Wait For Me

“No, you don’t.” Jack stands up and stomps down the hall. A second later a door slams, and we all flinch.

Henry crawls toward us and wraps his arms around his sister. I push my fingers into his hair and smile down at him.

“Fank you, Henwy.” Emma wiggles an arm free and wraps it around him. “Henwy doesn’t wemember, but I do. I wemember her.”

“I believe you, Emma.”

Once the tears have stopped and Emma is feeling better, I stand up. “I’m going to check on Jack. I’ll be right back.”

It isn’t hard to figure out which room is his, considering his name is on the outside of his door. I knock once and try the knob, but the door is locked.

“Jack?”

“What?” he growls.

“Do you want to talk?”

“No.”

He seems so angry, and I feel helpless. I don’t know how to get through to him, or if I should even try. I’m no one to this kid. Why would he want to open up to me?

“Okay, well, I’m here if you want to talk about what happened, or if you’d like to talk about your mom or anything else. I’m just…I’m here.”

Silence.

“Jack?”

“Go away!”

“I can’t. I’m worried about you. Do you want me to go get your dad?”

“No.” There’s a soft click and then the door creaks open just enough for me to see Jack’s red, puffy eyes. “Please don’t get my dad. He’s already mad at me, and he doesn’t like to talk about Mom.”

“Okay, but—” The door slams in my face.

Shit. This kid thing is hard. Maybe Grayson has a manual somewhere on how to handle these types of situations.

“Jack, you can’t slam the door in my face. It’s not nice.”

Silence.

I blow out a breath and try a different tactic. “I’m sorry about your mom. I didn’t know her, and I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry she isn’t here. I can’t imagine how hard that must be for you. I’ve never lost a parent, but I understand what it’s like to feel lonely.”

Still nothing. Who would’ve thought communicating with a moody child would be harder than entertaining a crowd of fifty-thousand people?

I close my eyes and rest my forehead against the door. “Do you want me to go? I just…I don’t know what to do.”

More silence.

“Knock twice if you want me to stay here, Jack. I can keep talking.”

Knock.

Pause.

Knock.

I take a breath. “Okay. That’s good. We’re getting somewhere.” I press my hand against the door. “I won’t pretend to understand what it’s like for you to be without your mom. It must suck. I had my mom up until the age of ten.”