“The little mistakes are what make them perfect.”
“That’s what I keep telling him,” Nick said, winking at me. But then the flirt went out of his expression as he saw something unsettling in my face. “Everything okay?”
I shook my head no, but then JT looked at me, so I forced a smile.
“We need to talk, JT. Do you think I could take you for a burger?”
The contentment disappeared from his face as he handed Nick the frosting bag. “Did coach call you?”
“It’s not about that. This is…it’s complicated.”
“Now I’m really scared,” he said as he flashed that cocky smile of his. But I could tell it wasn’t a joke. Not completely.
Nick crossed the room, stopping just in front of me as JT went into the small store room to take off his apron and hat. Nick touched my arm, smoothing his palm over my skin.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s too much to go into right now.” I glanced over his shoulder to watch JT. “But I…”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I’m going to have to take tomorrow off, too. Do you think—“
“You don’t even have to ask.”
I looked up at him, so grateful I could have kissed him.
“Thank you.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m here for you, Penny. No matter what.”
And that brought the tears back. I brushed at my cheek as JT joined us.
“Ready?”
He looked from me to Nick and back again, and I could see that he was worried. My heart ached as I put my arm around him and led the way out to the car.
*****
We parked at the local drive-in and ordered cheeseburgers and cheese smothered tots, our favorite junk food indulgence. We didn’t really talk. JT fiddled with the radio knob, searching for music that wasn’t ‘ridiculous’ as he called anything that was written before 2005. When the food came, I picked at my burger, eating a pickle or two. But my appetite had disappeared and didn’t show signs of returning any time soon.
“So…?”
I glanced at JT. He was watching me even as he took a huge bite of his hamburger.
“What do you think of Mr. James?” I asked.
He shrugged. “He’s pretty cool. Why? Are you guys dating?”
My eyebrows rose. “What makes you ask that?”
“He was at the house this morning and you guys were fighting.”
“I’m sorry you saw that.”
He shrugged, taking another bite of the burger.
I put my burger down on the dashboard and popped a tot into my mouth. I chewed slowly as I tried to figure out how to say what needed to be said. How do you tell a kid that his biological father had just showed up out of the blue? Oh, and by the way, he’s your English teacher.
I could feel him watching me. I ate another tot to give myself a few more seconds. Then I sighed.
“Do you remember when you were little and dad explained to you what it means to be adopted?”
JT rolled his eyes. “You mean the whole forever family thing?”
I tilted my head just slightly. “I mean the whole ‘your biological parents gave you up for reasons we don’t know, but it was a loving act that meant they wanted what was best for you’ thing.”
He nodded. “Dad said my biological mother was very young and she probably gave me up because she couldn’t take care of me alone. But they didn’t know anything about my bio-dad.”
“Yeah. Well, it turns out that when the adoption lawyer went to get a signature from the biological father—the signature that said he agreed to give up all parental rights to you—she didn’t actually get his signature. Someone else forged it.”
JT set his burger down and began picking at his tots. “What does that mean?”
“It means that while your biological mother gave you up, your biological father didn’t.”
“Really?”
“He claims he didn’t even know about you until a few months ago.”
“How could he not know about me?”
I shrugged, picking the cheese off of my tots. “I don’t know.”
“So what does that mean now?”
“He wants you, JT. He wants to take you away from here and back to where he lives.”
JT was quiet for a long couple of minutes. I didn’t look at him at first, afraid that I would cry if I saw what I expected would be fear and confusion on his face. Instead, when I finally looked at him, I saw excitement and wonder.
“My father wants me?”
“We went to court today. The judge ruled that you would stay with me for right now, but that he can spend time with you and that we have to go back to court next week.”
“I get see him?”
“Yes. But next week, when we go to court, the judge wants to talk to you.”
“Who is he?”
JT was completely missing everything I was trying to tell him. All he wanted to know was about Harrison. I didn’t understand. I mean, I suppose I did, to a certain extent. He’d lived all his life wondering who his biological parents were and why they gave him up. But didn’t he care that he might have to leave me, leave his friends? What about football and school and everything else?