Chapter Twenty Four
Dylan
I was happy to see Mr. Dean recovering. He looked much better than he had in the hospital. Now, he wanted to get down to business and get some things done before he went back to work.
One of them was to talk to a lawyer about my situation. We had to get it resolved. I had no health insurance. What if I got sick?
Mr. Dean drove me to a lawyer’s office in town. He parked in front of the storefront. I dressed in clothing similar to what I wore for a mathlete tournament.
The office was small with a woman sitting in front who took our names. “Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“Yes, we do,” Mr. Dean answered.
I sat on a leather chair while Mr. Dean read flyers on a bulletin board. I was a little nervous. I’d have to make some major life decisions.
My mother still wanted me to move back in with her, but I couldn’t do that. This was my future. She was still using. I could tell when she called me the other day that she was high. I didn’t want that life, and I wished I could pull her out of it.
I wished we could be a family, but she’d chosen drugs over me. At least, that’s how Mr. Dean wanted me to think about it. Hadn’t I chosen the Deans over her? I didn’t know what to think.
A man in a suit came out of the back room and held out his hand to Mr. Dean.
“I’m Robert Llewelin.”
“Rob Dean.” He indicated me. “This is Dylan Cabot.”
“Let’s go on back. Anyone need coffee?”
“No, I’m fine. Dylan?”
“Nothing, thanks.”
My hands were sweating. I really didn’t know what to think about this meeting or what exactly would come of it.
The lawyer sat down and rested his hands on his desk. “Dylan, Mr. Dean told me a little bit about your situation, so I’ve had time to think of options before our meeting.”
“Okay.”
“Since you are eighteen, you have all the say in this. You don’t have to decide what to do today. You can take your time, but you will want to make a decision because it does impact your future. You understand?”
I nodded and tried not to chew my nail. I held my hands in my lap.
The lawyer opened a file folder. “Here are the options I’ve come up with.” He handed me a paper with legalese all over it. “I can explain each option.”
“That would help,” Mr. Dean said.
“The first option is a guardianship. Mr. Dean wouldn’t adopt you, but he would take over as if he were a parent. He would be for all intents and purposes, your father. There would be no name change or anything like that, but he would be responsible for you. You could be put on his work-sponsored health insurance. His income would be considered if you apply for financial aid.”
I nodded. “Okay. So, like a parent, but no name change. Got it. I have to listen to him.”
“Well, as much as any teenage boy listens to his father,” Mr. Dean said with a laugh.
I didn’t get the reference since I didn’t have a father. I guess teen boys stopped listening to their fathers. I didn’t laugh, I just read the paper.
“The other option is that you become emancipated. You will be responsible for yourself.”
“Do I have to move out of the Deans’ house?”
“That’s up to Mr. Dean.”
“I won’t kick you out, Dylan. You can stay.”
The lawyer continued. “You will be free to live where you want. No one else’s income will be considered if you want financial aid or get a loan. Any screw up will be yours, not anyone else’s. You’ll be considered an adult.”
I nodded. “These are the only two options?”
“They are. I know they are diametrically opposed, but they are the two things that relate to your situation. I could offer other options if you were under eighteen, but you are over that age.”
“I see.” I turned to Mr. Dean. “Do you have a preference?”
“This is your decision, Dylan. You don’t have to make it right now. You can ask the lawyer any questions you have.”
“I understand both options. I just don’t know which to choose.”
“Like Mr. Dean said, you don’t have to make this decision now. Think about it and when you’re sure, you can come back and we’ll take care of things here. For both of them, court papers have to be filed, so that’s why you need me.”
This was a lot to think about. Was I ready to take responsibility for myself? Income and all? Or would I like to have a family at my back? Mr. Dean wasn’t kicking me out, but would he if he found out I deflowered his daughter? Which option would be best if that happened?
I didn’t think he’d find out. Taylor wasn’t going to tell him, and I wasn’t giving up that information.
“I guess I just need to think now.”
The lawyer slid a card across the desk. “Call me if you think of any questions, Dylan. It’s a big step.”
I tucked the card into my back pocket. “Thanks.”
Mr. Dean rose and shook the man’s hand. I did the same – one of those things I’d learned from Mr. Dean. I didn’t know what to say as we walked out.
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
Mr. Dean patted me on the back. “No problem, Dylan. I don’t envy you this decision. Just know that you always have a home with us. I can’t imagine you doing anything to make me rescind that.”
I tried not to grimace. I’d already done something. Something that I wanted to forget and do again at the same time. Taylor was so hot and soft and warm, and I shouldn’t be thinking about his daughter right now.
