Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

BECCA

"Do you want to change before we meet Madden? We're going for a walk. You might not want to wear those jeans." I remind him.

"I'm used to wearing things that are too hot or cold." He reminds me.

Which means neither his mom nor dad made sure he was prepared for the change of seasons. He's never had proper clothing, and that makes me sad. The fact that no one cared enough. "Well, you don't have to do that now." I remind him. "You have a selection of clothes you can wear. If you don't want to be hot, you don't have to."

He nods, swallowing hard. "I'm not used to having the option."

"You have it. Whatever you want to do, you can." I throw the decision back in his court. "Neither answer is right or wrong. It's whatever you want to do, okay?"

"Okay." He blows out a breath. "I'm going to change into a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. Is that okay?"

"Perfect. I'm going to change too. By the time we get done, Madden should be here."

I watch as he leaves, a spring in his step. It's important for him to tell me what his choices are, that's what his therapist has told me. He sometimes freezes when I ask him to make a decision. It's as if he can't, or he's afraid to make the wrong one. Going to my room, I get the clothes out of my dresser that I plan on wearing, and quickly change into them. As I'm putting my shirt on, my phone pings with a message.

My heart speeds up, hoping it's Madden.

I reach out, grabbing it, and turning it over so I can see the screen. It's a text from the man I've been thinking about.

Madden: I'm leaving right now, should be over to your apartment complex in about ten minutes. Will you and Mick be ready?

Me: Ready and waiting. We'll see you soon.

I do my best not to care too much about what I'm wearing. After all, Madden isn't here for me. He's doing this for Mick, but a little part of me can't help but hope it's kind of for me too. T-shirt and shorts on, I step into my bathroom and run a brush through my hair. There. I look but together, but not as if I made a big deal about it. Walking back out into the living room, I put a small bag on the counter, making sure we have water, and whatever else we may need. I didn't have to have a diaper bag with Mick, but I definitely need a few things here and there when we go out.

"I'm ready." Mick says, joining me.

He's dressed as he said he would be, with basketball shorts and a tank top. "Are those the shoes you want to wear?" I eye the Crocs he refuses to part with.

"Yup." He answers with no hesitation.

Since this is one question he's not waffled about, I give in. No sense in arguing when he's done exactly what I've asked him today. "Okay, wanna go outside and wait for Madden? He said he's on his way."

He nods, grabbing a bottle of water.

I put my bag over my shoulder, cross body style as we head outside and down the stairs. Just as we're hitting the sidewalk, I can see Madden's truck heading toward us. "There he is."

Mick smiles widely, and I try to look at this from his perspective. So many people have let him down, I don't think he believed Madden would show up.

"He's here," he says the words with a bit of wonderment.

The tone makes me want to cry. So many failed this kid, including me. I should've been a more present aunt, should've been more aware of what was going on in his life, but I wasn't. There's no way for me to change any of that now. The only thing I can do is promise to be better, and that's exactly what I'm doing.

He comes to a stop and waves at us. 'Y'all ready?"

We nod enthusiastically. I walk over, opening the back passenger side of the quad cab. "Will you be okay sitting back there with Donut?"

"Yeah, we're old friends."

Madden laughs, giving me a look through the rolled-down window. "Yeah, they've met. Don't touch that door handle," he warns.

I've never met a man who refuses to let me open my own door. I could get used to it. Stepping back from the truck, I wait for him like he's asked.

When he comes over to me, he hooks his arm around my waist, pulling us closer together. "I had a great time with you last night. I've thought about it most of the day," he says, tilting his head down to take my lips in a chaste kiss.

"I have to," I admit, a smile across my face. "I haven't had a date that I thought about this much in a long time."

"Me neither. I think it's a good omen." He taps my nose with the tip of his, before reaching behind me and opening the door.

"We'll see." I wink, before I hitch myself up into the passenger seat.

"Yes, we will." He shuts the door, and jogs back around the front, before taking his seat. "Alright, let's go."

"Is that okay for me to touch?" Mick asks Madden.

"No, that's poison ivy. You want to stay away from that."

"How do you know?"

Madden bends down so that he's at eye-level with Mick. "The amount of leaves."

I take in this teaching moment. It should be Trey here telling him all these things. They should be spending time together and strengthening their father/son bond, but they aren't. All because of what Trey thought was more important in his life.

"Yeah, you can hang on to his leash. Let him lead you, but don't let him drag you too far ahead." Madden is telling him as he and Donut start walking ahead of us.

"What's wrong?" He asks as he falls into step beside me. "I saw the way you were looking at us when I was explaining the poison ivy to him." He reaches out, grabbing my fingers with his.

My stomach is going topsy-turvy as his rough finger rubs over mine. "It hit me that his dad should be here explaining these things to him. It breaks my heart that he's missing out on all this time. Not that our parents were the best role models. There were many times when they didn't put us first, even though they should have."

"I've tried to not ask you questions you might not be ready to, and you can tell me to mind my own right now, but I've wondered what happened with your brother. I know he's in jail, know that he did things he shouldn't have..." he trails off.

We're far enough behind Mick that I feel comfortable speaking low. "He and I weren't speaking at the time it happened. I don't know what led him to the decisions he was making, and I'm not sure that I even know all of it. He hasn't been super forthcoming, and although I was in court, they didn't talk about everything he'd done."

"Sometimes they don't." He rubs my hand with his. "There are certain things they like to keep quiet because they'll use it in other cases. More than likely he may have decided to turn state's evidence on whoever he was working with."

"I think so." I press my hair behind my ears. "There was a lot of what was said that felt like I was missing out on a piece of the puzzle. Like they knew everything that made up the entire scenario and I only had a few of the details."

"Yeah, it sounds as if there were some things happening in the background." He agrees.

"Well, it makes me feel better that it's a possibility. Anyway, when I went to the court date, they read his charges, most of which I didn't understand. What I did was that he was trafficking in a controlled substance, and it was a lot."

"Do you know how they picked him up?"

I close my eyes. I hate this part. "Yeah. He was traveling from here to Birmingham with Mick. They'd had lunch with me, and they were going home." I still feel guilty about this. Like If I hadn't asked him to come see me, he wouldn't have gotten arrested. "Apparently, he didn't signal to make a lane change, and a state trooper was behind him. He tried to tell him there was nothing in the car, and kept referring to Mick, I guess to make him think no one would be trafficking drugs with their child there."

"He shouldn't have, but you'd be surprised what parents do with their kids around."

I groan in my throat. "I learned more than I ever wanted to in that courtroom. They showed the body cam of the traffic stop. Mick was terrified. When the cop pulled him out of the car, you can hear Mick banging on the window and screaming. He's begging the cop not to take his dad away. It's as if he knew what was going to happen."

"He'd probably dealt with it before." Madden says, voice low.

"More than likely. They threatened to call the dog and run it, but I guess he didn't want to subject Mick to that. He told the cop where the drugs were and he was arrested on the spot. They called child protective services to come get him, and then that's when I got the phone call." That phone call was the worst. I've never been so worried as I was when I saw the caller ID saying it was the state trooper headquarters.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that, and I'm even more sorry that Mick had to."

"Yeah, I'm doing the best I can, but I'm not his mom..."

He reaches over, hooking his arm around my neck. "You're doing amazing. He's a lucky kid to have you."

I watch as Mick walks up ahead of us with Donut. He's got a smile on his face like I haven't seen in a long time. "He's lucky to have you, too."