Page 95 of Mountains Divide Us

I whispered back, like we were in cahoots, “Don’t you tell her it’s unhealthy. That wouldn’t be the right foot to start off on.”

She laughed. “I would never. Besides, I’m not the one who thinks it’s unhealthy. I love chili, beans or no.”

“Well, since I’m so much older than you, you want me takin’ care of this body for you, don’tcha?” I patted my stomach. “So I can live forever?”

She stopped walking, tugging on my fingers, and I turned back to her. “So you can love me forever.”

Like an oath, I swore, “I will. Till the end of time and back again.”

But Mama K was getting impatient. “Frank Sims! Dinner. Now.”

I kissed my heart, the one living outside my chest, and pulled her to the kitchen, and when we sat back down at the table, my mama flurried around us, filling our glasses with sweet tea. I drank it without complaint, the whole time thinking about how many workouts it’d take to counteract all the sugar.

But by now, my mouth was watering, just waiting for the unhealthy chili.

“You know,” Mama K said, “we could try to apply for an emergency placin’ for Murphy if they can’t find anyone. I know we’re old, but we still have love to give.”

Blinking back emotion, I cleared the clog from my throat. When I was kid, I thought they were crazy for taking me in, for offering to deal with an orphan and all his issues, but seeing them now, hearing Mama K—who was seventy-three years old—talking about disrupting their lives for a kid they’d never even met, I was falling more in love with them than I’d ever allowed myself to before.

My phone vibrated in my pocket with a notification. I pulled it out, hoping it was the message I’d been waiting for.

It was.

I took a deep breath. “Someone’s already stepped up.”

“What? Who?” Samantha asked, the octave jump in her voice betraying her. She’d been trying to act like her hopes weren’t sky high, but they were.

I hadn’t told her what CPS had told me this morning while Murphy was giving her a tour of the boys’ home. Fostering him was the only thing on our minds, besides each other, but nothing was official… yet, and I was sure she felt like it was something that would never come true.

But it was about to. And I was about to lay all my cards on the table.

I shook my phone in the air. “Just found out. Walt and Terre Finkle have offered to take Murphy temporarily till the state can find a more permanent situation for him.”

“Really?” She looked relieved and disappointed at the same time.

“Yep,” I said. “But…” Turning my chair toward hers, I leaned forward, holding both of her hands. “If we want him, we can have him. He can live here.”

Mama K covered her mouth with her hand and stared at us.

“Are you serious?” Samantha asked, looking deep in my eyes. “What would that mean?”

“His case worker helped me, and if we’re willin’, they’ll release Murphy to me because of my job and standin’ in the community on a kinda contingency basis, until we can fill out all the paperwork and go through the official process.”

Samantha gulped.

“We’d have to go to family therapy once a week, and there’d be people checkin’ in on us. I suspect they’ll go through our whole lives.” It was a lot. I knew it.

Samantha didn’t respond. The words seemed to be stuck in her throat.

Oh boy. Here we go. “I know this is fast. It’s all so damn fast, but whatcha think? Do you want… Are you really ready? Will you help me look after him?”

“You want me…?”

Did I want her? Hell yes. That was the easy part.

Lowering down in front of her legs on my knees, I looked up at her, holding her hands so tight. “Yeah, I want you. Forever. Murphy doesn’t know about this, so if this is too fast, Walt and Terre can take him, but the you-and-me part is what I’m askin’.”

My mama squeaked, “Oh, Frankie.”

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