Becoming Our Own, Part 2A
Title: Becoming Our Own, Part 2A
Author: Caera1996
Rating for this Part: G
W/C: 4,625
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Timeline Notes: A third anchor story (novel-length) in TBoPE/LAWG verse. Set five years after the end of Learning As We Go.
Overall Summary: Leonard, Jim, and Joanna have settled into the family they created. Changes and challenges are coming, though, for all of them. Moving, switching schools, issues with work, dealing with past issues that show up in the present, and an expanding extended family, are on the horizon. Through it all, as Jim and Leonard’s bond is tested, family is what holds them together.
This Part: Joanna makes a couple of decisions that bring her closer to finding a way to help her permanently define Jim’s place with her family. Leonard and Jim begin their day together with a request from Jim that Leonard just isn’t sure about.
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Jack was clawing at her hair. Not hard, and he wasn’t hurting her…well, not on purpose. Determinedly keeping her eyes closed, Jo snaked a hand out from under the warmth of the blankets and pushed him away.
Or tried to.
Thrilled at the game, Jack immediately latched on to her arm, holding her with his front legs and doing the kicking thing with his back legs. Jo’s eyes reluctantly opened when she felt his sharp teeth on the meaty part of her hand, between her thumb and her index finger.
“Hey,” she said. “Gentle.”
Fairly well-trained - for a cat - Jack released her hand from his mouth and flipped away from her. He went back to playing with her hair, and Joanna officially gave in.
“Oh, fine...c’mere you,” she said, pushing the blankets away. She drew Jack into her arms, and he immediately started purring, closing his pretty blue eyes in kitty bliss as she scratched under his chin. She indulged him for a couple of minutes, then sat up, officially ready to start her day. When she stood up, Jack immediately curled up in the warm spot against her pillow, and Jo rolled her eyes.
“Figures…you didn’t want to get up…you just wanted my spot, Jack,” Jo said, sitting back down to stroke along his back. “You’re so cute. Yes you are…my good boy.” She leaned down and placed a kiss on his head then stood again, stretching her arms as high as she could above her head.
It was on the earlier side, just a little after eight, and she was going to Ella’s today to work on their school project. They were partners because they both had penpals in Scotland, not because they were friends. Jo wouldn’t’ve minded being friends, but Ella was always kinda distant. Like, she didn’t like Jo, but didn’t not like her either. On the other hand, she had invited her over…so maybe they could still be friends.
Going to stand in front of her mirror, she pulled her nightshirt tightly against her body and turned sideways. She’d taken to checking almost every morning, and as always, there was hardly anything there. She still looked like a little girl. She knew she was younger, and many of the girls she went to school with didn’t have much either, but they at least had something. She wondered how much longer it would be. Even Janie had excitedly showed her new underwear her mom had bought her. Janie didn’t really need it, but she was now wearing a little bra…a training bra, she’d called it. Janie had offered to ask her mom to take her shopping too, but Joanna had frantically declined, flushing with embarrassment at even the thought. And if Aurelan was out of the question, her dad and Uncle Jim were definitely out of the question. She’d just have to figure it out herself later. When she needed it.
Sighing, she fished through her drawers, looking for something to wear that was comfortable for a weekend that promised to be as gray as Friday had been, if the scene outside her window was any indication, but also not babyish. She settled on a gray Mickey Mouse long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. It was her favorite shirt, and Mickey wasn’t babyish at all. Mickey was timeless.
She put her hair up in ponytail, then opened the door to her bedroom. Looking down the hall, she saw that her dad’s bedroom door was still closed. She didn’t even entertain the thought of knocking. If they were awake, and dressed, the door would be open. She’d finally completely learned that lesson a while ago. One morning, she’d tried the door, and finding it unlocked, let herself in…only to stop in her tracks at what she saw. Her father and Jim were lying together…naked. Mostly covered, she was beyond relieved to realize, by either the sheet or other body parts, but obviously completely naked!
Without making a sound, she’d backed out of the room and quietly pulled the door closed. Mortified, she’d stayed in her room until her dad knocked on the door, asking if she was okay, or needed to talk about anything. She’d quickly assured him that she was fine, but it was a day or so before she could look either of them in the eye.
Now, her eleven-year-old mind skittered around the thought of what they were doing in there, maybe naked again, aside from sleeping.
Her dad had talked to her about male and female stuff last year. Some she’d already known, some she needed the blanks filled in. Some she was happy to leave blank. Some…actually a lot…was occasionally the topic of conversation among her classmates. Especially at lunch time. She tried to separate herself from other kids during lunch…she didn’t like to be part of those conversations. They made her intensely uncomfortably because everyone knew about her dad and Uncle Jim, and when they got on the topic, they wanted to talk about it. Sometimes they wanted to make fun…especially the boys. And they were very crude, and she did not want to be a part of it at all.
She hadn’t told her dad or Uncle Jim about it yet…mostly because she was embarrassed, and because she didn’t know what to say. What she really wanted to do was ask to have lunch with the sixth graders, with her friends, but she hadn’t yet. Maybe this week.
In the meantime, she had a project to do. She grabbed her backpack from the kitchen table, got a cup of orange juice and a breakfast bar, and brought everything into the family room. She settled herself on the floor with the remote control, her back to the couch, and turned the t.v. on, quickly turning it down. She found the station she liked, and she opened her backpack to pull out the folder that had some of the different components of the project already done.
Ella had taken over the art part of it, designing the display board and the artistic elements of the assignment, and she’d told Jo to do all of the written stuff. She was aware that wasn’t exactly a fair division of work, but Jo didn’t care all that much. She liked writing, was good at it, and wouldn’t have to do any of the talking when it came to the presentation. Ella was going to handle that too. Which was more than fine with Jo, as a good part of the project grade depended on the presentation. She didn’t trust herself to not screw it up, either.
