Page 43 of Tanner

Tanner followed her down the short hall with Savannah tucked close at his side. There were several doors showing classrooms inside. In one, a few kids sat around a table with crayons and paper while another had a group building something lopsided out of blocks on the rug. A younger woman at the far side of the room waved when she saw them.

Savannah stopped just inside the door.

Tanner bent slightly. “You can go and have a look.”

She stayed put for another second, then took three cautious steps toward the table with the crayons.

Laura glanced back at him. “Why don’t we do the paperwork while she settles?”

Tanner straightened. “Yeah.”

Back in the office area, Laura handed him a clipboard. Most of it was what he expected. Name. Address. Emergency contact. Allergies. GP details. People approved for pickup. He worked through it, though his jaw clenched when he reached the parts that asked for things he hadn’t sorted yet. He put his own number down where he had to and left one line blank until Laura noticed.

“Do you have a second emergency contact?” she asked.

Tanner kept his eyes on the page. “Not local.”

“That’s alright. We can come back to it.” She glanced over the form as he handed it back. “And if you could bring in proof of guardianship or custody for Savannah, we’ll add that to her file as well.”

There it was. Tanner kept his face blank. “What kind of proof?”

“Court paperwork, guardianship documents, anything official that shows you’re authorized to sign for her care.” Laura’s tone stayed friendly and matter-of-fact. “It’s standard.”

He knew enough not to argue and kept his face blank. “I’m still sorting some paperwork,” he said.

Laura nodded. “That’s fine. Just bring it in when you can.”

Tanner didn’t answer right away, waiting for her to ask more questions. When she didn’t, he asked, “She can stay today?”

“Yes.” Laura smiled at him. “We’ll get her settled in this morning. Just bring the documents next time, alright?”

Next time. Tanner gave a quick nod. “Alright.”

Laura smiled again, already moving on. “She’s doing well so far.”

He looked at the monitors. Savannah had made it to the table and was sitting on a tiny blue chair with a crayon in one hand. A little boy beside her was talking to her while she watched him with serious concentration. She hadn’t cried or asked to leave. She looked small as she sat at the table, but she wasn’t looking for him. In fact, she appeared happy.

Tanner told himself that should be enough to ease the knot in his stomach, but it wasn’t. He thanked Laura and walked out of the building, trying not to look back.

Once outside, Tanner stepped off the path and reached into his pocket for his phone, more to have something in his hand than because he needed it. Guardianship documents. Anything official. He had nothing. He had a house in his name and years of taking care of Savannah, but none of that mattered once somebody asked for documents he didn’t have.

He could ask more questions. That was the problem. Asking meant hearing the answer, and hearing the answer meant the whole thing stopped being something he could sidestep for one more day.

“Well, that looked painful.”

Tanner turned too fast.

A man stood beside a dark pickup with a takeaway coffee cup in one hand. Another smaller man stood next to him, leaning against the passenger door with his arms folded. For one hard second Tanner’s whole body went on alert. He almost turned and walked in the other direction on instinct alone.

The man who spoke lifted his free hand slightly. “Easy. We’re not here to cause any problems. I’m Cody and he’s Orsen.”

Tanner stopped but didn’t come any closer. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting coffee,” Cody said. He jerked his chin toward the small café across the road. “And before you ask, yes, there are better places to get it, but they make it strong here.”

Orsen pushed off the truck door. “He means burnt.”

Cody ignored him. “Saw you go inside so thought we’d say hi.”