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"Petition for Adop — " Jakob stared wide-eyed at Frank, his heart hammering in his chest so loud he was sure it could be heard three counties over. "You — "
"Got your momma to sign her share of the paperwork when I'd found her," Frank said gruffly, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "But… I won't file it unless you tell me it's whatyouwant."
"I… I could stay here?" Jakob asked, feeling his ears flush at how small his voice sounded.
"You could," Frank replied with a nod.
"With — with you?"
"That would be the general idea, yes."
"But… then this — it's wrong," Jakob told him, chewing on his lip.
"How so?"
"If — if you adopted me… Then it shouldn't say Jakob Groves, right? It should say Jakob Stone." He tilted his head, looking up at Frank. "…Shouldn't it?"
"Jakob…" Frank said, something guarded in his tone. "You don't have to take my last name if you don't want to."
Jakob felt his shoulders slump at that, some tiny little flame that had been burning inside him suddenly extinguished.
"But — But if youdowant?" Frank had said then, his voice strangely thick, his eyes sharp as they watched Jakob. Like they could see into his mind, into his heart. "Well then, I… It’d be my absolute pleasure to make it happen, one way or another."
Jakob blinked, his mind shaking off the memory as the sound of gravel crunching under tires snapped him back to the present with alarming abruptness.
He took a few deep breaths, his hand pressed hard to his chest as if trying to keep the beating wings he felt banging against his ribcage safely inside.
"You ride?" Jakob asked Alex, trying to distract himself as the car came to a stop on the gravel drive just in front of the main house; working hard to keep his tone even and unaffected. He knew it was a shot in the dark, but the horses were the first thing Alex had responded to positively since he had barreled into Jakob's life that morning.
Plus… Jakob hadn't met the kid yet who, even if they didn't ride, didn't at least have the desire to.
Worked well enough on me to get me out of my shell…
"No," Alex muttered darkly, slamming the town car’s door with unnecessary roughness as Jakob thanked their driver.
He winced, adding an apology for the treatment of his car and increasing the amount of the tip.
"Course I don't fuckingride," Alex scoffed, arms folded contemptuously over his chest and a sneer twisting up his face. "Who rides horses except rich assholes and weirdos?"
Jakob tried not to grin at how the overall impression was thoroughly ruined by the way Alex's eyes kept sliding over to the riding ring and the afternoon lessons that looked to be fully underway.
"Hmm. Well — I'm not rich, but I guess I've been called worse thanweirdo," Jakob replied lightly over his shoulder with mock solemnity as he led the way up to the main house. "Guess that means you don't want to learnhow,then?"
"No, hey wait — I didn't say that!" Alex back peddled hastily as he followed; trotting quickly after Jakob up the creaky steps to the main level and on into the house, the screen door slamming behind him.
Chapter 12
"So how's he doing?" asked Ethan through the headphones jacked into Jakob's laptop, the screen propped up on his chest as he leaned against the headboard of his bed.
From the looks of things, Ethan was in his living room for his end of the video call.
The back of a big paisley-covered overstuffed armchair peeked out from around Ethan's head and the edge of a lamp shade just above, the rest outside the camera frame. Behind him was a bookcase overflowing with books, all stacked horizontally in an effort to wedge more in. Here and there were shells and fossils of the sort that looked like they would have interesting stories to them.
Though… no photos, Jakob noticed.
Not that it was barren of personality — not in the slightest. Not with every inch of the wall behind him completely covered in framed artwork — all from a wide range of skill levels, all clustered around a big one in the center; a rainbow riot of melted crayons outlining the words, "Thank You, Mr. Hillsman!" cut in with big blocky letters.
All in all, it was rather cozy, really. Very…Ethan,Jakob thought with a grin.
