“Basketball sometimes.”
We spent nearly two hours together.
“What position?”
Jace shrugged. “Guard.”
Daniel nodded. “I played guard in high school.”
For the first time, Jace actually looked at him.
Josie looked up too.
For the first time, Jace actually looked at him.
At the time, I thought she was just listening to them talk.
Jace arched his eyebrows.
“You played guard?”
Daniel laughed. “I was faster before my knees turned eighty.”
Jace gave him a small grin.
I thought she was just listening to them talk.
Later, when Rebecca mentioned having dinner together during another visit, I asked Josie what she liked to eat.
“Mac and cheese.”
“Of course.” Then I looked at Jace. “What about you?”
He seemed surprised.
“Me?”
“What about you?”
“Unless you’re planning to live on whatever Josie leaves behind.”
He glanced at his sister.
Josie was already watching us.
“I eat everything,” she said proudly. “You won’t have leftovers.”
It felt ordinary.
That was probably what made it so important.
He glanced at his sister.
***
A few weeks later, Rebecca called to say the placement was moving forward.
We brought both of them home.
Josie cried the first night.
Then the second.
Then the fourth.
We brought both of them home.
Sometimes she woke up screaming for Jace, and he would appear in her doorway before Daniel or I could even get out of bed.
“I’m here,” he would tell her. “You’re okay.”
He never mentioned that Daniel and I were there, too.
I noticed.
I tried not to take it personally.
Sometimes she woke up screaming
