“In your dreams, fruit loop.”
“Should we discuss what apparently you dream about?” Anna snaps at him.
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” Creed sighs.
“Not as long as I have memory.”
“We put the fun back in dysfunction,” the Kid tells Georgia.
“That’s one way to put it,” Otter says.
“Are there other ways to put it?” Mrs. Paquinn asks, honestly curious. “I should think I’d like to hear more.”
“And everyone else was just leaving,” I say, glaring at Anna and Mrs.
Paquinn. “Thanks for stopping by to say hi. I’ll call you when we’re done.”
They look like they are going to protest, but Otter starts ushering them toward the door, Dominic glancing over his shoulder, a look of worry on his face as he catches my eye. I shake my head once and smile at him, but his eyes are troubled as Otter tells him that he can come back later.
“Sorry about that,” I say to Georgia. “They’re just… worried.”
She’s watching the closed door. “You know,” she says slowly, “most of the time I go into homes, it’s because the situation calls for it, that I am supposed to make a decision on whether or not I feel a child is safe.
Unfortunately, a lot of the times a child is not safe, and I have to remove them. There’s times when that decision is overturned in court and I have to watch as the kid gets put back into a home that’s not fit for even a dog to survive in.” She looks down at the Kid before turning back to me. “In my years of doing this, I’ve gotten a thick skin. You have to, with some of the things that I’ve seen. But this house… this is a first for me. For once, there seem to be too many people who care what happens to the child. And that’s a problem I wish I had more often.
“I’m going to need copies of your schedules, because I will be dropping by for visits, some announced, some unannounced. I’ll be honest with you all, this process can be long, and it can be exhausting, and it can strain people like no other. But it’s worth it. It has to be worth it. So you will let me do my job, and you will watch out for Tyson, and we won’t have a problem. Do we understand each other?”
We nod.
She looks down at Tyson again. “And you,” she says, her accent lilting over her lips. “When I ask you questions, I expect you to be honest with me.
It will make things easier on you and your brother. Is that clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the Kid says. “And just so you know, there is no bad closet. I was just playing around.”
She smiles at him. “I figured. Although, with that mouth of yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if you belonged in one.”
His eyes narrow. “Are you even allowed to say things like that?”
“Don’t tell anyone, okay? Tyson, can you do me a favor and go play outside for a bit? I’m sure Dominic is waiting for you. And if the short experience I just had is any indication, I believe Mrs. Paquinn and Anna are probably hovering near the door, trying to listen in.”
“We are not!” Mrs. Paquinn shouts through the door.
Ty laughs and opens the door, going outside and closing it behind him, already starting to chatter excitedly.
“How long has Dominic been coming here?” Georgia asks us.
“To be honest,” Otter says, “that was the first time I’d seen him. Bear only met him yesterday, and we’d only heard his name mentioned for the first time a few days ago.”
“Why?” I ask. “Is there something we should know? I was unaware he was in foster care. I told him yesterday that I’d like to meet his parents if he was going to be coming over here, especially if he was going to be in our house. He kind of dodged it, but I figured I could just walk down there.”
“First things first,” Georgia says. “I’ll need to be shown the house, bedrooms, bathrooms, and the like for my report. We can walk and talk.”
She walks back into the living room to get her laptop, and we trail after her.
“Now,” she says. “How long have you two been together?”
“Er… uh… what? Just….” That was unpleasant.