She opened the laptop her Uncle Jim had left on the floor, slid partly under the couch, and logged in under her name, then plugged her flashdrive in and got to work. She wanted everything ready to print so they could focus on just putting everything together when she got to Ella’s. She worked quietly for a few minutes, going back and forth between Ella’s written contributions and putting them in the right parts of the typed report, trying to type quickly like she’d seen her father and Uncle Jim do. She wasn’t slow, but she knew her two fingered approach (pecking at the keyboard, her dad had called it) wasn’t proper either. As she fixed a spelling mistake from hitting the wrong key, she resolved to work more with that online typing program Uncle Jim had found for her.
After a little while, she felt a furry body bump her side, and Jo looked over at the cat with a smile.
“Well, good morning Jack. For real this time, huh? You decide it was time to get up after all?”
Jack bumped her arm with his head, then put both paws on her leg to reach a head bump on her chin. Jo stroked the cat absently until he decided the quota for the moment was met, and sauntered off in the direction of the kitchen to see to his own breakfast. Jo spent a few more minutes reading over requirements for the project, reviewing what they each had to add to each part, and her eyes finally landed on the section about the words or terms both she and Ella had learned. Scottish Gaelic wasn’t really spoken by either of their penpals, but there were a few expressions that were part of their lexicon that Jo and Ella had found noteworthy.
One Gaelic word, in particular, was interesting to her. Kirk, which meant “church”.
It occurred to Joanna that she didn’t know very much about where her Uncle Jim’s family came from…besides Iowa. Nowhere, Iowa, was what he always said, though the town was actually Riverside. Jo knew her father’s family was from Ireland, England, and Italy. Her mother’s family was from France and Germany. But where was Jim’s family from? Apparently, maybe Scotland.
That was interesting.
Another word that was interesting to her was one Tierney had used to describe who the man in the picture she’d emailed was. I call him oide, cause he’s not really my dad, though my ma’s been married to him since I was born. She looked at the word, trying to imagine how it would be pronounced, and she couldn’t. Gaelic was just such a different-sounding language.
Checking the time on the laptop, Jo did a quick calculation in her head. It was just about 5:00pm in Scotland right now. Nervous, but curious enough to push the nervousness away, she opened her email and sent a quick message to Tierney. She swallowed her nerves as she waited to see if she was even going to respond back, and went back to adding a few more pieces of information to the report. Before she could even really get into it, an email came through.
Reading it quickly, Jo felt a rush of excitement. She only had minutes to set herself up. Standing, she unplugged the laptop and took it into the library, then went back to the family room and got her notebook and her breakfast. At the little desk, she plugged it in again, then also plugged in the microphone. She hesitated just a moment before logging in to McKinley’s student access account, and clicked through to the secure program that allowed the penpals to speak to each other. Mr. Sulu, the school’s IT guru (as he called himself) had come up with the program, and only kids with permission slips could use it. As she waited for her connection to be acknowledged, she took a second to try to smooth down her hair. Then, with shaking hands, she clicked on the icon and accepted Tierney’s invitation to videochat.
“Hi there, Joanna! It’s nice to put a face to the name!”
Forcing herself to raise her eyes to the camera, Jo couldn’t help but smile at the blonde girl looking back at her with such a friendly, open expression.
“Hi, Tierney. It’s nice to meet you.”
It was awkward at first, and Jo couldn’t really think of anything to say. But Tierney was a little older and, through their emails, got to know the person Jo really was. So she asked a couple of open-ended questions, helping to draw Jo into the conversation more until it was almost like they’d been actually talking for the last month, and not just emailing each other.
As they chatted, Jim made his way down the hall and paused outside of the library door. It was only slightly open, and he could clearly hear that Jo was speaking to someone. Jim pushed it open a little more, looking in. Jo was sitting with her back to him, and he could see she was talking to someone on the computer. He nearly interrupted her, concerned about who she might be chatting with, until he heard Tierney speak, and then he smiled, feeling a rush of pride for the little girl he’d come to think of as his own. He knew she’d get there.
Leaving her to it, he headed to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. Seeing that Bones left his laptop bag on a kitchen chair, he pulled the computer out, and then got a notepad and pen out of one of the drawers. After making himself a cup of coffee, he settled at the kitchen table and booted it up, thinking about where they should focus their search for a house. He knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy to find one, mostly because of what they wanted…not a row house.
Bones couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving an apartment to live in a row house. Not that it wouldn’t be bigger and more roomy for them, but the idea of “living on top of people” with other houses on either side held no appeal to him at all. A “house” to Bones meant land and a house. And what he hadn’t been prepared for was the idea that property here pretty much just meant a house with a backyard, and very little extra space.
On the other hand, they didn’t have to stay in the city. They could look at surrounding neighborhoods, and maybe find a little enclave of other transplants who had the same notions about their property. Driving into the city every day wouldn’t necessarily be fun, but it was totally do-able. The biggest concern was going to be Jo and school. So far, they’d been incredibly lucky with the control they’d had over their schedules, and they’d always been able to make pick up and drop off times work. But now, with even Jo’s schooling up in the air…it was kind of like trying to put a puzzle together without first knowing what the finished product even looked like.
“Hey Darlin’. Thanks for getting the coffee ready,” Leonard said as he came into the kitchen. Jim smiled as Bones squeezed his shoulder and dropped a kiss on his head. He poured himself a cup and took a sip. “Delicious.”
“No problem. You’re in a good mood this morning,” Jim said teasingly. Bones turned around, leaning against the counter and crossing his ankles, his coffee cup hiding a smile his eyes were giving away.
“I slept very well last night…very relaxed,” he replied with a wink.
