“It looks like you have a lot on your plate,” Mavis said quietly. “Surely you need a hand or two over the next few days.”
“Well, I suppose someone will have to watch the younger children tomorrow, when we go into the station,” Pauline reflected.
Drew looked startled. “You’re coming to the station, too? What for?”
“To be with you,” Pauline said, exasperated. “We’re not going to let you go in alone.”
“They probably won’t let you stay with me,” Drew pointed out. “You’re not my mom. I bet they’ll need to get a social worker or something.” Suddenly, fear invaded his face. “What’s going to happen to the kids? They’re going to be separated if I tell them my mom’s gone. I could pretend she’s out of town for a little while—”
“Drew,” Pauline said softly, “I’m not going to let them separate you.”
“How are you going to stop them?” His voice rose, and then he looked sharply over at Troy, still sleeping on the couch, and fell silent.
“You don’t have any uncles or aunts, do you?” Pauline asked. “Your dad, or Troy and Val’s dad, neither of them stuck around at all, paid any child support?”
“No way,” Drew said. “Mom said they were all worthless. So they’re just going to break us up and put Val and Troy in foster care—”
“Drew,” Pauline interrupted. “Drew, I’m your closest adult relative. Or if not the closest, the only one who’s stayed local and showed any interest in taking care of you. I’ll do anything it takes to get custody. I promise. I’ll sleep at the entrance to the courthouse until they let me. I’ll take a million silly parenting classes. I will do whatever I have to.”
Drew stared at her, his eyes huge and shocked.
“I better get going,” Mavis murmured quietly. “I’ll see about watching the children tomorrow. If I can’t cancel my meetings, Stella and Nate can likely do it. It won’t be a problem.”
She withdrew quietly and gracefully, leaving Pauline and Drew looking at each other.
“She always said...” Drew’s voice broke. “She always said you thought we were trashy. Low-class. Because she wasn’t married and stuff.”
“No,” Pauline said immediately. “No. Drew, my parents were snobs. They probably thought that. But I never did. I always wished she’d let me spend more time with you. I remember when you were a baby, I was always asking her to let me baby-sit, and she always said she could handle it...she was so proud, she never wanted my help, because my family had looked down on her family. And I understood, but it made me so sad. I wished I could’ve been there when you were growing up.”
“I didn’t know that,” Drew said blankly. “I always felt bad taking your food, at Oliver’s, because I thought...I mean, you were always so nice. But I thought you were just pretending because you felt bad.”
“No,” Pauline said. “Drew. No.”
He blinked a few times. Pauline took an involuntary step forward, and then, when he didn’t back away, another one, until she was close enough to reach out and pull him into a hug.
This time, he didn’t hesitate to lean in. Pauline wrapped her arms around his thin shoulders and held him close, trying to telepathically project as much love and care and support as she could.
He didn’t cry or anything, but he stayed in the hug until the door opened. Then he started and jerked back. Pauline let him go.
Hopefully—God, she had to hope—there would be many, many more opportunities to give Drew big, loving hugs as they went forward.
Carlos’ eyes were warm as they took in the scene, but he didn’t comment on it. “So,” he said. “Anyone hungry?”
***
Carlos, it turned out, was a surprisingly skillful cook.
“My one hobby,” he confessed to Pauline and Drew as he cracked eggs and sautéed vegetables. “Whenever I had time, I’d cook myself dinner. Ordering out got old after a while, even in New York.”
Pauline, who had ordered pizza from the one delivery spot in town maybe three times in the last ten years, nodded. “Are you sure I can’t help?” she said for the fifth time.
“Or me?” Drew added.
Carlos’ smile was warm and happy, with the slightest tinge of exasperation. “You,” he said, enunciating very carefully, “can both sit there at the table and let someone else serve you food for once.”
It felt a little unnatural. Pauline couldn’t remember the last time anyone had waited on her.
All the more reason to enjoy it, she told herself, and sat back and forced herself to just sit with Drew and watch. It was a good example for Drew, too, who must be so used to being a parent to his younger siblings. Who knew how long it had been since someone had cooked him dinner.