Page 18 of Only Temporary

He nods, looking far too stressed for my liking. “They start at the end of the week. I guess school started last week, but the principal said they should wait until after the funeral.”

“Probably a good idea. When is the funeral?”

“Tomorrow,” he says, his face pinched in pain. I know he has animosity for his mother, but I don’t think he’s as unaffected by her passing as he’d like everyone to believe.

Not my business.

“This is a good start, Kellan,” I praise, looking over the school supplies.

“Yeah, they had all this at the school. I guess they do a drive every year for the poor kids. They had some left over.”

“That’s good. It’s good to use the community resources,” I try to encourage because I can feel the shame and anger rolling off him. Something tells me he’s not a fan of charity, but that’s going to have to change.

“Resources. Right,” he scoffs, but I can tell he’s trying to keep his anger in check.

“What about their rooms?”

“They’re in their rooms right now. Do you want to see?”

I nod my head in answer and follow him down the hall. We come to the first closed door, and Kellan knocks. “Raegan. The social worker is here. He needs to see your room.”

I try not to flinch at being called the social worker, though I’m not really sure why it bothers me. That’s exactly what I am, and him not using my name keeps it even more professional.

“Ugh, what?” Raegan tears the door open, her eyes locked on mine with a deep, frustrated glare. “It’s a room. It has a bed and a dresser. The mattress with cum stains is gone now. I got a brand-new one.”

“Raegan,” Kellan snaps, his eyes wide and pleading.

I just smile at her, not showing any weakness because kids like this will tear you apart if you do. “Do you mind if I just look for myself really quick? I have to check some boxes on my handy little form.” I hold up my phone, showing her the actual form.

Her pretty eyes roll, but she moves out of the way for me to walk inside. “Have at it.”

I walk inside, but Kellan remains in the doorway. I see some clothes on the dresser, piled up, mostly ripped jeans, but seeing as that’s what she’s wearing now, I’d say that’s probably her style. The bed is neatly made with a plain black comforter and two pillows. It’s bare but tidy. “Looks good,” I say to her, and she just crosses her arms over her chest, clearly annoyed that I’m in her space.

I can’t really blame her.

“Are you ready to go to school?”

“Can’t wait,” she says, her eyes that are heavily lined with black eyeliner tell me that’s all I’m going to get from her today.

“Good. I’ll be by again in two days, and maybe you can tell me more about what you can’t wait for.”

“Two days?” she asks, looking on the verge of a tantrum.

“Yes,” I answer her. “For the first few weeks, you’ll see me a lot. But don’t worry, it’ll taper off after a bit.”

“Fantastic,” she bites out and flops down on the edge of her bed. I thank her for letting me look around, and then we walk out, closing the door behind us. Kellan looks hopelessly down the hall.

“You sure you want to go to the next room?”

I chuckle. “Absolutely. I haven’t had my full dose of teenage angst for the day yet.”

Kellan just shakes his head but leads me to the boys’ room. He knocks, and it’s little Braylen who answers the door. “Why are you back?” he asks me, his blue eyes gazing up at me with suspicion.

“I’m your caseworker, remember? You’re going to see a lot of me.”

He shrugs and pulls the door open more for me. “Usually, they send someone else the next visit.”

I nod in understanding. It’s no secret there’s a lot of turnover and moving around in my profession. “Well, I don’t plan to go anywhere.”

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