Jim grinned. “Me too.”
“What’re you lookin’ at?” Bones asked, nodding towards the open laptop.
“Houses. I haven’t stopped thinking about it…it’s one of those things I didn’t even know I wanted till you brought it up.”
“Darlin’, I love your enthusiasm, but we’re a long way from lookin’. We’ve got to get our finances in order first. Otherwise, what’s the point of lookin’ if we can’t afford what your lookin’ at?”
“Eh. You worry about the finances. I want to look,” Jim replied with a shrug. Bones chuckled and ruffled his hair affectionately, then joined Jim at the table.
“Jo was talking to her penpal,” Leonard said.
Jim nodded. “Yeah, I heard her and peaked in earlier. I’m glad she finally got up the nerve.”
“Me too. They sounded like they were having fun. It was good to hear.” He glanced at the clock on the oven. “You remember what time Jo’s supposed to be at Ella’s?”
“Eleven, I think,” Jim replied. His cellphone rang, and Bones stood to get it for him off the counter where he’d left it to charge.
“Don’t recognize the number,” he remarked as he handed it to Jim.
Taking it, Jim shrugged. He didn’t recognize the number either.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Jim. This is Carol. Carol Marcus, from McKinley.”
Jim’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Uh, hi Carol,” Jim said, meeting Bones’ eyes. “Good morning. Um, what can I do for you?”
Leonard looked up from reading Jim’s notes when he identified the caller, surprised that the guidance counselor would be so bold.
“I’m going to be out and about today, running errands for this and that, and wondered if you’d care to join me for lunch? I thought we could discuss some of those strategies you mentioned.”
“Uh, well…we’re kind of busy today,” Jim replied. He hesitated, then decided he needed to say something more definitive than that as Bones watched him have this conversation. “And I’d be happy to talk with you more about the different strategies, but I’d prefer to have that meeting during the week. If you send me an email, I can maybe try to arrange something within the next couple of weeks, and maybe we can open it up to anyone else who’s interested in it.”
”Oh…okay. I’ll, uh, I’ll send that email on Monday. Have a nice day today,” Carol replied, the confident tone gone from her voice.
“Thanks, Carol. You too.”
Jim disconnected, and set the phone down, looking up at Bones. “That was awkward,” he said.
Leonard smiled, reaching with his foot under the table to gently knock Jim’s ankle. “I think you handled it fine,” he said. “Though I’m a little surprised she was so…direct. I mean, she knows we’re together.”
Jim shrugged slightly. “She may have been completely innocent. Maybe I misconstrued.”
“Maybe,” Leonard said. But he didn’t think so. He’d seen the way Carol looked at Jim. “But either way, you were professional and clear. If she did have any designs on you, that should put an end to it.”
“Designs on me,” Jim repeated with a smile. “How can you be so old-fashioned, and such a cutting-edge neuro researcher at the same time?”
“Practice, and sheer force of will,” Leonard replied drily.
Jim chuckled and turned his attention back to the computer screen, clicking through a few listings.
“I’d like to visit a realtor today,” Leonard said. “And get this whole process rolling.”
Jim nodded. “I’ll call Sam. They really liked the person they worked with when they were buying their house.”
“Good idea,” Leonard said. “I was just going to pick someone at random, but I like the idea of going through someone who’s already proven themselves.”
“Hi Dad, hi Uncle Jim,” Joanna said, coming into the kitchen. “Uncle Jim, I put your laptop on the coffee table in the family room.”
“Okay, thanks Jo.”
“How was your chat with Tierney?” Leonard asked, holding out an arm to her. She joined them at the table, leaning against her father’s side as he curled his arm around her.
“It was good,” she said. “I got some new information to add to the report.” She looked at Jim, and took a breath, almost as if she were going to say something. She didn’t though; just averting her eyes and flushing slightly.
“That’s good, sweetie,” Jim said with an easy smile after a moment. “Do you have everything you need? We have to leave pretty soon.”
“Yup. The report is on my flashdrive in my pocket, and my notes are in my backpack that I left on the couch,” Jo said.
“Jim and I are going to run some errands while you’re working, so you call one of our cellphones when you’re ready to go, okay?”
“Yup,” she said. “I should have a cellphone, too.”
Leonard rolled his eyes. This was a conversation they had often.
“Not yet, Baby,” he said.
“When?” she asked, not whining…but close.
“When it’s time. Which is not today. Did you eat?”
Joanna rolled her eyes, and Jim smiled slightly. There had been many versions of this conversation, and no one doubted there would be many more before Bones finally gave in.
“I had a breakfast bar and some juice,” she replied.
“Where’s your cup and wrapper?” Leonard asked.
“In the library,” she admitted, slightly sheepishly. “I’ll go get it.”
“Mm-hmm. And brush your teeth.”
“Okay, be right back.”
She skipped out of the kitchen to do her errands and Jim and Bones stood, too, retreating to their bedroom to finish getting ready before heading out.
“I wonder what that was about.” Leonard said, referring to the uncharacteristic display of shyness towards Jim.
He shrugged. “It kinda looked like she wanted to say something. We’ll have to see if she tries to bring it up again. So, meet with a realtor…maybe see some houses,” Jim said, knowing Leonard would give in if he really wanted. “What else are we doing today?”
Leonard pulled on his shoes and shrugged. “I don’t know…an early lunch, since we skipped breakfast. Food shopping. We’ll see what else comes up. Why? You have something in mind?”
“Yeah,” Jim replied. “I want to take a drive by Ryan’s house, just to see.”
Leonard finished putting on his shoes and straightened, brow furrowing as he tried to put a memory to that name. Jim glanced at him before heading out of their bedroom, and Leonard followed. And then he realized who Jim was talking about.
