Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)(43)

Walking up from the lake, Geo could see the firefighters were still hosing down the smoking ruins of the storage shed. The crowd had largely dispersed. Beyond the lawn was the gravel parking lot where he’d left his car on Saturday. He hadn’t had any reason to go back to it since. But now, some instinct told him to walk over there.

“Hey. I’m gonna go check my car,” he told Travis.

“Okay. I’ll go talk to my dad and whoever else I can find. See if anyone’s seen him.”

“Good.”

Geo started jogging. He ran past the flagpole where they did morning calisthenics and across the grass to the parking lot. He felt twisted up inside. If something had happened to Jayden, or if he’d run away—

Would he run away?

There was a single lamp post in the middle of the parking lot, and Geo stared at his car as he approached, trying to see into it. He was still twenty yards away when he detected movement in the backseat.

Jayden was sitting in Geo’s car.

Geo stopped jogging and wiped his face. Jesus Christ. His heart couldn’t take this drama. He could do without that kind of worry ever again. He took out his cellphone and sent a quick text to Travis, letting him know Jayden had been found. Then he walked to the car.

Jayden sat in the backseat, his arms folded across his chest, his face turned to stare out the window. Something about his defensive posture sent a pulse of pity through Geo. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Maybe yelling wasn’t the right thing to lead off with. As much as he wanted to yell.

Geo opened the rear door on the other side of the car and got in. He closed the door and just sat, tension leaching from him. Jayden said nothing.

Finally, Geo spoke. “What’s goin’ on, bud? What are you doing in the car?”

“You can take me back.” Jayden’s voice was brittle as ice. “I’ll wait here ’til you’re ready to go.”

Geo blinked. Jayden refused to look at him, gaze fixed out the window.

“Did something happen to upset you? Did someone say something to you?”

Jayden just crossed his arms harder, scowling out the window as if he hated the world.

“Was it the fire?”

Jayden didn’t answer.

“Jayden…” Geo began carefully. “Why has the fire gotten you so wigged out, bro? It’s okay. It was just a storage shed.”

“So? It costs, like, millions of dollars, and I have, like, this record now, and everyone will say that I…that I—” His voice cracked, barely able to get the words out. His tough expression crumpled. He put his hands up, hiding his face as he sobbed.

God, there was so much pain in the kid. It pierced Geo through. “Hey.” He put his arm around Jayden. “Hey. Listen to me. Nobody thinks you had anything to do with that fire. Okay? So you’ve got nothing to be upset about.”

Jayden continued to sob like his heart was breaking. “Everyone always b-b-blames me. So take me back, I don’t c-c-care!”

“Jesus, Jay.”

Geo felt the boy shudder under his arm. He thought about what Travis had told him, about the fear he lived with, even now, that James and Ida Mayhew would stop loving him. Trust issues. God. No shit.

And suddenly Geo didn’t care about setting himself up for rejection or worry about crowding Jayden. He pulled Jay as close as he could, cuddling him as he sobbed.

“Listen to me, Jayden. You and me, we’re family. And I will never, ever ‘take you back.’ Do you hear me? I’m working on adopting you and Lucy. And there’s a lot of legal paperwork and hearings with judges and stuff, so it’s gonna take a while. But I promise you right now, no matter what happens, I will never take you back.”

Jayden slowly stopped crying and was still, his body tense, as if he was trying to process what Geo said. He sniffled and rubbed his nose on Geo’s shirt. Yeah, thanks for that. Parenthood was so glamorous. The thought made Geo smile.

“You really gonna adopt me?”

“I’m working on it. Yeah.”

He was silent for another long minute. “I’m sorry I’ve been mean sometimes.”

“It’s okay, Jay.”

“I didn’t start that fire, Geo. I promise.” His voice was so small.

“I know that.”

“Or the other one either. My foster dad said I did because…because…” Jayden’s voice got ragged again. “Because the sofa and carpet and stuff cost a lot of money and he wanted them to have to pay for it. The foster care people. But it was him. He fell asleep with a cigarette.”

Oh fuck. What a worthless, piece of shit asshole, putting a kid through something like that for the price of a goddamn sofa. Geo closed his eyes, getting his anger and sorrow under control.

“I’m sorry, Jay. He shouldn’t have done that, lied like that. That was a horrible, horrible thing to do.”

Jayden sniffed and rubbed his nose on Geo’s shirt again. “You believe me?”

“Of course, I believe you. And look, even if you did do something wrong—and you haven’t—but even if you do something stupid or crazy someday, I would never stop wanting you to be my family.”

“Why?” Jayden said at last, his voice wobbly. “You could have any kid.”

“Well, because I picked you, Jay. I can see the amazing person you’ll become. And I happen to think we’ll make a great family together. You, me, and Lucy. I’d really like that. So what do you say?”