“You know, I didn’t think the social workers and courts split up siblings.”
“I don’t think they do anymore. That would make a hard situation even harder, I reckon.”
“Yeah.” Jeremy had always wished he’d had a sibling, but after hearing about Miss Klein’s situation, he was kind of glad he didn’t. What would he do if they were separated? “Do you think she was telling the truth?”
“I do.” He rubbed a hand over his face and seemed to contemplate that. When he looked at Jeremy again, his hazel eyes looked puzzled. “I mean, why would someone make that up?”
That made sense.
As Gunnar pulled into the driveway, he said, “Jeremy, since we’re being real honest and all, I have to tell ya that you caught me off guard when you pointed out that you were just my foster kid.”
“How come? It’s the truth, right?” What he didn’t want to say was that he was too afraid to call Gunnar his real dad. What if Gunnar changed his mind?
“You’re right. But we’ve been together for a while now. Five months.” He unbuckled but didn’t move. “Listen, when we talked about going through with the adoption, I thought you were on board with wanting to make things permanent too. But, if you think it’s too soon, or you’re not sure . . . you just have to tell me. There’s two of us, you know.”
Even thinking about leaving Gunnar’s house and getting stuck in some stranger’s house made him panic. “Are you saying you changed your mind?”
Gunnar shook his head. “No. No, not at all.”
“But—”
“Jeremy, bud . . . this is all hard enough without you putting words I wasn’t even thinking into my mouth. That’s not what I said at all. You know I want you with me, but you’re fifteen, not five months. You have a say in your own future,” he added gruffly. “I want you to feel good. Not just settle, you know?”
Jeremy knew what he should say. He knew he should say that he hadn’t changed his mind, that he liked Gunnar. That he wasn’t settling. But it was like all the words in his head got sideways before making their way out of his mouth.
So instead he just nodded. He felt like crap keeping silent, but he didn’t know if he had it in him to give Gunnar anything more.
“Okay. Glad we talked. Let’s go on in. It’s freezing.”
Jeremy climbed out, grabbed his backpack, and walked to the front door of Gunnar’s house. As he’d done every time since he’d first seen the place, he reflected on how crazy it was that he lived there.
Gunnar Law not only worked as an auto mechanic for Ace, he did carpentry work on the side. He’d built his house over two years, and it was cool. Like, amazingly cool.
For one, it was way bigger than it looked from the front. It was a sprawling walkout ranch-style house with four bedrooms, a media room, five bathrooms, and a kitchen–dining room combo that practically ran the length of the house. Crazier still, before Jeremy moved in, Gunnar had lived there all by himself.
He’d later learned that Gunnar had built it for a woman he’d been dating, but they’d broken up while he was building it. He’d finished it out with the intention of putting it on the market, but the real estate market was in a slump and no one was looking. Sometime after that he’d decided to just stay.
And now Jeremy had a huge room right next to the kitchen.
Crazy.
After unlocking the door, Gunnar motioned for Jeremy to go in while he punched a series of numbers on the keypad.
“I was thinking chili tonight. You okay with that?”
“Yep.”
“Do you have homework?”
“Yep. A ton.”
Gunnar raised his eyebrows. “You always say you have a ton.”
“That’s because I always do.”
“Do you need some help?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Looking uncomfortable, Gunnar folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not too good at math, but I can help you study history or something. I wasn’t great in school, but I didn’t flunk out or anything. I also know a couple of people who could tutor you, so don’t be shy.”
“Thanks, but I’m good. I’m gonna head to my room now.”
“All right. I’ll call you when supper’s ready.”
Walking the short distance down the hall to his room, Jeremy walked inside and closed the door. And, at last, he felt himself relax.
The truth was, he wasn’t all that good at school. He wasn’t failing out, but he mostly got Bs and Cs. He’d always been okay with that, since he’d been basically just trying to get by. But now that it looked like staying with Gunnar could actually happen, he started thinking about other stuff. Like a future. He was a junior, halfway through the year even. If all went well, he could be graduating high school in a year and a half. Melanie, his social worker, had told him he should even start thinking about college or trade school.
Jeremy hadn’t ever believed he’d have the money for either, but now he was starting to think that she hadn’t been just giving him a pep talk. Maybe he was going to have a future after all.
His phone buzzed, pulling him away from his worries. Looking at the screen, he saw it was from Phillip. Phil was his best friend at Bridgeport High. They’d met in biology. Their teacher had made them partners when the class was dissecting a frog. Both of them had been trying hard not to gag but had somehow gotten the best grade on the test, which inspired them to work together again.
Which kind of turned them into friends. Now Jeremy ate lunch with the guy and his whole crew.
And that was really amazing, given that Phillip was friends with just about everybody.
Hey. Have you asked anyone to the Christmas dance yet?
Jeremy rolled his eyes. Bridgeport High held a fancy Christmas dance every year, a couple of days before Christmas. He thought that was a weird time to have a school dance, but everyone said it was tradition and that they’d been holding the dance in the school gym right before Christmas for decades. Some people even planned their vacations around it.
He hadn’t thought much about the dance for a number of reasons. But, he guessed if he was a guy like Phillip DiCenzo, he would be. Every girl in the school probably was waiting on him to ask her out.
No. Have you?
I’m taking Carson.
Should’ve known. Phillip and Carson weren’t official yet, but everyone knew that they liked each other. Phillip walked her to class every day after lunch.
Carson said that Bethany Seevers likes you. What do you think?