“Jim,” he said, reaching for and gently grasping Jim’s arm. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
He shrugged. “I can’t see how it could hurt. I just want to drive by and take a look at where he lives. It’s not like I’m going to knock on their door or anything.”
Bones’ eyes narrowed as he looked at Jim. He sounded entirely too confident. He let go of Jim’s arm. “You do this all the time, don’t you? Go to students’ houses.”
“Sometimes the only way to get people to really listen to you is to show up. A lot of the kids who end up referred to me don’t have the kind of parents who are interested enough, or even able to, take time out of the day for a school meeting.”
“So you show up.”
“Someone has to show up for these kids,” Jim said quietly.
Leonard smiled fondly. “Well, Darlin’, they’re lucky you’re the one who shows up for them.”
“It just never feels like it’s enough, Bones.”
Ending the conversation, they entered the kitchen where Jo was waiting for them, and Jim picked his keys up from the counter.
“Okay, kiddo…got your papers, your flashdrive, everything else you need?” Jim checked again, giving her ponytail a gentle tug.
“Yup! I’m all ready!” Jo replied, and the three of them filed out of the apartment into the gray light of the foggy day.
The drive to Ella’s was fairly short, and as they pulled over at the curb, Joanna could feel that familiar, heavy sensation start to drape itself over her again. She hardly realized it, but she reacted physically, hunching her shoulders slightly and lowering her head. Her insides tightened, making her feel like she wasn’t pulling full breaths. She could hear her father talking to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look up, too caught up in the anxiety of going over to someone’s house who she really didn’t know - with adults she didn’t know at all.
She was on the verge of asking them to make excuses for her…she could email Ella everything she needed. This…was just too much. She couldn’t do it. She thought she could, but she couldn’t.
In the front seat, Leonard and Jim exchanged concerned glances. Leonard reached back and cupped her face, then gently gripped her small, strong shoulder.
“It’s okay, Baby,” Leonard said. “You know Ella. She’s been to our house before.”
“Daddy…I can’t--”
“Come on, Jo,” Leonard said, firming his voice a little and interrupting what he knew she was about to say and opening his car door. “I’ll walk you in, talk to Mrs. Eberly and make sure you’re all settled, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response, but got out of the car and opened Jo’s door for her. He waited for a moment, but when Jo didn’t make any move to leave the car, Leonard squatted down so he could see her. “Jo, you made a commitment to your classmate. She’s counting on you, and both your grades depend on this project. So, come on now. Come on.”
Reluctantly, Joanna stepped out of the car. Her dad was right. She knew her dad was right. She just didn’t know why stuff like this had to be so hard all the time. She slung her backpack on one shoulder, and held out her hand, silently asking for support.
Proud of her for pushing through a bout of what he knew could be pretty debilitating shyness, Leonard took her small hand in his, giving her a squeeze. Jim watched from the car as they climbed the stairs, and Bones knocked on the door.
Jo kept her eyes lowered, staring at the toes of her shoes, when the door opened.
“Hi Leo, hi there Jo!” Lana Eberly greeted them. “Come on in. Ella’s already set up and working on the kitchen table.”
“Hello Lana,” Leonard replied as he walked them into the bright, airy house. “Jo’s been making sure things are all in order and ready to go, haven’t you Jo?”
Still unable to look up, Jo nodded.
“Well, okay, then honey…why don’t you go into the kitchen with Ella. And later, we’ll maybe order something fun for lunch. How does that sound?” she asked kindly, familiar with Jo’s reticence, and not bothered by it.
“Good, thank you,” Jo said quietly, she glanced up at Mrs. Eberly with a little smile, and Leonard was happy to see how hard she was trying. She turned to her father, giving him a hug. “I didn’t tell Uncle Jim good-bye.”
“I’ll tell him for you, and we’ll see you in just a little while anyway, okay?”
“Okay. Bye Daddy.”
She turned and headed for the kitchen, and Lana smiled at Leonard.
“She’s such a sweetie,” she said. “And so smart.”
“Yeah, she’s a good girl, for sure,” Leonard said with a smile. “Jim and I are going to run some errands, and we both have our cells. Jo knows both numbers, so she can just give us a call whenever they’re done.”
“Okay, no problem. I don’t expect what they’re doing will take too long, and Jo’s welcome to hang out here if you two need more time.”
“Great, thank you,” Leonard said as she walked him back to the door. “See you soon.”
Jim looked up from fiddling with the radio when Bones opened the passenger-side door.
“Jo okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Every time it gets a little easier,” Leonard replied.
Jim smiled. “Good. I hate to see her so uncomfortable.”
“Hm. Tell me about it,” he said. “But she really did seem like she’d be able to settle in, and at least have a good day with Ella, even if she stays quiet around Lana. She’ll call us when she’s ready to come home.”
Jim looked over at Leonard as he pulled away from the curb. “I think you handled her perfectly. And I think it’s good that you’re pushing her over stuff like this when she wants to pull away.”
Leonard smiled, reaching to take Jim’s hand over the center console. “Well, there’s this child development specialist I get all my parenting advice from,” he said, giving him a wink. “So….what are we doing first?”
“Well, I called Sam and got the name of the realtor they used. It’s a Coldwell Banker office across town, so I figured we could detour by Ryan’s house first.”
Leonard hesitated before replying, still not sure about this course of action, despite the fact that he knew Jim had done things like that before.
“I just want to look, Bones. Really,” Jim said. “I want to see what the neighborhood is like, and what his house is like. You’d be surprised how much insight you can get from just observing where someone spends the majority of their time.”
“Okay,” Leonard said, recognizing that Jim was really set on this. “Let’s go.”
“Thanks, Bones. Here, you navigate,” he said, handing Leonard the Mapquest directions.
