T.J. Klune - Bear, Otter, and the Kid 1 - Bear, Otter, and the Kid (41 page)
VE
got quite a cheering section, dont you?” Ms. Erica Sharp of
Weiss, Goldstein, and Eddington said to me, looking over my shoulder at the Kid, Anna, Creed,
and
Mrs. Paquinn, all seated behind me in her spacious office.
I grimaced. “You could say that.” I neglected to tell her that when the secretary called my name and motioned for me to Ericas office, the others had all stood like
their
damn names had been called too.
I knew they were all smiling like idiots at the back of my head. Erica shuffled through some papers on her desk. “Well, after speaking with you on the phone and doing some background checks to verify employment, residence, and the like, Ive got to tell you, Derrick—” “Bear,” the Kid said from behind me.
She arched an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
I pulled on my tie. It was choking the life out of me.
“His real name is Derrick, but everyone calls him Bear,” the Kid explained, having all the time in the world.
Erica nodded. “Well, then,
Bear
, Ive got to tell you that I think I can help you. You said youve been watching him for how long now?”
“Uh, the last three years.”
“And your mother is… gone?” Her voice raised slightly on the last word.
“She took off to parts unknown,” I said, as if that would explain everything.
“Uh-huh, I see. Do you know where?”
I shook my head. I felt them all doing the same behind me.
She pressed a button on her phone. “Josh?”
“Yes, Miz Sharp?”
“I need you to have a skip-trace run on a”—she looked down at her notes—“a Julie McKenna. M-C-K-E-N-N-A. Bear, what is her date of birth?”
I told her, and she informed the Josh in the machine.
“And Tysons father?” she asked me.
“His father was never in the picture. Why are you asking for my moms birthday? Whats a skip trace?”
She leaned forward. “Well, your mother will need to be found and notified of these proceedings.”
“What!” I exploded. How the fuck dare she! I started to stand, planning on taking the Kid by the hand and storming out, when I felt four different sets of hands on my shoulders, holding me down. That only made me angrier. “You cant bring her back!” I hissed. “Shell do everything she can to fuck this up!”
Erica eyed me evenly. No doubt shes used to people yelling at her. After all, she is a lawyer. “Technically, she is still his mother and listed guardian. From what youve told me, the power of attorney you have was not correctly handled, especially since it deals with a minor. We are required to notify her, to give her an opportunity to respond. The same with his father if he was still a part of Tysons life. But if what you say is true, and if she has been gone for the last three years without a social visit, a phone call, or a dime, then I think she will have no ground to stand on.”
I groaned. “Damn.”
“Something I should know, Derrick?”
“His name is Bear,” all four voices chorused behind me.
“Uh, shit.” I rubbed my hands over my face. “She came back suddenly, a few days ago. And, uh.”
“And what?”
“She just showed up out of nowhere!” Anna snapped.
“Like she hadnt been gone at all,” Creed growled.
“It was really quite a nightmare,” Mrs. Paquinn said, sniffing.
“And she threatened him!” the Kid exclaimed.
I wondered if Miz Erica Sharp of Weiss, Goldstein, and Eddington had a gun in her desk that she would have been willing to let me borrow it so I could put myself out of my misery.
“Threatened?” Erica asked, the smile in her voice gone.
“Uh, yeah. You could say that.”
She leaned forward again and frowned. “Bear, she either did or she didnt. What did she threaten you with?”
I was silent. I didnt know what I was going to say to this person who, till roughly twenty minutes before, had been a complete stranger. It took me months to tell the closest people in my life, and I had to just spill it out to this woman who was looking at me like I was some new species of bug? I was silent. Silent, that is, until the Kid got up from his seat and walked around my chair, pushing my arms out of my lap, and crawled up onto me and leaned in to whisper, “Papa Bear. I need you to do this.
Otter
needs you to do this.”
I dare you to try and fight those sweet, sweet words.
I looked over the Kids shoulder at Erica as I wrapped my arms around him. Her eyes softened, and she watched us closely. “She threatened to take the Kid away if I didnt break up with my boyfriend.”
“And what did you do?” Erica asked, her voice flat.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I broke up with my boyfriend.”
“I see. And how did your boyfriend react to all of this?”
“I, uh. I didnt tell him it was because of her.”
