and have to schedule afternoon naps so I don’t pass out. After months like that, I become a bit antisocial for a while.”
“I guess there’s something to be said for my job. If no one notices you, then you don’t have to deal with people.”
“I noticed you.”
James focused on his soup, trying to force away a smile. “You did.”
“So how about you, James Maron? Aside from acoustic music and keeping geniuses from looking like idiots, who are you? What’s your life?”
“I….” James looked up into the rafters again. “I’m a parent. Dylan is pretty much my life. Making sure he grows up into the best man he can be. Strong, healthy, happy, educated. Yeah.”
“That’s amazingly admirable.” James gave a dismissive snort, and Gabe felt himself misstep again. “I’m serious. There are a lot of parents in far easier circumstances who don’t put as much thought into the whole thing.”
James stirred his soup. “Honestly, there wasn’t much of a choice as far as I was concerned.”
“How…? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.” The question had been nagging him almost since that first cup of coffee with James. “I’m familiar with the whole single teen mother situation, but how do you end up a single teenaged father?”
James took a sip of his water. “I sued.”
“You…. You sued?”
“I got caught kissing Benjamin Steven at the start of freshman year, which meant my life went right to hell. Or so I thought. A week later I got to go to my first high school party. Met a girl called Cindy Loo—I’m not making that up, her parents were weird. She was drunk, so was I, she swore she was on the pill. She didn’t mention she’d only been on it for two days, not that I would have known any better.”
“I see where that’s going.”
“Pretty standard. She told me she was having an abortion, and I was okay with that. Then she told me she wasn’t, and I was… I was okay with that too. She said she had talked to her parents and they were going to raise the baby, and… she said I could be around if I wanted. And I was.” James took a deep breath. “My folks were always big on personal responsibility, so I got books, and I went to appointments with her, and talked with her parents. Then when Cindy was about seven months in, I found out through a friend of a friend, who heard her talking with someone in the bathroom, that her parents had organized an out-of-state adoption. I wasn’t even going to be told when she went into labor. So I did what any self-respecting, expectant, teenaged Californian father does.”
“You sued.”
“I sued. I found the sleaziest ambulance chaser of a lawyer willing to work pro bono. He got a cease and desist on the adoption, a prenatal restraining order so Cindy’s parents couldn’t be at the birth due to a risk of noncustodial kidnapping and child trafficking, and once everything shook out, Dylan came home with me. Never mind the fact that I wasn’t old enough to drive and both my parents worked full-time and then some. The judge granted custody, but until I was eighteen, I had child services crawling all over me every three months.”
“Really?” That surprised Gabe, but it shouldn’t have. “When my sisters had their kids, child services never darkened our door.”
James shrugged. “The squeaky wheel gets noticed. And I squeaked. And after everything, I wasn’t going to risk losing him to some strangers.”
Gabe’s steak and James’s chicken salad arrived before he could come up with a reply to express how impressed he was without sounding sarcastic or trite.
“What happens when he goes to college?”
James twisted the napkin around in his hands before letting out a long sigh. “That’s what he keeps asking, and the answer is, I have no idea. Get a hobby, maybe? Besides, we haven’t reached the finish line yet. He’s not eighteen until June. That’s still plenty of time for him to develop a drug problem, eating disorder, pyromaniac
“I guess there’s something to be said for my job. If no one notices you, then you don’t have to deal with people.”
“I noticed you.”
James focused on his soup, trying to force away a smile. “You did.”
“So how about you, James Maron? Aside from acoustic music and keeping geniuses from looking like idiots, who are you? What’s your life?”
“I….” James looked up into the rafters again. “I’m a parent. Dylan is pretty much my life. Making sure he grows up into the best man he can be. Strong, healthy, happy, educated. Yeah.”
“That’s amazingly admirable.” James gave a dismissive snort, and Gabe felt himself misstep again. “I’m serious. There are a lot of parents in far easier circumstances who don’t put as much thought into the whole thing.”
James stirred his soup. “Honestly, there wasn’t much of a choice as far as I was concerned.”
“How…? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.” The question had been nagging him almost since that first cup of coffee with James. “I’m familiar with the whole single teen mother situation, but how do you end up a single teenaged father?”
James took a sip of his water. “I sued.”
“You…. You sued?”
“I got caught kissing Benjamin Steven at the start of freshman year, which meant my life went right to hell. Or so I thought. A week later I got to go to my first high school party. Met a girl called Cindy Loo—I’m not making that up, her parents were weird. She was drunk, so was I, she swore she was on the pill. She didn’t mention she’d only been on it for two days, not that I would have known any better.”
“I see where that’s going.”
“Pretty standard. She told me she was having an abortion, and I was okay with that. Then she told me she wasn’t, and I was… I was okay with that too. She said she had talked to her parents and they were going to raise the baby, and… she said I could be around if I wanted. And I was.” James took a deep breath. “My folks were always big on personal responsibility, so I got books, and I went to appointments with her, and talked with her parents. Then when Cindy was about seven months in, I found out through a friend of a friend, who heard her talking with someone in the bathroom, that her parents had organized an out-of-state adoption. I wasn’t even going to be told when she went into labor. So I did what any self-respecting, expectant, teenaged Californian father does.”
“You sued.”
“I sued. I found the sleaziest ambulance chaser of a lawyer willing to work pro bono. He got a cease and desist on the adoption, a prenatal restraining order so Cindy’s parents couldn’t be at the birth due to a risk of noncustodial kidnapping and child trafficking, and once everything shook out, Dylan came home with me. Never mind the fact that I wasn’t old enough to drive and both my parents worked full-time and then some. The judge granted custody, but until I was eighteen, I had child services crawling all over me every three months.”
“Really?” That surprised Gabe, but it shouldn’t have. “When my sisters had their kids, child services never darkened our door.”
James shrugged. “The squeaky wheel gets noticed. And I squeaked. And after everything, I wasn’t going to risk losing him to some strangers.”
Gabe’s steak and James’s chicken salad arrived before he could come up with a reply to express how impressed he was without sounding sarcastic or trite.
“What happens when he goes to college?”
James twisted the napkin around in his hands before letting out a long sigh. “That’s what he keeps asking, and the answer is, I have no idea. Get a hobby, maybe? Besides, we haven’t reached the finish line yet. He’s not eighteen until June. That’s still plenty of time for him to develop a drug problem, eating disorder, pyromaniac
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