<--- Back to Part 1B Continue to Part 2B --->
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Author: Caera1996
Rating for this Part: G
W/C: 4,625
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Timeline Notes: A third anchor story (novel-length) in TBoPE/LAWG verse. Set five years after the end of Learning As We Go.
Overall Summary: Leonard, Jim, and Joanna have settled into the family they created. Changes and challenges are coming, though, for all of them. Moving, switching schools, issues with work, dealing with past issues that show up in the present, and an expanding extended family, are on the horizon. Through it all, as Jim and Leonard’s bond is tested, family is what holds them together.
This Part: Joanna makes a couple of decisions that bring her closer to finding a way to help her permanently define Jim’s place with her family. Leonard and Jim begin their day together with a request from Jim that Leonard just isn’t sure about.
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Jack was clawing at her hair. Not hard, and he wasn’t hurting her…well, not on purpose. Determinedly keeping her eyes closed, Jo snaked a hand out from under the warmth of the blankets and pushed him away.
Or tried to.
Thrilled at the game, Jack immediately latched on to her arm, holding her with his front legs and doing the kicking thing with his back legs. Jo’s eyes reluctantly opened when she felt his sharp teeth on the meaty part of her hand, between her thumb and her index finger.
“Hey,” she said. “Gentle.”
Fairly well-trained - for a cat - Jack released her hand from his mouth and flipped away from her. He went back to playing with her hair, and Joanna officially gave in.
“Oh, fine...c’mere you,” she said, pushing the blankets away. She drew Jack into her arms, and he immediately started purring, closing his pretty blue eyes in kitty bliss as she scratched under his chin. She indulged him for a couple of minutes, then sat up, officially ready to start her day. When she stood up, Jack immediately curled up in the warm spot against her pillow, and Jo rolled her eyes.
“Figures…you didn’t want to get up…you just wanted my spot, Jack,” Jo said, sitting back down to stroke along his back. “You’re so cute. Yes you are…my good boy.” She leaned down and placed a kiss on his head then stood again, stretching her arms as high as she could above her head.
It was on the earlier side, just a little after eight, and she was going to Ella’s today to work on their school project. They were partners because they both had penpals in Scotland, not because they were friends. Jo wouldn’t’ve minded being friends, but Ella was always kinda distant. Like, she didn’t like Jo, but didn’t not like her either. On the other hand, she had invited her over…so maybe they could still be friends.
Going to stand in front of her mirror, she pulled her nightshirt tightly against her body and turned sideways. She’d taken to checking almost every morning, and as always, there was hardly anything there. She still looked like a little girl. She knew she was younger, and many of the girls she went to school with didn’t have much either, but they at least had something. She wondered how much longer it would be. Even Janie had excitedly showed her new underwear her mom had bought her. Janie didn’t really need it, but she was now wearing a little bra…a training bra, she’d called it. Janie had offered to ask her mom to take her shopping too, but Joanna had frantically declined, flushing with embarrassment at even the thought. And if Aurelan was out of the question, her dad and Uncle Jim were definitely out of the question. She’d just have to figure it out herself later. When she needed it.
Sighing, she fished through her drawers, looking for something to wear that was comfortable for a weekend that promised to be as gray as Friday had been, if the scene outside her window was any indication, but also not babyish. She settled on a gray Mickey Mouse long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. It was her favorite shirt, and Mickey wasn’t babyish at all. Mickey was timeless.
She put her hair up in ponytail, then opened the door to her bedroom. Looking down the hall, she saw that her dad’s bedroom door was still closed. She didn’t even entertain the thought of knocking. If they were awake, and dressed, the door would be open. She’d finally completely learned that lesson a while ago. One morning, she’d tried the door, and finding it unlocked, let herself in…only to stop in her tracks at what she saw. Her father and Jim were lying together…naked. Mostly covered, she was beyond relieved to realize, by either the sheet or other body parts, but obviously completely naked!
Without making a sound, she’d backed out of the room and quietly pulled the door closed. Mortified, she’d stayed in her room until her dad knocked on the door, asking if she was okay, or needed to talk about anything. She’d quickly assured him that she was fine, but it was a day or so before she could look either of them in the eye.
Now, her eleven-year-old mind skittered around the thought of what they were doing in there, maybe naked again, aside from sleeping.
Her dad had talked to her about male and female stuff last year. Some she’d already known, some she needed the blanks filled in. Some she was happy to leave blank. Some…actually a lot…was occasionally the topic of conversation among her classmates. Especially at lunch time. She tried to separate herself from other kids during lunch…she didn’t like to be part of those conversations. They made her intensely uncomfortably because everyone knew about her dad and Uncle Jim, and when they got on the topic, they wanted to talk about it. Sometimes they wanted to make fun…especially the boys. And they were very crude, and she did not want to be a part of it at all.
She hadn’t told her dad or Uncle Jim about it yet…mostly because she was embarrassed, and because she didn’t know what to say. What she really wanted to do was ask to have lunch with the sixth graders, with her friends, but she hadn’t yet. Maybe this week.
In the meantime, she had a project to do. She grabbed her backpack from the kitchen table, got a cup of orange juice and a breakfast bar, and brought everything into the family room. She settled herself on the floor with the remote control, her back to the couch, and turned the t.v. on, quickly turning it down. She found the station she liked, and she opened her backpack to pull out the folder that had some of the different components of the project already done.
Ella had taken over the art part of it, designing the display board and the artistic elements of the assignment, and she’d told Jo to do all of the written stuff. She was aware that wasn’t exactly a fair division of work, but Jo didn’t care all that much. She liked writing, was good at it, and wouldn’t have to do any of the talking when it came to the presentation. Ella was going to handle that too. Which was more than fine with Jo, as a good part of the project grade depended on the presentation. She didn’t trust herself to not screw it up, either.
