While that relieved me of the awkwardness of trying to talk out this “just friends” state we were in, it had been hard to miss his disappointment. Mr. Wittaker was an attorney for Archie’s family. The potential for conflict of interest had given him pause, but as far as I knew, Mom hadn’t married Mr. Standish yet. They couldn’t—thankfully—get married legally. My issue was with her, not Mr. Standish—legally. I had plenty of issues with Archie’s dad, and so did he.
After consideration, Mr. Wittaker asked me to detail how often my mother had been absent in the last twelve months, and it was easier to remember when she was home versus when she wasn’t. Then he asked me a lot of hard questions, including questions about my job, rent, bills, and how did I expect to make ends meet. I told him everything, including the fact I had a scholarship. That I’d applied for others, and I had plans for college. I’d submitted my application to five schools, but only one was my top pick.
After all of that, he agreed to represent me. I signed the paperwork, and Archie gave him a check Jeremy had written for the retainer. It was a few more zeroes than I was comfortable with.
We argued all the way back to my place about it, but eventually, I agreed. Mr. Wittaker had told me the process could take a while, and that I needed to be prepared I could hit eighteen before it happened. Well, if it did, I’d still be free. The other concern was technically, her moving out constituted abandonment, and that could raise some red flags with Child Protective Services. At seventeen, it wasn’t likely they’d try to force me into the system, but we also couldn’t discount it.
So, I had Mr. Wittaker’s cell number as well as his office phone. I was to call him ifanythingcame up. In the meanwhile, he also wanted a full accounting of any bills I had to pay, even if it was just groceries.
Since submitting my college apps ate up nearly a grand in application fees, he wanted those records, too.
“Hey,” Archie bumped my foot with his, and I blinked to find all four of them staring at me. “You good?”
“I’m good,” I assured him. “Just got a lot on my mind. Two tests today, and the big game tonight.”
“You do not have to come,” Jake told me.
“Yes, I do,” I said. “I’ll sit there and have hot dogs and nachos while Coop and Archie give me all wrong answers on what’s happening on the field. It’ll be a blast.”
“You don’t even like football,” Jake said.
“I like you.”
He grinned, and Coop chuckled. “Ha, she got you there.”
“Yes, she does.”
“I like you, too,” I reminded Ian when he’d begun to bore holes in the table with his stare. At the faint surprise on his face, I shifted my attention back to Jake. “Besides, it’s an important game for you guys.”
“It’s a really unimportant game,” Jake countered. “We’re not going to make State unless we pull a miracle out of our butts. That said, you wanna show up and root for us, I’m all for it. Just don’t get too bored.”
“She won’t,” Archie said, and tossed me the last donut hole. I actually managed to catch this one with my mouth, and they all cheered. It only took four years. But hey, a girl’s gotta have some skills, right?
“Ugh,” Coop said as he sat forward, and his chair thumped. “Incoming.”
I glanced over my shoulder, tracking Sharon and Patty’s ballistic approach. Well, maybe not ballistic. Sharon had avoided me all week, and by avoided, I meant if I was in the bathroom, she turned around and left as soon as she saw me.
Good times.
“Bubba,” Patty said after dismissing me with a look. I didn’t really care. Sharon’s eyes narrowed on me briefly, and then she fixed her attention on Bubba.
“What?” he asked, his tone dead neutral.
“We need to have one more meeting for the parade tomorrow—”
“Nope.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” Patty said. “I’m telling you. One last meeting to go over everything…”
“I got that, and I’m still saying nope. I have two big tests today and a game tonight. I’m not spending my lunch hour listening to you two haggle over whether a float should pause for two seconds or five as they first come out, or if the band should alternate their pace, or if we should redecorate the car when the decorations are already done. If you want to do that—knock yourselves out. I did what Coach asked, and I’ve got other things to do.”
“So,” Jake said, slinging an arm over Ian’s shoulders. “You two can move along now. Buh bye.”
Patty’s whole expression tightened. “You do realize this is our very last Homecoming…”
“Can’t get here soon enough so it’s over and done with,” Ian muttered, and switched his attention to me. A frown tightened his brow. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.” Despite the rest of it, that I did know. He’d meant it when he asked me. The care he’d taken with the ask revealed that, even if nothing else did. Maybe we weren’t going as a date anymore, but that part I had no trouble believing. He just wanted to be out of the planning committee, and since they’d met at lunch every single day this week, I couldn’t blame him.