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“Who is she?”
I shot Jesse a look, but he was still holding Genevieve’s hand, staring down at his shoes.
“Jesse.” the woman barked. “Time to go.” If he’d been at camp all week, she hadn’t seen him all that time. The way she greeted him told me everything I needed to know about her right there.
“You’ll need to sign him out, and his gear’s over near the house.”
She gave us a cursory glance as she took the clipboard from Mack, her gaze moving past me before veering back. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at me for a long moment. “It’s Gabe, right?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“Do you recognize me?”
“I might do.” I did, one hundred percent, but it all felt too surreal to just come out and say it.
“You should. My name’s Sandra. Sandra Davis. Nearly nine years ago, we hooked up in Goldsboro. Since we didn’t swap phone numbers or even last names, when I found out I was pregnant, I had no way to reach you.” She stood there for a long moment, staring at her son. I could almost feel the moment she made the decision. There wasn’t an ounce of emotion in her voice when she said, “So, Jesse, this is the guy I told you about. This is your daddy. You can go live with him now. I’ve done my time.”
Ally’s voice, on the other hand, was vibrant with a riot of emotions, reverberating with shock when she said, “What thefuck?”
Before any of us could stop her, Sandra shoved the clipboard at my chest and turned away, walked away from her kid, got in her car, and skidded out of the carpark, without a backward glance.
As one, we all turned and looked at Jesse. The poor kid just stood there, still staring down at his shoes. His mom had literally dumped him with a bunch of strangers and all he could do was stare at his shoes, holding Genevieve’s hand tightly. It made my gut churn and my heart wrench so hard I could barely speak, but I had to say something. “Jesse.”
He looked up at me under his dark bangs, his blue eyes meeting mine, and all the breath whooshed from my lungs. It was my mother’s eyes looking back at me.
CHAPTER9
Ally
Ifelt the tension rolling off Gabe and instinctively stepped closer and slipped my hand into his. Jesse caught the movement, glancing at our joined hands, up at my eyes very briefly, then away. It made me feel absurdly guilty, which was weird and dumb, because we didn’t even know if this kid actually was Gabe’s – although he certainly looked a lot like him. It wasn’t just the dark hair and intense blue eyes. It was something in the way he carried himself, some sort of quiet intensity that reminded me of Gabe.
“Okayyy, so I’m not really sure how to handle this. We don’t really have a precedent for this sort of situation.”
Poor Noah, I bet he didn’t think he’d have this dumped on him today.
“Why don’t I take Jesse inside for milk and cookies while we figure out what’s best to do?”
“Thanks, darlin’.”
“Come on, buddy. I’ve got chocolate chip, freshly out of the oven. How does that sound?”
Jesse nodded mutely, and they headed off toward the house. I glanced up at Gabe as he watched them go, trying to gauge how he must be feeling. It was a pretty big deal, like, huge. But his face was impassive, unreadable. The only indicator that he was feeling anything at all was the way he squeezed my hand. Not really knowing what else I could do to help or make the situation better, I squeezed back.
“We can’t just hand him over,” Mack was saying. He was a rugged looking guy, with dark blond hair and hazel eyes.
“Mack’s right. We have a duty of care here. We can’t just hand Jesse over to anyone who’s not on the paperwork.” Noah gestured to the clipboard Gabe was still clutching against his chest. “We can keep him here for now, of course, but it’s not a good long-term solution. I don’t exactly see his mother coming back to get him, do you?”
“So where does that leave us?”Us?Why had I said that? No idea, it just came out that way.
“Well, unless one of you is a licensed caregiver, I guess I need to get onto Child Protection Services and arrange a placement for him. Unless you know someone who’s already registered who could come and take him until you sort it out?”
“Turns out I do.”
Noah and Mack visibly slumped with relief.
“Who?” I asked.
“Ellen.” Gabe handed me the clipboard and pulled his phone from his back pocket. He moved away from us, talking in a low voice, his tone flat. Of course. Ellen worked in the welfare office. It should have been obvious. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking straight.