She opened the laptop her Uncle Jim had left on the floor, slid partly under the couch, and logged in under her name, then plugged her flashdrive in and got to work. She wanted everything ready to print so they could focus on just putting everything together when she got to Ella’s. She worked quietly for a few minutes, going back and forth between Ella’s written contributions and putting them in the right parts of the typed report, trying to type quickly like she’d seen her father and Uncle Jim do. She wasn’t slow, but she knew her two fingered approach (pecking at the keyboard, her dad had called it) wasn’t proper either. As she fixed a spelling mistake from hitting the wrong key, she resolved to work more with that online typing program Uncle Jim had found for her.
After a little while, she felt a furry body bump her side, and Jo looked over at the cat with a smile.
“Well, good morning Jack. For real this time, huh? You decide it was time to get up after all?”
Jack bumped her arm with his head, then put both paws on her leg to reach a head bump on her chin. Jo stroked the cat absently until he decided the quota for the moment was met, and sauntered off in the direction of the kitchen to see to his own breakfast. Jo spent a few more minutes reading over requirements for the project, reviewing what they each had to add to each part, and her eyes finally landed on the section about the words or terms both she and Ella had learned. Scottish Gaelic wasn’t really spoken by either of their penpals, but there were a few expressions that were part of their lexicon that Jo and Ella had found noteworthy.
One Gaelic word, in particular, was interesting to her. Kirk, which meant “church”.
It occurred to Joanna that she didn’t know very much about where her Uncle Jim’s family came from…besides Iowa. Nowhere, Iowa, was what he always said, though the town was actually Riverside. Jo knew her father’s family was from Ireland, England, and Italy. Her mother’s family was from France and Germany. But where was Jim’s family from? Apparently, maybe Scotland.
That was interesting.
Another word that was interesting to her was one Tierney had used to describe who the man in the picture she’d emailed was. I call him oide, cause he’s not really my dad, though my ma’s been married to him since I was born. She looked at the word, trying to imagine how it would be pronounced, and she couldn’t. Gaelic was just such a different-sounding language.
Checking the time on the laptop, Jo did a quick calculation in her head. It was just about 5:00pm in Scotland right now. Nervous, but curious enough to push the nervousness away, she opened her email and sent a quick message to Tierney. She swallowed her nerves as she waited to see if she was even going to respond back, and went back to adding a few more pieces of information to the report. Before she could even really get into it, an email came through.
Reading it quickly, Jo felt a rush of excitement. She only had minutes to set herself up. Standing, she unplugged the laptop and took it into the library, then went back to the family room and got her notebook and her breakfast. At the little desk, she plugged it in again, then also plugged in the microphone. She hesitated just a moment before logging in to McKinley’s student access account, and clicked through to the secure program that allowed the penpals to speak to each other. Mr. Sulu, the school’s IT guru (as he called himself) had come up with the program, and only kids with permission slips could use it. As she waited for her connection to be acknowledged, she took a second to try to smooth down her hair. Then, with shaking hands, she clicked on the icon and accepted Tierney’s invitation to videochat.
“Hi there, Joanna! It’s nice to put a face to the name!”
Forcing herself to raise her eyes to the camera, Jo couldn’t help but smile at the blonde girl looking back at her with such a friendly, open expression.
“Hi, Tierney. It’s nice to meet you.”
It was awkward at first, and Jo couldn’t really think of anything to say. But Tierney was a little older and, through their emails, got to know the person Jo really was. So she asked a couple of open-ended questions, helping to draw Jo into the conversation more until it was almost like they’d been actually talking for the last month, and not just emailing each other.
As they chatted, Jim made his way down the hall and paused outside of the library door. It was only slightly open, and he could clearly hear that Jo was speaking to someone. Jim pushed it open a little more, looking in. Jo was sitting with her back to him, and he could see she was talking to someone on the computer. He nearly interrupted her, concerned about who she might be chatting with, until he heard Tierney speak, and then he smiled, feeling a rush of pride for the little girl he’d come to think of as his own. He knew she’d get there.
Leaving her to it, he headed to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. Seeing that Bones left his laptop bag on a kitchen chair, he pulled the computer out, and then got a notepad and pen out of one of the drawers. After making himself a cup of coffee, he settled at the kitchen table and booted it up, thinking about where they should focus their search for a house. He knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy to find one, mostly because of what they wanted…not a row house.
Bones couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving an apartment to live in a row house. Not that it wouldn’t be bigger and more roomy for them, but the idea of “living on top of people” with other houses on either side held no appeal to him at all. A “house” to Bones meant land and a house. And what he hadn’t been prepared for was the idea that property here pretty much just meant a house with a backyard, and very little extra space.
On the other hand, they didn’t have to stay in the city. They could look at surrounding neighborhoods, and maybe find a little enclave of other transplants who had the same notions about their property. Driving into the city every day wouldn’t necessarily be fun, but it was totally do-able. The biggest concern was going to be Jo and school. So far, they’d been incredibly lucky with the control they’d had over their schedules, and they’d always been able to make pick up and drop off times work. But now, with even Jo’s schooling up in the air…it was kind of like trying to put a puzzle together without first knowing what the finished product even looked like.
“Hey Darlin’. Thanks for getting the coffee ready,” Leonard said as he came into the kitchen. Jim smiled as Bones squeezed his shoulder and dropped a kiss on his head. He poured himself a cup and took a sip. “Delicious.”
“No problem. You’re in a good mood this morning,” Jim said teasingly. Bones turned around, leaning against the counter and crossing his ankles, his coffee cup hiding a smile his eyes were giving away.
“I slept very well last night…very relaxed,” he replied with a wink.
Jim grinned. “Me too.”
