Page 54 of Third Time Lucky

“You don’t seem that controlling to me.”

I give him the stink eye. “As if I could control you, balcony hopper.”

“So why aren’t you enjoying your break? Why go to Bellamy House? Why go to your office every day?”

“I might miss something.” Someone might need me.

“What did you miss?”

It looks like it’s my turn for a confession, whether we’re on the balcony or not. “Before Rick and Matilda brought me home, I lived with another foster family. I use that term loosely. What they were was a collection of open wounds. Unhappy, uneducated, careless people. Rarely interested in the kids under their roof.”

Elliot’s presence is a tether, grounding me in the present, helping me find the words. “It wasn’t a good place. My foster sister, Carol, was younger, but we bonded right away. I think it was because we were both drop-offs.”

“Drop-offs?”

I stare down at his hand. It looks as strong as it feels. “It means exactly what it sounds like. Carol’s parents dropped her off in a grocery store parking lot. I was left by the road near a biking trail and, well, people made a thing about it. The Redmond Rescue.”

I bet my father saw it on the news and kept driving.

“Shit.”

“I won’t go into the details, but things got pretty bad at that house. I tried to protect her, the others, myself. Eventually we convinced the social worker assigned to us to get us out of there. After that, I wanted Carol to come with me, but Rick and Matilda already had four boys And they said they’d found her a home with people who wanted to adopt. We met up on social media a few years later, and I promised her we wouldn’t lose touch again.”

That was around the time I met Tani and started babysitting. I emailed Carol every day. Then every week. Then twice a month. I was a teenage boy and she seemed happy. I should have been paying more attention.

“I saw her graduate from high school. By that time, I had some money and her parents were struggling, so I helped send her to college. I was proud of myself. I’d kept my promise and we had our whole lives ahead of us. I had no idea that there were problems. She never told me she’d been in therapy or that she’d tried to hurt herself before. No one did. I only found out after her funeral last year.”

My words land like shattered glass in the quiet car. “She wrote a one-line goodbye for me in the letter she left for her parents.”

Thank you for trying to keep me safe. I’m glad you got away. I know now I never did.

“Joey, I—”

“I didn’t say this for that.” I push his hand and the shadows away. “I haven’t shared her with anyone because I don’t want to talk about it. Not with Tani. Not with my parents. They knew I had a rough time, but my relationship with Carol was my secret and, in a lot of ways, the inspiration for my career.

I think I’m telling you so you take me seriously now. So when I say you don’t need to worry about being a good father, you can be sure I mean it and I know what I’m talking about. I’ve experienced the good, the bad and the apathetic when it comes to father figures. The way you fight for her, the way you stopped everything to come for her? Your mother was wrong. You made the right decision.”

“Jesus, Joey.” He rubs the back of his neck, concern filling his expression. “I’m glad you told me. I can’t tell you how much, but you’re giving me too much credit.” “I don’t think I am.”

“What you’ve been through? Rue was never in any danger of that. There were good people around her. The chef she told you about? Those friends who showed me pictures? They were all ready to take Rue in. All surprised when the lawyer read the will. Even the lawyer was worried I wasn’t up for the job. He’d known them since they were kids, and all he saw when he looked at me was a man without roots. An irresponsible ballplayer who knocked a woman up and disappeared.”

He shook his head. “But none of that mattered as soon as I saw that little girl. She recognized me from the picture her mother had framed for her, called me Daddy, and I swear my heart lit up for the first time in my life. Like I’d been missing a piece for years without knowing it, and there she was. The perfect fit. It was more selfishness than anything else. I needed her, you know? It wasn’t the other way around. And there was no way I was leaving her behind.”

“We’re here,” Derek says, suddenly sounding heavily congested. “Call me when you need a ride home. I don’t care what time it is.”

I think we broke my driver. I pat him on the shoulder as I scoot across the seat behind Elliot. “Thanks, D. That got heavier than expected, I know, but you handled it like a pro. You’re a good man.”

“Mr. Redmond?”

“Joey.”

“Joey,” he repeats, shocking the hell out of me. “I’m proud to be on your team. Sir.”

“Don’t make me cry in front of my new drinking buddy or I’m picking out the next car, and it will be a purple station wagon.”

I hear his wet chuckle as I close the door behind me and look at Elliot. “Beer?”

His affirmative nod is decisive. “Hell yeah. All the beer.”

---