She snorted. “I take it that it didnt go well?”
“Thats an understatement,” Creed muttered.
“Youll have to forgive Creed,” Mrs. Paquinn said. “Bears boyfriend is his brother.”
Erica stared at us. “I see.”
“And Anna is Bears ex-girlfriend,” Creed said.
“And Creed is Bears best friend,” Anna explained.
“And Im Mrs. Paquinn,” Mrs. Paquinn exclaimed triumphantly.
“This is for Otter as much as it is for me,” the Kid said.
“Otter?” Erica asked.
“Bears boyfriend, Creeds brother,” Mrs. Paquinn said patiently.
“Bear and Otter?” Erica asked. To her credit, she didnt look confused at all.
“Bear and Otter,” everyone agreed.
“And why is this for him as much as for Tyson?”
“Because Bears got it in his head that he cant get Otter back until the Kid is safe,” Creed said.
“And Bear, ever the idiot, shouldnt have even broken up with him in the first place. At least not without explaining what was really going on,” Anna said. Then she added, “I should know. We broke up because he couldnt tell me he was in love with Otter.”
“We did not,” I growled. “We broke up because I lied to you.”
“About being in love with Otter,” Anna, Creed, Mrs. Paquinn, and the Kid all said.
“This situations not as complicated as it sounds,” I said to Erica, who was still staring.
The Kid laughed. “No, its a lot worse. Bear and Otter are meant to be together, but Bear wont do anything about it until he makes sure that our mom wont take me away.”
“Which is why were here now,” Mrs. Paquinn finished.
We all looked expectantly at Miz Sharp.
“So let me get this straight,” she said, to which of course Creed and the Kid started snickering. I glared at both of them and saw that Mrs. Paquinn was giggling too. “Not only are you trying to get custody of your little brother, but this whole thing will decide whether or not you get back together with someone you obviously love, but who you lied to when you broke up with him,
and
you have the complete support of his brother, your ex-girlfriend, and your little brother, whom you are trying to gain legal custody of?”
“And Mrs. Paquinn,” said Mrs. Paquinn, to which we all agreed.
“That sounds about right,” I said to Erica.
“And were you dating Otter before your mother left?”
I shook my head. “This is kind of a recent thing.”
The peanut gallery chuckled, but no one spoke.
Erica frowned and rubbed her hands together. “So youre saying you recently started dating Otter, and your mother all of a sudden comes out of nowhere and tells you to break up with him? How did she know about your relationship?”
Tell him to go back to San Diego
, shed said to me. I remembered feeling a chill go down my spine at her words. But with everything that had happened after, Id forgotten. How had she known all of this? “I dont know,” I told Erica, hearing a high-pitched whine buzzing in my ears.
“And she said all she wanted was for you to break up with Otter, and then she left?”
I nodded, realizing only then how stupid that sounded.
Erica sighed, seemingly realizing that as well. “Well, it sounds like shes up to something, but I dont want to speculate. For all we know, she
could
have come back to do exactly what she did, to break you and your boyfriend up, maybe trying to assert that she still had some control of your life. Maybe she hired a private investigator to check into you and Otter. Have you seen anyone around lately that you havent seen before?”
I shook my head, and she looked beyond me to the audience. I turned, and they were all shaking their heads as well. I tried not to show anything on my face, but Ericas words bothered me greatly. Why had Mom come back? What did she want? Was there someone following us around? That creeped me out more than the unknown plans of my mother. She might not have necessarily known when she came that Otter and I were together, but his presence at our house and his protection over the Kid and me could have spelled it out for her, even if the Kid hadnt said anything.
Erica shrugged. “Im sure this will all come out in the open shortly. There already seems to be a few questions Id like to ask your mother if I get the opportunity.”
Her and me both.
She looked me in the eye. “
If
this works, and
if
you get custody of Tyson, are you going to stick by them? Tyson and Otter?”
“I have to,” I said quietly. “Theyre all I have.”
