The Boot (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Two

"What a sh!tty person," Tim mutters.

"Hey, I'm not disagreeing with you, man."

"Does he have a name yet?" Lucy asks, suddenly changing the topic of the previously depressing conversation.

"Who?"

"The baby."

"I-..." I stutter. "I don't know. Wow, I'm the worst dad ever. I don't even know my kid's name."

"You haven't even met him yet and you love him like he's one of your own."

I shrug. "I mean... It's not his fault he was brought into the world this way. Besides, he's Isaac and Bianca's sibling. He and Isaac share the same biological dad, so they are technically half-siblings regardless."

Tim sighs. "Look, man, you didn't even know this kid existed until, what, an hour ago? No one blames you for not knowing his name... If I'm being completely honest with you, I don't think we know his name, either."

"Why don't we have John and Bailey bring the baby here so the kids can meet him?" Lucy suggests.

"Who?" I ask.

"They're our friends. They've been fostering him this whole time."

My face falls. "Then I can't just... it's not fair to take him away from them, whether he is Isaac and Bianca's brother or not."

"We don't need to think that far ahead just yet. Let's focus on the present, and what's happening right now, in this moment."

"Do you want us to call John and Bailey?" Tim asks me.

I think about it for a brief moment before nodding. "Yes, I'd like that. If anything, I want to thank them for taking him in and keeping him safe throughout all of this."

Lucy smiles. "That's sweet."

She winces, and Tim jumps forward. "Lucy?"

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," she smiles weakly, rubbing her belly. "One of our girls just loves to kick my bladder."

"How do you know it's one of the girls?"

"I'm not sure. I just have a feeling."

"I'm going to call them," Tim says, grabbing out his phone. He taps at it a few times, finding the contact and placing the call on speaker phone.

On the second ring, Bailey picks up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Bailey,"

"What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Well..." Tim sighed and proceeded to fill her in on everything that had transpired. I keep forgetting with how fast everything is moving that some people need a chance to catch up.

"Holy sh!t," John says. He clearly had been in the room when Bailey took the call.

"Yeah... so, anyway, we were wondering if you could bring the baby by to meet the kids."

"Of course."

"By the way..." Tim says. "Does he have a name yet?"

A pause. "No, actually, not yet. We've been so busy with what's been going on, that and the fact that if we give him a name it'll be that much harder to give him up eventually."

"Wait, you weren't going to adopt him?" Lucy asks, surprised.

"No," Bailey sighs. "We had both talked and agreed that we wanted to find someone in his family who is still alive that he could live with. We thought it would be better for him to be with his biological family, if we could find them."