Page 22 of Vows In Corruption

And to think, I used to find this cute when he was younger.

“Now answer the question. Why do you want to go work with me?”

Out of all the kids, Drake is the one that likes school the most. He never willingly wants to miss a day of school and it has to be in-person school with teachers and other students around him. I’ve learned from the countless trips I have taken him on during the school year that he hates having to learn virtually or with a tutor one-on-one. So the fact that he wants to skip school to go into the office for the day, is surprising.

It wouldn’t be the first time he has gone to work with me, but it would be the first time he has done while school was going on.

The kid gives me a shrug and concentrates on the remainder of his cereal a little too hard.

“I don’t know. I just think it would be fun.”

Fun.

There has only been a handful of times where he has called going to the office with me, fun. When we had the World Series trophy in our building for a week after Chicago won their first World Series championship in a hundred years, a few years back. When an actor from one of his favorite superhero movies stopped by the office to talk about investing in one of out products. And the last one was when there was a snow storm that got so bad that me and him had to camp out in my small ass office for the night because we couldn’t leave.

Today, has none of those things, so it would be anything but fun. Something has to be up.

“Fun, huh? You want to sit in my office all day while I have meetings?” The question earns me a little shrug and not a spoken answer. Something is really up. Putting my fork down, I turn to face Drake. I will get to the bottom of this. “What going on, Bub? You never want to miss school. Not if nothing fun is going on.”

Drakes shoulder continue to slump as he now starts to play with his cereal.

My mind goes to worst case scenario.

“Is someone bothering you at school? Is that why you don’t want to go?” I get a shake of the head telling me no. “Okay, then what is it? You can tell me. You can always tell me what is going on.”

I’m not his dad biologically, but I am the closest thing that he has as a parent. So I’m going to act like one, even if there are times when the kids hate it. So if something is going on with them, I want and need to know, so that I can help them with whatever it is. They know that they can depend on me, no matter what.

I watch as the kid that I raised plays with his cereal some more until he eventually sighs and looks up at me.

“It’s parents day at school today and everyone’s mom and dad is going to go and do arts and crafts with their and have lunch together. And my parents aren’t going to be there so I want to go to work with you.”

A part of me breaks a bit when I hear him say that his parents aren’t going to be there. Not because his parents left him, but because I know he’s not talking about me. I may act like a parent, and legally I’m his guardian, but I will always just be his uncle.

Don’t think that way. It’s a lot easier to think than to actually do.

“Why didn’t you tell me about parents day? I can go with you. I wont go to work and then we can go do arts and crafts and eat nasty school food for lunch. It will be fun.” I try to keep the hurt out of my voice as much as I possibly can.

I get a smile from Drake but it doesn’t reach his eyes. The smile nearly disappears when he shakes his head.

“Everyone is going to ask why my dad is there and not my mom and I won’t know what to answer.”

That small part of me fixes itself when he mentions the word dad.

“We can make something up. Like she up at the international space station or down in Antartica with the penguins.”

A sweet laugh rolls out of his body. “There aren’t any penguins in Antartica, uncle Bennett. They are up in the North Pole.”

“I don’t know where you got that information from kid, but there are penguins in Antarctica.” I start tickling him and his laugh fills the whole damn kitchen. “I need to take you to a museum so that you can learn about them, because that expensive school of yours is not teaching you the right stuff.”

He laugh continues to fill the space even as I stop with the tickle attack, my one laugh combining with his.

“So what do you say? We go to this parents day and tell them all about the penguins in Antartica?” As much as I want to wish that Drake and his siblings situation with their parents was different, I can’t change anything. It’s been ten fucking years, and no matter how much I look for my brother, nothing will ever change the situation.

My brother left them with me and their mom, well she is someone that I will never let come near the kids, no matter how much she says she is willing.

I need to stop thinking about her. She’s not fucking worth even an ounce of time, let alone a thought. If she was worth it, she wouldn’t have left her kids with a literal stranger. Or even turned her back on them when they needed her the most.

Drake is silent for a minute, probably thinking about my proposition. For a second or two, I think he is going to be saying yes, but the kid surprises me when he shakes his head.

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