“No,” I say immediately. “I don’t want to get her hopes up. We may never hear back from them.”
“I bet you do,” Chunk says.
“I hope so. But like you said, there’s a reason they chose a closed adoption.”
“Yeah,” she says. “The waiting is going to suck.”
It really is going to suck. I sit down on my bed and think about how much it’s going to suck. Especially if I never hear back from this woman.
I hope she knows I’ll be calling her again next week. And the week after that. And the week after that. I’ll call her until she changes her number or her name.
But if either of those things happens, I’ll be back to square one.
Now that the energy is leaving the room, the reality of it all begins to sink in. The three of us grow quiet in the midst of our declining hope.
“Well,” Hannah says. “If you never hear back from them, you could always do one of those online DNA tests and hope your child does one when they’re older. There’s always that.”
“Yeah, but then Daniel would never be able to commit a murder,” Chunk says. “His DNA would always be in the system.” Hannah and I both look at her. Chunk shrugs off our wary looks. “I just wouldn’t take that chance.”
Hannah and I continue to stare at her. “You scare me,” I say.
“Not as much as the idea of you being a dad scares me,” Chunk retorts. Loudly.
I cover her mouth with my hand, staring at the door to my bedroom. “Shh. They could still be at the door,” I whisper. I slowly release my hand from her mouth.
Hannah pipes up from her position on the bed. “Oh, man. I didn’t think about that. If this works out, you’re gonna have to tell Mom and Dad.”
I didn’t think about that, either. But finding out even the most insignificant information for Six would be worth my parents’ anger.
Chunk starts giggling. “Dude, you’re gonna be in so much trouble.”
Hannah laughs, too. I glare at her, because I thought we were on the same team, but that cruel excitement is back in her eyes.
“You know,” I say, “for a moment there, I felt like the three of us bonded. But now I see that the two of you still find pleasure in the idea of my failure.”
I open the door and motion for them to leave my room. “You can go now. You two are no longer needed here.”
Hannah hops off the bed and grabs Chunk’s hand, pulling her out of the chair. “We want this to work out for you, Daniel,” Hannah says on her way out the door. “But we also look forward to shit hitting the fan when Mom and Dad find out.”
“Yes,” Chunk agrees. “Looking very forward to that.”
I close the door and lock them out of my bedroom.
Chapter Four
We decided on Sky’s house for our friendsgiving because Karen and Jack will be gone most of the day. Six recruited me to help cook the dressing and I’ve never cooked in my life, so I’ve been more of a nuisance than a help. Sky is doing the baking because she makes the best cookies in the world, according to Holder.
But when I drop the second egg in two minutes, Six finally regrets her choice. “Just go hang out with Holder and Breckin in the living room,” she says. “I feel like it’ll be easier without you in the kitchen.”
I don’t take any offense because it’s the truth.
I go to the living room and sit next to Breckin. He’s playing a game with Holder. “You winning, Powder Puff?”
He lazily turns his head and looks at me, annoyed. “We went an entire week without you calling me that. I thought you actually learned something in college.”
“What could I learn that would make me stop calling you Powder Puff?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Decency?”
Holder laughs from the recliner he’s sprawled out in. I glare in his direction. “What are you laughing at, Pimple Dick?”
“Breckin’s right,” Holder says. “Sometimes I think maybe you’re maturing, but then you go and say something ignorant again to set me straight. Still the same ‘ol Daniel.”
I shake my head. “I thought that was why you like me, because I don’t change. I’m myself all the time.”
“I think that’s the problem,” Breckin says. “You don’t evolve. But you’re getting better. I haven’t heard you use the R word in a derogatory way since you’ve been home.”
“What’s the R word?” I ask. I have no idea what he’s talking about.