Loosen Up to Love by Nia Arthurs

Author:Nia Arthurs [Arthurs, Nia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nia Arthurs

17

After all the craziness of Friday night, Ida was more than ready to welcome Santi into her world on Saturday afternoon.

Parker had wanted to be there, but his shift wouldn’t be over until late that night. Ida didn’t mind.

She kind of preferred greeting Santi on her own. Parker’s ‘epic’ party could wait.

“Make sure you take lots of pictures when he sees his room,” Parker informed her as she parked in front of Social Services that afternoon.

Ida adjusted the phone so she could hold it better. “I will.”

“And make sure you tell him that the dinosaur beanbag was my idea. I want him to know who the cool one is.”

“Alright, Parker.”

“When you bring him to see Mateo make sure you call me. I’ll try to rush over if I’m not too busy.”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

“I mean it, Ms. Simpson.”

“Fine,” Ida teased, “but only because you called me ‘Ms. Simpson’.”

“I’m letting you win this one. Later.”

They hung up and Ida took a deep breath. This was it.

She walked into the air conditioned room and asked for Ms. Catherine. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or throw up.

At last, Catherine appeared in the hallway behind the counter. Santiago’s little hands were clutched in hers.

“Hi,” Ida waved.

“Hi.” Santiago grinned and ran into her arms.

Ida had been scared that he would be terrified of her or angry that she’d taken so long to keep her promise.

“I’m here, honey.”

“Ms. Catherine says we can go see Mateo now.”

“Yes, we’re going to visit him. Are you ready?”

He nodded.

She smiled at his sweet face and chubby cheeks. The kid was adorable. She could see more of the family resemblance now that he looked clean and happy.

“Just let me talk to Ms. Catherine for a bit.”

Santi sat in the waiting chairs and Ida opened her arms to Ms. Catherine.

“I forgot to bring the brownies,” she cried as they hugged.

“It’s okay. You can bring them next time.”

“I don’t know when that will be. I owe a lot of people brownies.”

They laughed.

“I’m really glad things worked out,” Catherine said.

“Me too.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Actually,” Ida lowered her voice. “I wanted to ask… what will happen to Mateo?”

Catherine frowned. “He’s getting arrested. The papers to transfer him to Hostel are already in motion.”

“Really?”

Catherine nodded. “I only know because I have to work with the police to find Santi and Mateo’s aunt. Apparently, there’s a PC that wants to make an example out of Mateo.”

Officer Floyd.

Ida would definitely scratch him off her brownie-giving list.

“Why are you asking?”

“Well,” Ida looked down. “Mateo was upset that he was being separated from his brother and I wanted to know… if it was possible…”

Catherine’s eyes widened.

“That’s a huge responsibility, Ms. Simpson. Mateo’s no six-year-old. Forgive me for being blunt, but he’s probably more street smart than you are.”

“I know, but…”

“Just focus on Santi for now. When Mateo gets out of prison, we can talk then.”

“Alright,” Ida turned away.

Discouragement weighed her down. She didn’t want Mateo to go to jail.

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