Page 130 of Always Us

A chill runs through me. “Don’t say stuff like that. Nobody’s taking Caleb.”

“It’s a shitty world. And bad guys have no problem stealing a baby and selling it to couples who desperately want one. And even if they leave Caleb alone, a guy could sneak in here at night and attack Sara. Rape her. Beat her up. Whatever.”

“What are we going to do?”

He rubs his jaw as he looks around the room. “They can stay at our place tonight.”

“We can’t get Caleb’s crib in our car.”

“We’ll go buy one of those portable ones.”

“Sara won’t agree to stay with us. You know she won’t. ”

“Then we’ll talk her into it. She won’t have to stay there for very long. We’ll find her a new apartment this week. We’ll put it in her name and pay for a few month’s rent so she can save up some money.”

“How are we going to explain that?”

“We’ll make up a fake foundation and tell her she was picked to receive assistance.”

“Do you think she’ll buy that?”

“She’s gonna have to because she’s not living here anymore. I had no idea she was living like this, did you?”

“If I did, I would’ve got her out of here. This is worse than my mom’s house. At least there we could drink the water. And we didn’t have mold growing everywhere. That black mold is really dangerous. It can make you sick, especially Caleb, since he’s so small.”

There’s noise in the hallway. People are stomping up the stairs, yelling at each other. Then a door slams as they go in the apartment next door. The walls are thin and we can hear them fighting. They’re cursing and screaming and then there’s a loud bang on the wall by Caleb’s crib. He instantly wakes up and starts crying as the neighbors continue to yell and curse and throw things at the wall.

“Shit.” Garret goes and picks up Caleb, holding him against his chest and covering his ears. He bounces him a little, which usually soothes him, but this time it doesn’t. The neighbors are too loud. “Do you think we can take him somewhere?”

“No. Sara will freak out if she gets home and we’re not here. Besides, I don’t want to walk around in this neighborhood, and we don’t have a car seat so we can’t drive anywhere.”

Garret glares at the wall that the neighbors keep banging on. “I need to go over there and tell them to shut the hell up.”

“No, don’t. They probably have a gun or a knife.”

“Can you grab his blanket?” Garret nods at the crib.

I pick up the blue blanket and hand it to him. He wraps it around Caleb, who’s dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

“His arms and legs are freezing,” Garret says. “It’s too cold in here for him. You know why? Because you can’t close the damn window.”

“Shh. Don’t swear in front of Caleb.”

“Trust me. He’s heard worse living next to those two.” He motions to the wall, where the F-bombs are flying as the neighbors continue to fight. “See if you can find Caleb some warmer clothes.”

I check the cardboard boxes along the wall. Inside one of them are some baby clothes. I take out a navy sweatshirt and some gray sweatpants and bring them over to Garret.

He kneels down and sets Caleb on the twin mattress. Caleb squirms and cries.

“I’m just going to change your clothes, okay?” Garret tickles him a little, trying to distract him from the noise. It works. Caleb stops crying and giggles and grabs his toes.

“Hey. I can’t put these pants on you if you do that.” Garret tickles him some more and Caleb giggles so much he drops his toes.

Garret tries to put the sweatpants on Caleb, but they’re too small. “Jade, can you find some other pants? He’s outgrown these.”

I go back to the box as Garret puts the sweatshirt on Caleb.

“I need a different sweatshirt, too. This one barely fits him.”

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