomachs and shitty parents. They deserve better than being forgotten at school when Mom and Melvin were too strung out to remember to pick them up. They deserve more than I ever had.
