Page 63 of You & Me: Part Two

“Oh, Miss J is the best. Tell her thanks for checking on me. I really appreciate everything she did for me that day.”

“She’s worried that you haven’t been back to class. Is everything okay?”

“Uh, well things are okay I guess.”

“Talk to me. What’s going on? Can I help with anything?”

“Well, I don’t think there is anything that you can do for me, sir. My dad is in jail and it doesn’t look like he will be out anytime soon. My mom took off years ago. I have a little brother and I know if we look for help they will probably separate us. I can’t let that happen, so I’m trying to find a job that I can work during the day while he’s at school and somehow not lose our apartment. My brother has already been through too much and I can’t let him be taken off to foster care.”

“So, you don’t have any family that can help out or that you can go stay with?”

“My grandma was here with us but I turned eighteen last week, so she left the day after. I have an aunt and some cousins nearby but they don’t really have room for us. I don’t know what else to do, sir. I know that Children's Services thinks my grandma is still here, and I’m probably breaking the law, but I just can’t lose him to the system.”

Poor kid, he’s doing the best he can and trying to keep his tiny little family together. I can appreciate that, but he needs to finish school if he wants to keep them together in the long run.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Jesse. I want you to take my card and if there is anything I can do, or if you need help please don’t hesitate to give me a call. We need to figure out a way to get you back in school. I’ll update Miss Jacobs on how you’re doing and we’ll see if we can come up with something.”

He apprehensively takes the card from me and I can tell that he’s wondering if I have ulterior motives.

“Really, Jesse, if you need anything at all. A friend of Miss Jacobs is a friend of mine, so call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I turn toward my truck and hear the door to the apartment four shut behind me. I don’t know what I expected from my visit, but I just needed to come here to talk to him myself and try to get a vibe on things. I can’t help but wonder if I should have mentioned the threats to Emily, but I didn’t want to add to his worries. I saw the look on his face when he talked about her. It’s the same look most people get when they talk about her; a look of fondness and thankfulness to have her in their life. I know the feeling. I suspect that if he did know something he would have told me, but I could be wrong.

Back to the drawing board, I guess. It doesn’t sound like he has any family that he’s that close with or else they would be stepping in, and clearly, if they aren’t stepping in they wouldn’t be issuing threats would they? Who is doing this?

All I know is that I am itching with frustration not having Emily and Ireland in my presence. I have never felt the fierce need to protect anybody like I do these two.

Georgia: Hey, you cool with me picking Ireland up a little early?

Gracie: Uh...sure is everything okay?

How do I tell her that I just need to have one of them with me so that I don’t lose my fucking mind? I don’t.

Georgia: Everything is good. Just thought I could take her for a snack and then come pick you up. It really will only be 30 mins early.

Gracie: Sure. She will love it.

Oh, thank Christ. I drive as fast as I can to Ireland’s school that we just left a few hours ago. It feels like forever after seeing the picture and knowing that whoever this is knows her name. I should probably look into the fact that it could be somebody at the school. Not sure how Emily could have hurt anybody’s family, but right now I will search any avenue that I can to figure this out.

I arrive at the school within minutes and when I walk in, I see Ireland sitting and listening to storytime with all the other kids. I sign her out and head to where the kids are gathered. As soon as she sees me her mouth drops open, her eyes go wide and she gasps! I put my finger up to my mouth to remind her to stay quiet and she instantly pops her cute little hand over her mouth. She gets up from her spot on the floor and runs over to me and jumps in my arms.

The fact that she is so comfortable with me—and has been since the first time I met her—is something that I can’t wrap my brain around. I feel like I’ve known her for her entire life…if only that were true. I cannot even imagine how adorable she was as a baby because she is the cutest kid I’ve ever seen. Her big brown eyes do me in every time she looks at me and it’s like she knows I’ll do whatever she asks.

“Why you pick me up, Jonafon?” Ireland asks as I strap her into her little booster seat in the back seat of my truck. I never thought I would see one of those in the back of my truck, but it’s a nice accessory if you ask me.

“I just wanted to see you and I thought we could go get a snack and pick your momma up together. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds like a great plan!”

“I was thinking we could run up to Elka’s and grab a scone?”

“Yuck, I don’t like scones, Jonafon. What else?”

“Well, they have lots of different treats there so we’ll find you something, I promise.”

“Okay, deal.”

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