Their landlord had expressed an interest in possibly selling to him at some future point, if he wanted to buy.
Hank had been honest with him that financially he wasn’t in a position to buy right now. It wouldn’t do any good to lie to the guy. Why? At least he wasn’t up to his fucking eyeballs in debt. One thing their parents drove home to them. To not use credit cards except for emergencies, and pay them off as soon as possible. If it was something you wanted, save up cash for it instead of paying a shit-ton more for it in interest.
He’d taken that lesson to heart, too. His three cards were paid off. He used them once a month, just to keep them active, and immediately paid the balance. If he ever needed to rent a car, or get a hotel room—or rent a U-Haul trailer—they came in handy for stuff like that.
Or to hire an attorney for emergency custody and adoption proceedings.
Or to pay for his sister’s cremation.
But with his finances so desperately thin right now, he didn’t want to put any charges on them unless absolutely necessary. If they were starving, sure, he’d buy them food, but they had enough food to make it until he got paid.
He’d timed it this morning to try to get to the school early so he could find a large enough parking space to handle the trailer, because the rental company wasn’t open yet anyway, and he hadn’t wanted to drop the trailer without checking it in. He wanted an inspection so no one tried to whack him with bullshit fees later on.
He gathered the folder with all the information he’d need from JJ’s old school and from her pediatrician, including her physical and vaccination records, and they headed into the office.
Twenty-five minutes later, one of the office aides led them through the halls to her new classroom. The teacher, a cute, young redhead named Miss Grant, seemed nice and welcomed them with open arms and a beaming smile.
The aide walked him back to the office so he could finish filling out forms. They’d wanted to get her in class right away so she didn’t feel left out or uncomfortable since the day hadn’t started yet.
As he studied the emergency contact form, he realized he didn’t have anyonetoadd. It brought up a painful lump in his throat that forced him to blink back tears.
Fuck.
At JJ’s old school he’d listed Marla and Barry, and his previous boss and his wife, because they’d loved JJ. He pulled up Bryce’s contact info on his phone and called him, hoping he wasn’t waking him up.
Fortunately, he answered.
“Hey, man. Did you get down here all right?”
“Yeah, I’m at JJ’s school right now filling out forms.” Hank nervously laughed. “Um, would you mind if I listed you as an emergency contact with them? I…” He choked back the unexpected tears. “I don’t have anyone.”
Bryce’s tone turned gentle. “Sure, buddy. I don’t mind. What do you need…”
A moment later, Hank had that space filled and thought to copy what info he didn’t already have into Bryce’s contact in his phone. After a moment, he added Bryce as an ICE contact on his phone.
But that still left another space on the form.
He would use Dox’s parents, except he knew they’d moved out of the area, so that was no help.
With his heart pounding in his chest and not knowing why, he called Dox.
Please don’t let this be a mistake.
