“Tell who what?”
“You know, you’re not my mother. Just because they gave you custody when your parents died, doesn’t mean you have the right to ruin my life!”
“JT, what are you talking about?”
“Like you don’t know.”
He pushed past me, nearly knocking me into the wall, and went into the living room, throwing himself down on the couch hard enough to force it back a few inches. He picked up the remote, but he didn’t turn on the television. He just sat there and stared at it.
“What’s going on?”
He turned that dark stare on me, his soft, familiar blue eyes looking right through me like laser beams in a bad sci-fi movie.
“Coach cut me from the football team. Said I set a poor example for the rest of the team, showed poor sportsmanship by getting arrested in the team jersey, and I no longer deserved to wear it.”
The air seemed to burst out of my lungs. I pressed a hand to the center of my chest and stared at my brother. That was not what I thought would happen when I told Susan about his arrest.
“JT, I had no idea he would do that.”
“But you called the principal. What did you think would happen?”
“Not that.”
“Football was all I had. And now that’s gone, too.”
I sat beside him and tried to take his hand, but he pulled away.
“I’ll go talk to your coach.”
“Please don’t. You’ve already done enough.”
“But maybe if I—“
“Don’t you get it, Penny? You’ve already destroyed my life! Why would you want to make it worse than you already have?”
He jumped off the couch. “My parents didn’t want me. The parents that did want me, died. And now you…you’re destroying everything that matters to me. Do you really hate me that much?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Why don’t you just go back to New York and leave me alone? I’m better off without you, anyway.”
He turned and a second later I heard the front door shutter in its frame. I wanted to go after him, but what could I say to that? He wasn’t completely wrong. I had done this. If I had known calling Susan would lead to this, I never would have…at least, I liked to think I wouldn’t have. Would I have? Maybe I was just that frustrated with him. Maybe I had, in the back of my mind, known what would happen. Maybe I wanted it to happen. Maybe I was that desperate to get JT to be more like the boy he was when I left for New York, the happy ten year old who followed me around like a lost puppy instead of this angry, bitter teenager who went out of his way to make my life complicated.
Was I really fit to be a guardian? Was I doing anyone any favors trying to make this work? Had I already messed up too badly to fix things?
So many questions. And it seemed like I had absolutely no answers.
~~~
I waited three hours for JT to come home. Then I began calling all his friends. Someone had to know where he was, right? It was a small town. After five hours, I began to have all these thoughts—JT in a hospital somewhere, unable to speak with no idea to identify him, JT drinking and doing some dangerous drugs in someone’s dark basement, JT becoming road kill in a terrible accident on the highway—that sent panic shivering through my body like an epileptic seizure.
I needed help. I would normally call Nick, but he hadn’t spoken two words to me all day after catching me with Mr. James. And Susan was in the city with her family, celebrating her daughter’s fifth birthday. There were others I could call, but each one came with complications, such as the cop who arrested JT who had promised the next time he caught him doing something that reckless, he would book him for sure. I didn’t know what to do.
I got in the car and drove up and down the long, wide streets of our little town. It was dark, nearly curfew. Few people were out and those who were, were old enough to be on their way to the nightshift at the local grocery warehouse. I was about ready to start knocking on doors when I happened to remember Mr. James’ card. I’d stuck it in my phone case just because I happened to pick up my phone just after he gave it to me. I pulled to the side of the road and popped it out.
What did I have to lose?
Chapter 6
Harrison
Her voice on the other end of the line was the last thing I had expected. I was lying in bed, watching the end of The Tonight Show when the phone rang. I thought it would be Libby or my mother, forgetting once again about the time difference between Oregon and Texas. But when I mumbled a distracted hello, it was Penelope’s panicked voice that filled my ear.
“I’m sorry to call so late, but I didn’t know who else to call. So I thought I’d trust that you aren’t out to hurt JT and ask you for help.”
I sat up, alarms sounding all through my head as I listened to her stumble over her words.
“What’s going on?”
“JT and I had a fight and he took off. And now I can’t find him anywhere.”
“Where are you?”