Page 42 of Unlikely to Stay
Brant took a drink of the juice out of one of the jars.“That must be nice.”
“What must be nice?”she asked.
“Having friends like that.I wasn’t close to anyone growing up.Not really close to anyonenow, either.”
Colleen took a bite of her muffin.“Don’t you have any siblings?”
“Nope.”
“Cousins?”
“Nope.”
“Neighbors?”
Brant took a deep breath.He’d never really told anyone about his upbringing.But one look at the adorable maraschino cherry red-headed woman in front of him made him want to spill all his secrets.She reminded Brant of summer and sunshine and all good things.“No.I actually grew up in the foster care system.I didn’t really have anyone until I was eleven.”
Colleen swallowed her bite of muffin and looked at him.“That sucks,” she said.Brant was surprised he didn’t hear any pity in her voice.No fake platitude like, “I’m so sorry,” or “That must have been horrible” or “I can’t even imagine.”Colleen’s “that sucks” summed it up perfectly.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you wind up in foster care?It’s probably a touchy subject and if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine.It’s just not every day you meet someone with a story to tell.”
At her words, Brant realized he did have a story.And it wasn’t completely sad.
“I was born to a drug addict mom,” he said, taking a bite of bacon.“Never knew my dad.My mom didn’t even list him on the birth certificate.I was taken away at birth and placed with family but my mom got clean and worked her plan so she was able to get me back after a couple of years.”
“I’m guessing by your tone that didn’t go very well,” she replied, not prodding.Just interested.In him.
“No, it did not.She was clean for several years.But then she met this guy, Nance.”
Colleen snorted.“Nice name.”
“For a total douchebag,” he replied, laughing along with her when she snorted again.“So anyway, she’s with Nance.Things are going well.But then one day I get home from school to see her with a needle in her arm.She was shooting up.After that, things went downhill.”
“How old were you?”Colleen asked softly.
“Six.I didn’t really know what was going on.I hadn’t really been around drugs except when I was a baby and then she was clean so I didn’t remember them.I asked why she had a needle in her arm.Nance told me she was sick and the needle had medicine in it that was helping her.My mom smiled at me and told me everything was fine so I believed her.”
“What happened after that?”
“Nance got her addicted.People, mainly men, would come in and out of our house at all hours of the day and night.Mom quit interacting with me, quit caring.I would have to find myself food, get myself up for school.I tried to avoid the men at all costs.They obviously weren’t men with good reputations.I got knocked around by some of them at first but then I got good at avoiding them.”
“Thatreallysucks,” she said again.
“One day after school, a teacher found me digging through the dumpster behind the cafeteria for the scraps from lunch that were thrown away.She called child protective services and they took me into custody.Again.Nance had gotten my mom addicted and had been pimping her out to the men coming and going in our house.He was making a lot of money off my mom.”
“So did they place you with the family you went to as a baby?”
Brant shook his head.“No.I had been placed with my mom’s aunt when I was a baby.She didn’t have any kids and had died since I was placed with her.I got put into foster care.”
“Did they at least find you a good home?”
Brant smiled softly.“Eventually.By the time CPS got the case I was eight and had been fending for myself for two years.I was an angry kid.I was moved from foster home to foster home.Nobody wanted to keep the kid with anger management issues who needed so much therapy.Not only that, but I would steal.I would hit.I would lie.Basically I did everything that foster parents couldn’t handle.”
“How many homes did you go to?”
“Six.”
Colleen’s breath hitched.“That’s a lot of homes for a little kid to bounce around in.”