Page 61 of Baby Blue
“Not Blue. He grew up in foster care.”
“He told me. It makes me so sad.” Polly’s eyes reddened. “He’s a grownup now. They’d probably like to see him. He has no idea where they are?”
“No. He never knew his parents. Just got bounced from place to place until he got old enough to run away.”
“That’s horrible. Were they mean to him?”
“Very. Not all of them, but almost all of them. That’s why it’s so important to him that Indigo be cared for very, very well. He doesn’t want anything like that to happen to her if anything happens to him.”
“But she’s got us!” Polly cried out. “She’d be fine!”
“Legally, we don’t have a claim to her. She’d go to foster care too.”
“Oh my gosh. That can never,everhappen. You need to tell Blue he needs to go to the doctor and get a checkup, and then he should drive very carefully.” Anne didn’t think she’d ever seen her little daughter look so serious.
“We’ve had all those conversations. He said he’s going to have Mr.Glen make up guardianship papers so she’d be taken care of. He’ll probably take care of that soon.”
Polly had gone back to writing. “I hope so. So who else could I send an invitation to?”
Anne stepped behind her daughter’s chair and wrapped her arms around the girl’s neck. “Why worry about sending one? The people who love you the most will already be there.”
Polly’s hand stopped mid-air. “You know what? You’re right. I’ll just send this one to Grandma and Grandpa and that’ll be it. Oh, and I know it’s a Friday night, but Blue’s coming, right?”
“Yes. They don’t start playing until eight, and he told the guys he’d be late. He wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweetie.” Sure, it was just eighth-grade graduation, but when she’d mentioned it to Blue, he’d assured her he’d make sure he could be there. Even though she’d had her doubts in the beginning, they’d slipped away. Blue really did care for all of them. Matter of fact, she was pretty sure he’d do anything to keep them safe. But this gathering was going to be important for another reason, a totally different one.
It would be the first time Anne had been out in public with Blue as anything more than his neighbor. What would it be like, walking into that junior high gym with him? What would people think when they saw them together?
And in that moment, Anne decided she really didn’t care. The people who loved them would be fine with it. The ones who weren’t okay with it? They could go suck an egg. It was none of their business.
On Sunday afternoon, she heard Blue’s voice from the bedroom. “What the fuck?”
“Language!”
He stepped into the living room where she was watching TV, and he was carrying clothes on hangers. “What is all this?”
“Your clothes for graduation.”
“Clothes? For eighth-grade graduation?”
“Yes. New shoes, belt, shirt, pants, and tie.”
“What, no tuxedo?” he almost hissed. “What the hell?”
“Don’t you want to look good for Polly?”
That left him with nothing to do but sigh. “Am I going to look like some desk jockey geek?”
“No. The slacks are dark blue. Light blue shirt. Blue and gray striped tie. Black shoes, black belt. You’ll look fine.”
“Well, okay, if you say so, but I?”
“Honey, it’ll be okay. You’ll look great. Do you trust me?”
She heard him snort. “With my wardrobe? What do you think? If it’s not a Grateful Dead tee shirt, I’m screwed.”
Anne laughed. “I can guarantee there isn’t one of those in there, but you’d look good in that too.”
He rolled his eyes and headed back to the bedroom. “I must love you or I wouldn’t let you dress me like a car salesman.”
