Chapter 1 – Age 6 #2
“Sure,” Trey said, chuckling. He ruffled Julian’s hair.
He was in high school too but the last time Julian had been there, he heard him saying he wouldn’t be going back when classes started again the next month.
“Hey, Tor, take your friend out back, okay? His dad probably doesn’t want him to be around all of this.
” Trey took a drink from his can—it was beer, not soda, something Julian had already learned—and then he burped.
Trey had the best burps. He said he’d teach Julian how to make one long enough to count to ten.
“’Kay.” Tori took his hand and they walked to the back door.
“Julian, wait,” his dad shouted.
He turned to see his father standing at the edge of the living room looking worried. Tori’s mother was next to him. She wasn’t wearing any pants, which should have been weird, but Julian had gotten used to seeing her in her underwear.
“What?” he asked, annoyed at the interruption.
He had been looking forward to playing with Tori the entire day and he had been extra good to make sure nothing would get in the way of that happening.
When she was in town, his mother even noticed that he was having way fewer episodes, as she called them.
His father told her he was taking him to a new therapist, but they both knew the real place they’d been going was Tori’s house. “I want to go play!”
“Hold on,” his father said to him and then he turned back to Tori’s mother. “It’s been raining on and off all week. The kids shouldn’t be outside.”
Ms. Dunworthy bit her lip and then looked at Tori’s brothers and said, “Boys, can you—”
“The options are in here with us or outside,” Tyson said. He glanced up at Julian’s father. “Figured you’d rather not have him here with”—he moved his arm over the guns—“the guns and shit, but if you want him inside, that’s cool. We don’t mind having the little man around.”
“They can play in the bedroom,” his father suggested.
“Jenny and Carley are in there.”
“Who are Jenny and Carley?” Julian asked.
“My cousins,” Tori said. “Their mom got locked up and they don’t want CPS to find them so they’re staying here for a while.”
Julian didn’t understand what that meant but he’d ask Tori later because he didn’t want everyone else to know that. Tori was good at explaining things to him in a way that made sense. He was really smart.
“I’m sure the boys can play with them,” his father said. “Julian, go to—”
“Take a big whiff, man, and make sure that’s what you want.”
Now that Trey said it, Julian noticed the other scent. It was strong and Julian didn’t like it, but it didn’t smell as bad as the cigarettes.
“Is that—”
“Weed, yeah. And they probably won’t stop there.”
“Dad, I want to go play,” Julian said, getting angry at the delay. His chest felt tight. “I’ve been waiting all day!”
Tori put his palm against the back of Julian’s neck and whispered, “Shh. Breathe.”
“They’ll be fine out back, Harry,” Ms. Dunworthy said, swaying against his father.
She was the only person who called him that.
Everyone else knew his name was Harold. Tori told him that his mom had gone to high school with Julian’s dad, so he assumed that had been his nickname back then. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
His father hesitated, flicking his gaze from Julian and Tori in the kitchen, toward the hallway, and back to Tori’s brothers in the living room. “Can you guys do whatever you’re doing later?”
“Nope.” They kept playing with the guns and didn’t look at him. “This is our house. She’s a visitor. If you want to bang, the kid can hang here, or he can go out back. Your call.”
“It’s just a little water,” Ms. Dunworthy said. “What’s the big deal?”
“I don’t mind,” Julian piped in. He actually loved monsoon season but normally he was only able to look at the rain and wind and dust through the windows because he wasn’t allowed to get dirty. Getting to play in it with Tori would be fun.
“See?” Ms. Dunworthy said. She was fully leaning on his father now, like she couldn’t stand up. Maybe she was sick. “Kids like to play in the rain.”
“Okay, fine, but Julian, you can’t tell—”
“I know! I won’t tell Mom.” He rushed toward the door, pulling Tori with him. “Let’s go, Tori!”
***
“I don’t understand what happened. He had been doing better all summer.” His mother paced back and forth across the room as she talked to his father about him while he sat on the couch and watched. “Why did he deteriorate again in just a couple of months?”
“I don’t know,” his father said, dragging his hand through his hair in frustration.
“Have you asked that therapist?” she asked. “They’d made all that progress. He has to have an idea.”
There was no therapist. That was an excuse his father had come up with to explain what they were doing when they went to the Dunworthy house while his mom was in town.
Her big case in Minnesota had ended and there couldn’t be enough therapy sessions to explain the amount of time they used to spend there.
That meant he hadn’t been able to play with Tori as much and he hated that.
Between that and having to sit all day at school, he had been annoyed, angry, and cranky because he couldn’t sleep.
He wanted to tell his mom that if he could go play with Tori every day after school, he’d act better, but he couldn’t do that and not just because his father told him not to.
He had caught his father kissing Ms. Dunworthy, and he knew that was bad.
If his mom found out, she’d get so mad that he was sure he’d never get to see Tori again.
“Uh, yes, I asked the therapist.” His father swallowed and cleared his throat. “He doesn’t have any ideas.”