Page 52 of Defect
“I appreciate you. You really have no idea how much.” He said, his voice serious.
“It’s nothing, Ezra. Just promise me you’ll start saving money to get away from your mother.”
“Solo, you know I can’t do normal shit. As much as I’m starting to loathe her…I need her.”
“No,” I said, turning to face him. “You don’t fucking need her. She wants you to think you need her. You don’t. I wish I knew what to do to get you to believe me.” I stood close enough to him to touch the side of his face but I knew better. I knew it would lead to something else. I wanted to kiss him too bad for it to be a simple touch.
“I’ll save but…I don’t know about living on my own. I can’t even drive.”
“You can’t drive?” I asked, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. I heard him wrong, right? “Wait, do you not have a license or…”
“I have a license. After the accident, I can’t drive.”
“Ezra that’s bullshit. Have you tried?”
“No.” I felt fire ignite in my core. I had to prove to this beautiful soul that he was capable of so much. He had no idea the things he could do if he was nurtured and not stifled. I took a few deep breaths and looked into those coffee eyes.
“Can you go tell your mother that I want you to start now and you won’t be needing a ride home?”
“What? She’s not going to go for that shit.”
“Okay, I’ll go tell her.” I walked out of the Reiki room with so much purpose and power that my white sundress billowed behind me like smoke at my heels. Ezra followed behind me and stood beside me when I walked outside to speak to his mother. I opened my mouth but he spoke instead.
“Ma, she wants me to start now.” I looked up at him and smiled pleasantly.
“Now? No. He can’t. I have to go to work. I’m working a lot of overtime and…”
“It’s completely Ezra’s decision,” I told her. Ezra swallowed back nervously and then looked his mother in the eye.
“I’m staying. You can go.”
“You need a ride back home. You can’t walk.”
“I can walk. It’s ten minutes from the house,” he countered. I sensed his anger surfacing and I put my hand on his back between his broad shoulders. He settled instantly. “I’ll see you back at the house, Ma.” He turned and walked back into the studio leaving his mother trying to find words to say.
“Have a nice day, Mrs. Fredericks.” I turned on my heel and went back inside with Ezra. His mother had no choice but to drive off. He’d get cursed out when she got home later but he was making steps in the right direction.
He didn’t need her to rule over his life. He was capable even if he had brain trauma.
He just needed to see that.
…
EZRA
Weeks passed since Mom knew about me working at Sun Goddess with Solana. She hated it but she couldn’t deny me going to work every day once she saw that I brought in real money. I opened up a bank account and saved whatever I could. I didn’t give my mother money for rent but I did buy my own food and everything else. Whatever wasn’t used to buy food or pay for my phone bill was put into savings. I made sure I was out of the house every morning to open up the studio while Solana went to Malachi’s school to check on him.
After the first social worker visited his home, they decided there was enough of a case for neglect to keep a file open and conduct regular in-home visits. If at the end of ninety days they deemed Malachi’s environment and situation to be unimproved, they would move to take him from the home.
I meditated with Solana every night and every morning to calm her nerves because the process was driving her insane. So was the process for her to become a foster parent.
“They told me there’s no guarantee I’ll get Malachi if I become a foster parent,” she told me after she finally had a meeting with a social worker to review her application.
“So what are you going to do?” I asked. I’d become invested in hearing all about Malachi. I was rooting for him hard.
“I don’t know. I can petition the court for custody of him but do you know how tough that will be since I’m of no relation to Malachi?” I hated seeing her stress like that. Since we were in the studio cleaning up for the night, I made her a blend of my tea. I didn’t even tell her. I steeped it in hot water and handed it to her when she took a break from being upset.
She took the mug from me with her eyes closed and her thick lashes resting on the tops of her cheeks. “Thank you, Ezra.”
