Page 47 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“Okay, okay... You know what? I’ll get you a passport. Sure thing. Now run along and get cleaned up like I said—and Adair?”

“Aye?”

“Don’t tell anyone else about this passport stuff, including Ma. She, uh... She just lost Pop, and she’ll think she’s losing me too or something. But I’m staying right here, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He hugs me, covering my overalls with dirt in the process. I watch him run toward our house in the distance.

Hayley

IT’S SIX O’ CLOCK INthe morning, and Peter’s washing the dishes. I don’t think he’s gone to sleep yet. He’s nuts. I head to the kitchen, sit at the table, and watch him. He looks over his shoulder and smiles.

“Good morning,” he says and goes back to scrubbing.

“Morning. Did he like the dip?”

Peter turns the faucet off and grabs the hand towel hanging from the oven handle. “He said it tasted good, but he’s still unsure if he loves me again yet.”

“Yeah... I heard that whole conversation last night.”

“I’m really sorry. Danny’s been through a lot, and—”

“Oh yeah? Well, so have I.”

“Okay, but you’re twenty-one, and Danny is—”

“Whatever. Did his parents ever contact you?”

Wouldn’t that be nice, if they came to take him away?

“Danny’s parents?”

“Yeah.”

“That wouldn’t be possible.”

“Yes, it would! They contacted Melissa once.”

“Uhm...Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Melissa knew who they were.”

“How would you know that? You were only at Melissa’s for three years.”

“Not true.”

I want Peter to know my life was just as hard as Danny’s. Harder, in fact.

“I don’t understand.” He turns around and leans on the cabinet.

“I was there as a child for a long time. Then I lived with my mom again as a teenager for a few awful years. After I turned eighteen, I had nowhere to go because she got arrested again. Melissa took me back. Why else would I move in there at eighteen? You don’t re-enter foster care at eighteen. You go into a homeless shelter or a rooming house. Melissa saved me from that, from being all alone. Danny and I have known each other since he was a baby, since Melissa adopted him and not me.”

He’s quiet for a while, but he seems intent and concerned. I like that about him. I like the way he listens, sometimes. You can tell he’s giving you his full attention, everything he has. I wish he could always be that way. I need that in a man, more than anything.

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