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With the moment of his independence over with, I scooped him up from the floor and rested him on my lap. My knee bounced instinctively, making him giggle while he drooled all over his keys.
“Probably,” Zachariah said, leaning his shoulder against the door frame. At fifteen, he was one of the most active boys at the center. He was high-risk at his age, having spent most of his life with a family who neglected to set boundaries until the state intervened after his third arrest. The center gave him a place to be, a purpose in giving the younger kids the attention he hadn’t had as a boy.
But I still worried about him every day, fretting that the seedy underbelly of the city would swallow him whole when he aged out.
“When are you going to have kids of your own?” he asked, deflecting the conversation away from whatever he didn’t want to talk about. Something had been keeping him away from the bus in the mornings, but I let it slide in spite of my discomfort.
“I have more love than I know what to do with right here with all of you. Why would I need anything more than that?” I asked, smiling broadly at him.
The playful grin on his face faded, his jaw slackening in shock for a moment before he smoothed it back out to his natural expression. He smiled slightly, a crooked little thing that tipped up one side of his mouth as he shook his head. “You’re too good for this world, Miss Ryan.”
“Hardly,” I laughed, bouncing Hayden higher while he giggled. “Now get your butt to school before I get another call from your homeroom teacher that you were late. If there’s something I need to take care of…” I trailed off, watching when he shook his head.
“Nah, just guy stuff. I got it covered. Don’t you worry your pretty little head. You’ve got better stuff to think about,” he said, nodding his head toward the baby balancing on my leg.
“Nothing is more important than each and every one of you, Zachariah. You tell me if there’s a problem, got it?” I demanded, taking the tone that I hated to use.
But even the strongest of kids needed someone else to step in every now and then. They needed to be reminded that at the end of the day, adults bossed them around because they cared. Because they lovedthem.
At least the good ones.
“Got it, Miss Ryan,” he said, ducking out without another word. His tall frame disappeared down the hallway, leaving me to my work and the baby starting to fuss on my lap.
It would be another long day, but it would be worth every second.