“What’re you lookin’ at?” Bones asked, nodding towards the open laptop.
“Houses. I haven’t stopped thinking about it…it’s one of those things I didn’t even know I wanted till you brought it up.”
“Darlin’, I love your enthusiasm, but we’re a long way from lookin’. We’ve got to get our finances in order first. Otherwise, what’s the point of lookin’ if we can’t afford what your lookin’ at?”
“Eh. You worry about the finances. I want to look,” Jim replied with a shrug. Bones chuckled and ruffled his hair affectionately, then joined Jim at the table.
“Jo was talking to her penpal,” Leonard said.
Jim nodded. “Yeah, I heard her and peaked in earlier. I’m glad she finally got up the nerve.”
“Me too. They sounded like they were having fun. It was good to hear.” He glanced at the clock on the oven. “You remember what time Jo’s supposed to be at Ella’s?”
“Eleven, I think,” Jim replied. His cellphone rang, and Bones stood to get it for him off the counter where he’d left it to charge.
“Don’t recognize the number,” he remarked as he handed it to Jim.
Taking it, Jim shrugged. He didn’t recognize the number either.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Jim. This is Carol. Carol Marcus, from McKinley.”
Jim’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Uh, hi Carol,” Jim said, meeting Bones’ eyes. “Good morning. Um, what can I do for you?”
Leonard looked up from reading Jim’s notes when he identified the caller, surprised that the guidance counselor would be so bold.
“I’m going to be out and about today, running errands for this and that, and wondered if you’d care to join me for lunch? I thought we could discuss some of those strategies you mentioned.”
“Uh, well…we’re kind of busy today,” Jim replied. He hesitated, then decided he needed to say something more definitive than that as Bones watched him have this conversation. “And I’d be happy to talk with you more about the different strategies, but I’d prefer to have that meeting during the week. If you send me an email, I can maybe try to arrange something within the next couple of weeks, and maybe we can open it up to anyone else who’s interested in it.”
”Oh…okay. I’ll, uh, I’ll send that email on Monday. Have a nice day today,” Carol replied, the confident tone gone from her voice.
“Thanks, Carol. You too.”
Jim disconnected, and set the phone down, looking up at Bones. “That was awkward,” he said.
Leonard smiled, reaching with his foot under the table to gently knock Jim’s ankle. “I think you handled it fine,” he said. “Though I’m a little surprised she was so…direct. I mean, she knows we’re together.”
Jim shrugged slightly. “She may have been completely innocent. Maybe I misconstrued.”
“Maybe,” Leonard said. But he didn’t think so. He’d seen the way Carol looked at Jim. “But either way, you were professional and clear. If she did have any designs on you, that should put an end to it.”
“Designs on me,” Jim repeated with a smile. “How can you be so old-fashioned, and such a cutting-edge neuro researcher at the same time?”
“Practice, and sheer force of will,” Leonard replied drily.
Jim chuckled and turned his attention back to the computer screen, clicking through a few listings.
“I’d like to visit a realtor today,” Leonard said. “And get this whole process rolling.”
Jim nodded. “I’ll call Sam. They really liked the person they worked with when they were buying their house.”
“Good idea,” Leonard said. “I was just going to pick someone at random, but I like the idea of going through someone who’s already proven themselves.”
“Hi Dad, hi Uncle Jim,” Joanna said, coming into the kitchen. “Uncle Jim, I put your laptop on the coffee table in the family room.”
“Okay, thanks Jo.”
“How was your chat with Tierney?” Leonard asked, holding out an arm to her. She joined them at the table, leaning against her father’s side as he curled his arm around her.
“It was good,” she said. “I got some new information to add to the report.” She looked at Jim, and took a breath, almost as if she were going to say something. She didn’t though; just averting her eyes and flushing slightly.
“That’s good, sweetie,” Jim said with an easy smile after a moment. “Do you have everything you need? We have to leave pretty soon.”
“Yup. The report is on my flashdrive in my pocket, and my notes are in my backpack that I left on the couch,” Jo said.
“Jim and I are going to run some errands while you’re working, so you call one of our cellphones when you’re ready to go, okay?”
“Yup,” she said. “I should have a cellphone, too.”
Leonard rolled his eyes. This was a conversation they had often.
“Not yet, Baby,” he said.
“When?” she asked, not whining…but close.
“When it’s time. Which is not today. Did you eat?”
Joanna rolled her eyes, and Jim smiled slightly. There had been many versions of this conversation, and no one doubted there would be many more before Bones finally gave in.
“I had a breakfast bar and some juice,” she replied.
“Where’s your cup and wrapper?” Leonard asked.
“In the library,” she admitted, slightly sheepishly. “I’ll go get it.”
“Mm-hmm. And brush your teeth.”
“Okay, be right back.”
She skipped out of the kitchen to do her errands and Jim and Bones stood, too, retreating to their bedroom to finish getting ready before heading out.
“I wonder what that was about.” Leonard said, referring to the uncharacteristic display of shyness towards Jim.
He shrugged. “It kinda looked like she wanted to say something. We’ll have to see if she tries to bring it up again. So, meet with a realtor…maybe see some houses,” Jim said, knowing Leonard would give in if he really wanted. “What else are we doing today?”
Leonard pulled on his shoes and shrugged. “I don’t know…an early lunch, since we skipped breakfast. Food shopping. We’ll see what else comes up. Why? You have something in mind?”
“Yeah,” Jim replied. “I want to take a drive by Ryan’s house, just to see.”
Leonard finished putting on his shoes and straightened, brow furrowing as he tried to put a memory to that name. Jim glanced at him before heading out of their bedroom, and Leonard followed. And then he realized who Jim was talking about.