***
I received the call two days later. My phone rang while I was about to get on the bus to go home. It was better if Taylor and I stayed apart, so I didn’t wait for her after school these days.
She wanted to talk, and I wanted to stay away from her. We couldn’t keep having sex. It wasn’t right. I wouldn’t be able to resist if she was near me.
I looked at the number on my screen and saw that it was my mother’s phone. She hadn’t called me in a few days, and I kind of knew what was going to happen. The call was not a complete surprise.
I stopped on the sidewalk before I climbed onto the bus. “Hello?”
“Is this Dylan Cabot?”
I’d been expecting my mother’s voice. This was not her. “Who is this and why do you have this phone?”
“This is Officer Wylde. I’m at your mother’s house.”
“Is something wrong?”
I began to sweat. I knew this call would come someday. I had hoped it would be years from now. Guess not.
“Well, I don’t want to talk to you on the phone. Can you get to your mother’s trailer?”
“Yes, sir.” Taylor would have to drive me. “I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“Don’t speed.”
“No, sir.”
I hung up then ran through the school to the football field. Taylor and the other girls were practicing. I walked right up to her. “I either need the car or for you to drive me.”
She grabbed my hand, dragging me away from the group. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know yet. I got a call from the cops. They want me to meet them at my mother’s trailer.”
“Then, I’m coming with you.”
“You have practice.”
“I’m the captain. I can cut it short. Wait here.”
She walked back to the group. No one seemed to mind that they were done practicing for the day. Taylor came back to me. “Let’s go.”
I followed her to the car in a daze. I figured this was the end for my mother. It had all been too much for her. I didn’t know for sure, but on some level, I figured that she was dead.
Taylor hadn’t been to the trailer, and her gasp at the sight brought me out of my reverie. “It’s a little pathetic isn’t it?”
“You never really described it other than its size. I’m so glad my father let you come home with him,” she said.
It must look like hell to her, I thought as I climbed out of the car. Officer Wylde greeted me at the door. He stepped out of the trailer.
“You’re Dylan Cabot?”
“Yes sir.”
“I need to see some identification? And who is the person with you?”
“Taylor Dean. She’s my sister.”
In a way. Not that I felt brotherly towards her, at all. No, my feelings were not that innocent. I showed him my license. He handed it back to me.
“I’m sorry to inform you that your mother died.”
I took a step back. Even though I knew she must have been dead, I hadn’t really prepared. I had held out hope that she was just in the hospital. I wiped some tears from my eyes as Taylor appeared at my side and wrapped her arms around my middle.
“I’m sorry, Dylan.”
I wanted to bury myself in her and forget what had happened, but I probably had some decisions to make.
“You’ll have to identify the body, Mr. Cabot.”
“Okay. Where?”
“The morgue. It’s in the hospital.”
“I know where it is, Dylan,” Taylor said.
She still held me as I tried not to cry in front of the officer.
“You’ll take him there? I can meet you. Go around back,” Officer Wylde said. “You’ll see a sign for morgue parking.”
“Okay. We’ll go there,” she said.
She tugged me to the car, opening the door for me.
She stayed silent on the drive, but she held my hand the whole way. She should have both her hands on the steering wheel, but I needed the comfort. My mother was really gone. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.
The hospital was located on a side road. Taylor maneuvered the car into a spot. She turned to me. “Can you do this?”
“I have no choice. I have to know that she died.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
“You’ll come with me?”
“I can go as far as the waiting room.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
I was just happy that she was there. I needed to lean on someone. I hadn’t thought to call Mr. Dean, but maybe I should.
I stopped her before we entered the lobby. “Would you call your dad and let him know?”
“You want to wait until you’re sure?” she said.
“Not a bad idea.”
She squeezed my hand as Officer Wylde walked up behind us. “Ready?”
“I am.”
Taylor took a seat as the officer led me back to a cold room with drawers. I shivered, but only because of the situation. A man in scrubs pulled a drawer out. He pulled back a sheet.
It was my mother. “It’s her.”
I turned away. The reality of it struck me – all at once, I was alone in the world.
When I walked back to the lobby, though, I realized that I wasn’t.
“It’s her,” I said.
Taylor took my hand as we walked out. She pulled out her phone and called her father. She told him about my mother.
“I don’t want to go home yet,” I said.
“Okay. To the park it is.”
She drove to the same park we’d talked at last time. We sat on the same picnic table. Taylor had yet to stop touching me, which was good. I was cold. She was warm.
“I’m so sorry, Dylan.”
“I kind of knew it was going to happen at some point.”
“Still. How can you prepare for something like that,” she said.
You can’t. I knew that, but at least I had some kind of family to help me out.
