Today's Promises (Promises #2)(8)

Mandy, Jaynie, and I share a bittersweet smile, as we know what’s really going on. Callie daring her brother to eat another buttery biscuit may sound like a typical kid dare, but really it’s so much more.

Cody isn’t starving anymore, but Callie remembers all too clearly when he was.

Cody eats the biscuit, plus three more—mine, Jaynie’s, and Mandy’s.

Yeah, we all remember.

After dinner, Mandy and Jaynie start clearing dishes. I offer to help, but both girls insist I spend more time catching up with the twins.

That’s fine with me, as I soon discover I have a lot of catching up to do.

Cody unwittingly reminds me of this fact when he says to me, “Hey, Flynnie. Did you know we go to school now? Like, to a real school, with compooters and everything.”

“No way, little dude,” I exclaim, trying to sound shocked.

“Yes, way,” he reiterates, nodding.

“Do you like your real school?” I ask.

“Uh-huh.”

Callie rolls her eyes. “Of course he likes his school, Flynn. He gets to stay in a special class all day, where they draw and play on computers and have fun. I’m in real third grade, where we do real school stuff.”

I close my eyes, and my heart feels like it’s being squeezed in my chest.

See, Jaynie, Mandy, and I homeschooled the twins as best as we could while we were in foster care. Still, I don’t think it was ever really enough. Callie was fine, excelling in all the subjects we taught. Cody, however… Well, he was a different story. He just needed much more help than what we were able to give him.

Shit.

It pisses me off that we just didn’t have the resources. But now I’m so f*cking happy to hear he’s in a class that suits his learning style. Though I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it still kills me that we couldn’t provide more for him.

There was just so much we weren’t equipped to handle.

Nonetheless, I can’t let old regrets bring me down. Not today.

And they won’t.

Despite a few bittersweet moments, our reunion runs smoothly. The only glitch is that Mandy’s boyfriend, Josh, ends up stuck at the plant he works at.

That kind of sucks, seeing as Josh is now the twins’ foster dad. To say I was hoping to meet him would be an understatement.

“He’ll be home after eleven,” Mandy informs me, a few hours after dinner, when I again bring up the subject. “You’re welcome to hang around till then.”

All five of us are chilling in the living room, our stomachs full from Mandy’s tasty meal.

Though I’d love nothing more than to meet who we were always told was the love of Mandy’s life—a guy who, by the way the twins’ eyes light up when his name is mentioned, treats the children extremely well—Jaynie and I have to decline the offer.

“I’d love to stick around,” I reply. “But we promised Bill we’d have his ride back no later than ten.”

Jaynie, seated next to me on the couch, adds, “Speaking of which, it’s already after eight. We should probably hit the road soon to give ourselves plenty of time to get back.”

The twins, who are lying on the floor, playing a board game, jump up when they hear we’re leaving.

“No leave yet, Flynnie,” Cody begs as he comes over and plops down on my lap.

“I have to, bud.”

Wide eyes fill with hope as he asks, “You come back tomorrow, then?”

This is where it blows that we don’t yet have our own car.

“I’m afraid we can’t, little man,” I try to explain. “We borrowed the car we drove up in.”

“So borrow it again,” Callie interjects.

She’s crawled into Jaynie’s lap, and is peering over at me like what’s the problem with that?

As Jaynie curls the ends of Callie’s long charcoal-black hair around her finger, she tells her, “Once we have our own car, honey, we can visit more often. And we can stay as long as we like.”

“I guess I can wait for whenever that happens,” this precocious child concedes.

With a dim pallor of disappointment cast over the final minutes of our visit, we begin the long process of saying our good-byes.

Jaynie and I hug the twins for a solid ten minutes, and then Mandy walks us to the door. The twins stay behind in the living room to, upon Mandy’s suggestion, resume their board game.

“Hey, guys, hold up a sec.” Mandy grabs a jacket from a hook near the door and adds, “Let me walk out with you to your car.”

It’s kind of clear by now that she wants to tell us something out of earshot of the kids. Jaynie looks over at me, like I may have an idea as to what Mandy wants to talk about.

I have no clue, so I shrug and shake my head.

Once we’re out in the tiny, postage-stamp front yard, I turn to Mandy and ask, “So, what’s up?”

She glances back at the house. I guess to make sure the twins haven’t followed us out.

When she’s sure the coast is clear, she says, her voice still hushed, “I just want to give you guys a heads-up. You should hear this from me first, not someone else.”

“What’s going on?” Jaynie asks, her brow creasing with concern.

Mandy makes a face. “Uh, well, here’s the thing… Josh recently heard from an old friend who’s now a state trooper that the authorities are re-opening an investigation into what kind of environment Mrs. Lowry was providing for us foster kids the past several years.”