“Jim,” he said, reaching for and gently grasping Jim’s arm. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
He shrugged. “I can’t see how it could hurt. I just want to drive by and take a look at where he lives. It’s not like I’m going to knock on their door or anything.”
Bones’ eyes narrowed as he looked at Jim. He sounded entirely too confident. He let go of Jim’s arm. “You do this all the time, don’t you? Go to students’ houses.”
“Sometimes the only way to get people to really listen to you is to show up. A lot of the kids who end up referred to me don’t have the kind of parents who are interested enough, or even able to, take time out of the day for a school meeting.”
“So you show up.”
“Someone has to show up for these kids,” Jim said quietly.
Leonard smiled fondly. “Well, Darlin’, they’re lucky you’re the one who shows up for them.”
“It just never feels like it’s enough, Bones.”
Ending the conversation, they entered the kitchen where Jo was waiting for them, and Jim picked his keys up from the counter.
“Okay, kiddo…got your papers, your flashdrive, everything else you need?” Jim checked again, giving her ponytail a gentle tug.
“Yup! I’m all ready!” Jo replied, and the three of them filed out of the apartment into the gray light of the foggy day.
The drive to Ella’s was fairly short, and as they pulled over at the curb, Joanna could feel that familiar, heavy sensation start to drape itself over her again. She hardly realized it, but she reacted physically, hunching her shoulders slightly and lowering her head. Her insides tightened, making her feel like she wasn’t pulling full breaths. She could hear her father talking to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to look up, too caught up in the anxiety of going over to someone’s house who she really didn’t know - with adults she didn’t know at all.
She was on the verge of asking them to make excuses for her…she could email Ella everything she needed. This…was just too much. She couldn’t do it. She thought she could, but she couldn’t.
In the front seat, Leonard and Jim exchanged concerned glances. Leonard reached back and cupped her face, then gently gripped her small, strong shoulder.
“It’s okay, Baby,” Leonard said. “You know Ella. She’s been to our house before.”
“Daddy…I can’t--”
“Come on, Jo,” Leonard said, firming his voice a little and interrupting what he knew she was about to say and opening his car door. “I’ll walk you in, talk to Mrs. Eberly and make sure you’re all settled, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response, but got out of the car and opened Jo’s door for her. He waited for a moment, but when Jo didn’t make any move to leave the car, Leonard squatted down so he could see her. “Jo, you made a commitment to your classmate. She’s counting on you, and both your grades depend on this project. So, come on now. Come on.”
Reluctantly, Joanna stepped out of the car. Her dad was right. She knew her dad was right. She just didn’t know why stuff like this had to be so hard all the time. She slung her backpack on one shoulder, and held out her hand, silently asking for support.
Proud of her for pushing through a bout of what he knew could be pretty debilitating shyness, Leonard took her small hand in his, giving her a squeeze. Jim watched from the car as they climbed the stairs, and Bones knocked on the door.
Jo kept her eyes lowered, staring at the toes of her shoes, when the door opened.
“Hi Leo, hi there Jo!” Lana Eberly greeted them. “Come on in. Ella’s already set up and working on the kitchen table.”
“Hello Lana,” Leonard replied as he walked them into the bright, airy house. “Jo’s been making sure things are all in order and ready to go, haven’t you Jo?”
Still unable to look up, Jo nodded.
“Well, okay, then honey…why don’t you go into the kitchen with Ella. And later, we’ll maybe order something fun for lunch. How does that sound?” she asked kindly, familiar with Jo’s reticence, and not bothered by it.
“Good, thank you,” Jo said quietly, she glanced up at Mrs. Eberly with a little smile, and Leonard was happy to see how hard she was trying. She turned to her father, giving him a hug. “I didn’t tell Uncle Jim good-bye.”
“I’ll tell him for you, and we’ll see you in just a little while anyway, okay?”
“Okay. Bye Daddy.”
She turned and headed for the kitchen, and Lana smiled at Leonard.
“She’s such a sweetie,” she said. “And so smart.”
“Yeah, she’s a good girl, for sure,” Leonard said with a smile. “Jim and I are going to run some errands, and we both have our cells. Jo knows both numbers, so she can just give us a call whenever they’re done.”
“Okay, no problem. I don’t expect what they’re doing will take too long, and Jo’s welcome to hang out here if you two need more time.”
“Great, thank you,” Leonard said as she walked him back to the door. “See you soon.”
Jim looked up from fiddling with the radio when Bones opened the passenger-side door.
“Jo okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Every time it gets a little easier,” Leonard replied.
Jim smiled. “Good. I hate to see her so uncomfortable.”
“Hm. Tell me about it,” he said. “But she really did seem like she’d be able to settle in, and at least have a good day with Ella, even if she stays quiet around Lana. She’ll call us when she’s ready to come home.”
Jim looked over at Leonard as he pulled away from the curb. “I think you handled her perfectly. And I think it’s good that you’re pushing her over stuff like this when she wants to pull away.”
Leonard smiled, reaching to take Jim’s hand over the center console. “Well, there’s this child development specialist I get all my parenting advice from,” he said, giving him a wink. “So….what are we doing first?”
“Well, I called Sam and got the name of the realtor they used. It’s a Coldwell Banker office across town, so I figured we could detour by Ryan’s house first.”
Leonard hesitated before replying, still not sure about this course of action, despite the fact that he knew Jim had done things like that before.
“I just want to look, Bones. Really,” Jim said. “I want to see what the neighborhood is like, and what his house is like. You’d be surprised how much insight you can get from just observing where someone spends the majority of their time.”
“Okay,” Leonard said, recognizing that Jim was really set on this. “Let’s go.”
“Thanks, Bones. Here, you navigate,” he said, handing Leonard the Mapquest directions.
<--- Back to Part 1B Continue to Part 2B --->
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