Bear, Otter, & the Kid 02 - Who We Are (MM) by TJ Klune

Author:TJ Klune [Klune, TJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-04-28T04:00:00+00:00

DOMINIC looks wary but gets in Otter’s Jeep at the Kid’s insistence (as he also proudly proclaims he talked me out of five whole bucks, wasn’t that soooo awesome?), glancing over his shoulder at his front door a few houses down the road before climbing in. Otter reaches back and shakes his hand, and I smile at him. He mumbles hello, looking uncomfortable as he buckles the seat belt over his chest.

Otter and I had decided shortly after the social worker’s first visit that we’d see how it went with Dominic. I still found it slightly odd that he hung around Ty like he did (even though I’d done the same with Otter, as Georgia had so conveniently pointed out), and I was even more worried about how he would act now. While Georgia’s words had been encouraging, that he seemed to be opening up around Tyson more than anyone else, that still didn’t mean that he was in his right mind. Not that I’d blame him. I study him discreetly as he watches Ty (who’s babbling to him about how he hopes that the fifth grade will at least give him some kind of challenge) but I don’t know what I’m looking for. If you saw your mother murdered by your father in front of you, would you show it on your face years later? Would it be embedded in your skin like a memory that wouldn’t go away? How would it shape you as a person?

These are questions that Otter and I asked ourselves but had no answers to. We agreed to allow the Kid to see Dominic, as long as there was one of us around to keep an eye on things and to make sure Dominic didn’t see a pair of scissors he felt he needed to pick up. We’d snickered quietly at this, unable to stop ourselves, both of us blushing at the horror of it all. I wondered if I could do something like that, if the situation called for it. I’d only had to think for a moment about someone going after the Kid or Otter before some baser, more primal thing in me made me understand you’d bet your sweet fucking ass I would do the same. I assume most people would. If need be.

That doesn’t mean you’d stay sane, afterward. Even if you were a child when it happened.

I’m about to look ahead again when I hear the Kid confess quietly that he’s a bit nervous, that he’s worried he’ll get made fun of. I’m about to reassure him that he’ll be fine, that if anything goes wrong, he can call me immediately, when I’m stopped by Dominic’s low voice. He’s speaking to be heard over the noise of the Jeep, and I can make out his words, rough and worn. “You don’t need to be scared,” he says. “I’ll be right next door. If you need me, I’ll come running, okay?”

The Kid nods. Otter and I listen.

“Besides, don’t go thinking

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