She surprised us all by laughing. She stood and reached out to take my hand, jostling the Kid around in my arms. “Well, Derrick and Tyson, I will be happy to represent you. Ill warn you now: this is going to be a tough road to travel, and there are going to be some hard decisions to be made. Your lives will be scrutinized like never before and will be for a long time to come. Your mother may have motives that we dont yet know about. And Bear, your sexuality will most likely be brought up as well, but I believe that we have a fighting chance with this. And whats better is that
you
believe it. Now, I need you to fill out a whole shitload of paperwork, and I will explain what it means to be considered a
guardian ad litem
and when we can expect to get into court.” She stopped for a moment, and looked down at us. “Are you ready to do this?”
The Kid smiled up at me. I felt the strong support at my back.
How in Gods name could I say no?
do you mean youre not coming?” Creed yelled over the phone. “This partys going to be huge!”
It was three days after our meeting with the lawyer, and I had been dreading this very phone call ever since I decided I wouldnt be going to Creeds party. I didnt want the first time I saw Otter again to be in the middle of a hundred drunken college kids. I told Creed as much.
He sighed. “You could come over early and talk to him. I still dont know why youre prolonging this any further.” He paused, then said, “Youre not thinking about backing out, are you?”
“I have been,” he retorted. “All I seem to remember is
Otter
this, and
Otter
that. „I love Otter so much that I say things and make all my friends cry.”
I could
, I thought.
It would be so easy for me to hop in my car and drive over to the house and let this whole stupid thing be put behind us, and then we can fuck and laugh and cry, and he can tell me he loves me, and then we will go downstairs and get drunk and then go back upstairs again, and I will show him just how sorry I really am.
It was a seductive thought, really. But I never would have gotten to be where I was (both good
and
bad) if I hadnt been as stubborn as Ive proven myself to be. I wanted to be honest with Creed and tell him that the real reason was that I was petrified of seeing Otter. The thought of facing him after the things I said made my stomach turn, so it had been easier just to say that I would worry about it tomorrow. He never left my head, however, so it made this self-imposed banishment that much harder. But I couldnt get the words to come out.
Fuck it. “Tomorrow, then,” I relented. I pulled the phone away from my ear, Creed joyfully shouting through the receiver.
“And then everything can be back to normal,” he said happily.
I snorted. “Back to normal? You had no idea what was going on, so how could it be
back
to normal?”
“Dont be difficult just because you can be,” Creed growled. “Its really unattractive. Maybe Ill just go tell Otter myself right now so he knows what he can expect tomorrow.”
I panicked. “You wouldnt dare.”
He laughed wickedly. “I so would.”
“I told you I would do it tomorrow!”
He laughed. “Should I make plans, then? So you guys can…
reconnect
?” he asked, his last word coming out low and husky and breathy.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I would say yes, you shouldnt be there, but past experience dictates that Anna, Mrs. Paquinn, the Kid, and you will all be there to show your
support
, so it really doesnt matter what I say.”
“God, you have a great family,” he said smugly.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“Sure I cant convince you?”
I sighed. “Not tonight. Ill take it easy with the Kid tonight and come over in the morning. Ill call you before I head out.”
“Okay, and uh.”
“What?”
He hesitated. Then, “When youre done talking or whatever to Otter, theres something I need to talk to you about too.”
I groaned. “Youre not going to tell me you have a boyfriend too, are you?”
He laughed, but I noticed it sounded uneasy. “No, Jesus. Just because the two main dudes in my life went dark side doesnt mean I have to. Stop with your gay-conversion agenda.”
“Were your main dudes? What are you, fifteen?”
“Shut it, Papa Bear.”
I was curious. “Is everything okay? Nothing bad happened or anything?”
“No, everythings fine,” he replied quickly.
“Then why dont you just tell me now?”
“Are you going to come over and talk to Otter now?”
“Har, har. I dont need to know that badly, not if its not lifethreatening.”
“Its not.”
“So, tomorrow, then?”
“Tomorrow,” he agreed. “And, Bear?”
“Yeah?”
“You know that everything is going to be okay, right?”
I thought for a moment. “I think I do,” I said slowly. “It may take a while, but it looks like its going that way, huh?”
“Whatever it takes, man. You know?”
“I do. Creed, I dont think Ive said thank you for having your parents pay for the law—”
“You dont have to,” he interrupted, his voice gruff. I wished I could have seen his face. “You just ask, and you know Ill do whatever I can for you.”
“I know,” I said quietly.
“Later, Papa Bear.”
The next time I spoke to him, he was panicking.