The three of us relaxed all day. Taylor did some studying in his room, while Jordan and I snuggled on the couch and watched reruns ofMork and Mindy. The show was well before my time, but it had Robin Williams in it, and had aged pretty well.
Derek got home later that night, the headlights from his car sweeping across the house as he pulled up the driveway. Excited for his return, I met him at the front door with Baby Anthony in my arms. Derek smiled at me like a husband returning home after work, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then swept the baby away from me.
“How was our little guy?” he said, cradling the baby against his chest and kissing him on the crown of his head. “Did you behave while I was gone, like I told you to?”
“Anthony was good, but he, uh, drank a bunch of your tequila,” Taylor said. “The really expensive stuff.”
“Did he now?” Derek asked dryly.
Taylor nodded gravely. “Yep. We’ve got a lush on our hands.”
As I watched Derek, I couldn’t help but admire howhappyhe was to see the baby again. He was treating Anthony like he was his son, and not just a burden that they were trying to be rid of.
It’s a shame his ex didn’t want kids,I thought.He’s going to make a wonderful father someday.
“How’d it go, Chief?” Jordan asked. “Did you get any clarification about how we should proceed?”
Derek handed the baby back to me—reluctantly, it seemed—and pulled his phone out. “I took some notes. The administrator I talked to at Social Services gave us a lot of information. A lot of it isn’t really relevant to us, which is my fault, since I was asking a lot of questions without coming right out and telling her what our situation was. But the key takeaway is this: they’ll have a new budget in two weeks, along with a dozen newly-approved foster families. The situation will greatly improve then.”
“Two weeks?” Jordan asked hopefully. “You’re certain?”
Derek nodded once. “Two more weeks, and then we’ll be able to turn Baby Anthony over to the system and know that he’ll be going to a good infant-specific foster home.”
Jordan and Taylor clapped each other on the back. Derek smiled along with them, but the happiness never touched his eyes. He looked like he was having the same revelation I had earlier: that our time with Baby Anthony had an end-date, and one that was now just around the corner.
I moved the baby to my other arm and gave Derek a hug. Wordlessly, he squeezed me back, then let out a long sigh that might have been relief and might have been disappointment.
I know the feeling, I thought.
We celebrated that night by grilling steaks on Derek’s back porch. It was a cool, peaceful night, and the sun turned deep orange as it dipped below the treeline.
“These margaritas would be better with the other tequila,” Derek grumbled while flipping a steak on the grill. He gave the other guys—but not me—a sideways glance of judgment.
“You said to make ourselves at home,” Jordan replied. “We took your offer at face value.”
Derek grunted in disapproval.
Taylor was playing with the baby in his bassinet, so I got up and went to Derek. I wrapped my arms around him from behind, pressing my face against his firm body. The shirt he was wearing smelled like smoke and spicy deodorant.
“Are you practicing good fire safety with the grill?” I asked.
His torso shuddered as he chuckled. “The open flame is ten feet away from any awning or overhanging wood, and I have a fire extinguisher underneath the grill. Not to mention a backup in the kitchen.”
“I was just teasing you.”
“You can never be too safe,” he said. “Can you imagine if a fire broke out and the guys on second-shift had to come put it out?” He let out a hiss of pain. “Billy Manning would never let me hear the end of it.”
I smiled, then came around the side to sit next to the grill, facing Derek. “It’s okay to be sad about it.”
His face darkened in a way that told me he knew what I was referring to. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others weren’t in earshot and then said, “Why would I be sad?”
My dad used to tell me that a silent response was often better than a vocal one. Now, I stared at Derek and said nothing.
He focused on the steaks for several moments. I didn’t think he was going to say anything. Finally, he sighed. “Putting him in a good foster home, and then finding someone to adopt him, has been the goal from the beginning. I shouldn’t feel this way, and that frustrates me.”
Taylor let out a loud laugh that was echoed by the baby. Jordan said something that prompted Taylor to flip him off. Jordan grinned and sipped his margarita.
“Emotions don’t always have to make sense,” I said quietly. “As a woman, trust me: sometimes they makezerosense. But that’s okay. It just means you’re human.”