Chapter Twenty Five
Taylor
Dylan moped few a few days, then seemed to be okay. I didn’t blame him. It was selfish of me to delight in all the time I was able to spend with him, but I did. I liked being with him.
I shouldn’t use a tragedy to take advantage of the situation, but Dylan seemed to like that I was around. We still hadn’t talked about that night. I hadn’t forgotten it. I had hoped he hadn’t, either.
Dylan and I did homework together in the basement every night. My father came down at least once a night to sneak some junk food. It was proof he was feeling back to normal.
My mother and I were okay. We hadn’t made any progress, but we hadn’t fought in days.
The prom was coming up and tickets would go on sale in two weeks. No had asked me. I guess everyone assumed that I was going with Dylan, but he didn’t ask.
I decided to bring it up while we were doing homework. My father had already been downstairs and my mother was out at a class to learn about getting her real estate license.
“Prom tickets go on sale in two weeks,” I said.
Dylan grunted. He was working on his laptop, doing programming homework I thought. He liked that class the best, from what I could tell, and wanted to study it in college. We hadn’t talked about college, but I knew he was going for a visit soon.
I wasn’t ready to think about us parting. I had looked at colleges for nursing and most of the ones with a four year program were at least an hour away – no commuting, I’d have to live there.
“Are you planning on going?” I said.
Dylan’s fingers stilled over the keyboard. “Uh, I hadn’t thought about it.”
“No?”
“No, not really.”
He went back to typing.
“No one has asked me yet. By this time before the junior prom I had a date.”
“It’s the twenty first century. You should ask someone.”
Was that an invitation? Was he telling me I should ask him? I didn’t know what to think. I’d never asked a guy out.
“Okay. I hadn’t thought of that.”
He laughed, but didn’t look up at me. I wanted to see him naked again. I wanted him to make me climax again.
I shrugged all of that off because I’d be happy if he just kissed me again – if he looked at me as if I were the only girl in the universe, the only girl that mattered.
And, we needed to talk about it. I wanted him to know how I felt, but the longer time went on, it seemed more and more awkward.
I sighed. “If I asked you, would you go with me?”
His fingers stilled again. His gaze rose slowly from the screen to me. I was holding my breath, but I kept my gaze steady.
“Are you asking me?” he said.
“Yes.”
He frowned. It was not the reaction I was hoping for. My heart sank. I wanted to run out of the room, but that would be childish.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because I doubt that your father would want us to be together.”
I thought about that for a minute. I thought that I could get around that. “So, it isn’t that you don’t want to go with me.”
He laughed. “You’re fishing, Taylor.”
“Yes, I am. I want to know where I stand.”
I needed to know that he felt something.
His eyes fell closed. “What I feel doesn’t matter. It’s a moot point. We can’t be together.”
“What if I could get my dad to agree that you should take me to the prom?”
“Wishful thinking. I admire your optimism.”
“I always get what I want with Daddy,” I said.
He shook his head. “Not this time. This is a whole different realm of wanting a car or a material thing. This is you, going out with someone like me.”
“What does that mean? My father loves you.”
“He wouldn’t if he knew what we’d done. What I’d done to you.”
I put down my pen. “You didn’t do anything to me. I was a willing participant.”
“I’m the more experienced one, so I’m more responsible.”
“Is that how you feel? Is that why you’ve been avoiding me since that night?” I said.
He nodded. “We can’t do it again, Taylor. My stay here can be shortened if something happens between us. I have only a trailer to go to and nothing else. My future depends on being in this house.”
I knew he was right, but I wanted to be selfish. “But I want to be with you. I want you to kiss me.”
He rubbed a hand down his face. “I thought you were over that. I don’t think we can spend time together.”
As he started to get up, I said, “Wait.”
“What?”
“If I get it past my father, will you go with me? I can’t imagine wanting to spend that night with anyone else.”
He frowned. “If your father agrees, I’ll go. If he doesn’t, I’m not sneaking around.”
“Fair enough. And please, don’t leave. I’ll stop talking.”
He eyed me for a moment. “Okay, but stay quiet. I’m programming.”
“What are you working on?” I said.
He laughed. “That’s not being quiet.”
“Okay, fine.”
I let him work and I tried not to stare, but I knew what he looked like naked. I knew what that body could do to mine.
“Staring at me isn’t helping.”
“I’m not staring.”
“Liar,” he said.
“One kiss?”
“Taylor, stop.”
“One kiss and I’ll shut up,” I urged.
I always got what I wanted.
“Fine.”
I stood, then climbed onto his lap. I put my lips on his and our tongues met. This wasn’t going to be a half-hearted kiss. If I was only getting one, I was going to get a good one.