Read Online Forever Beach by Shelley Noble - Free Book Online

satisfied.
    â€œTake my selfie, Mommee.”
    Sarah pulled her phone from her pocket and took Leila’s picture. Selfies were a great way to document progress, failures, and just plain fun.
    Sarah took the rest of the afternoon off, content to let Alice watch the store while she played with Leila. She kept reminding herself not to be too clingy, not to let the panic that rushed up her at unsuspecting times flow out onto her daughter. And soon they both fell into the calm brought by comfort and structure and love.
    At six her cell phone jarred her from that total calm. It was Danny Noyes, Leila’s adoption caseworker. Holding on to her shred of hope that it had all been a big mistake, Sarah carried the phone into her bedroom and answered the call.
    â€œSarah. Did you get the papers from the court?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI wanted to touch base with you before they came in, but my caseload is into the next state.”
    â€œI know, Mr. Noyes. How did this happen?”
    â€œAs you know, it’s our purpose to whenever possible reunite—”
    â€œNo offense, Mr. Noyes, but can we please cut to the chase. I’ve been in the system longer than you have and I know what this means, someone f— screwed up.”
    â€œNo, no, it’s not like that. Ms. Delgado has been out of rehab for six weeks now.”
    â€œThis stint.”
    â€œYes, this stint. But you must realize these things sometimes take more than one try.”
    â€œMr. Noyes, my mother died after one of her many ‘stints’ at rehab. I was eleven and had already been in the system for almost three years. My mother made the right choice in giving me up. If she’d done it earlier, I might have had a better chance of being adopted into a normal family like Leila has.”
    â€œYes, I sympathize, but Ms. Delgado has a new apartment now, and she’s looking for a job. She’s tested clean for the last six weeks and now insists that she was coerced into signing her parental rights away.”
    â€œThis was not done in a vacuum, Mr. Noyes. Several people were present, both caseworkers as well as the judge. I hope the department isn’t accusing Judge Beckman of coercion.” Stop it, Sarah. Don’t be adversarial. Be sympathetic.
    â€œOf course not, but Ms. Delgado claims her attorney didn’t fully explain the meaning of termination of rights. The court feels that we need to revisit the case to ensure we’re all on the same page.”
    Well, we’re not, she wanted to say. There has never been a same page. Carmen is a career crackhead. Pimped by her latest boyfriend and now out to make a few extra bucks off the government. But Sarah couldn’t say that. It would make her look belligerent, and they were all supposed to be so willing to work together.
    Sarah knew the drill. She’d given Carmen the benefit of the doubt, twice now. It had been a disaster for Leila and for her—even for Carmen.
    â€œTo that purpose . . .”
    Here it came. She couldn’t stop it. Just couldn’t stop it.
    â€œWe need to schedule a supervised visit. She wanted a full weekend visit, but we nixed that.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œI’d hoped to schedule a visit for this weekend.”
    Before Carmen falls off the sober wagon?
    â€œBut I didn’t hear from you.”
    Sarah willed herself to stay calm. “I just received the notification. You probably knew before I did.”
    â€œWell, yes, I suppose. How does this coming week look for you?”
    Looks like it’s going to be hellish with a major chance of setback.
    â€œI’ll need time to prepare Leila for the . . .” She’d started to say disruption in her schedule . Caught herself at the last second. Do not be adversarial. These people are doing what they think is best. Sure, but seeing it from the outside was a whole lot different from feeling it from the other side. “. . . for the visit. Not