Chapter 8 - Happy Ending
Jon was right. Shawn couldn't get through all of his work on Saturday. The household tasks were easy enough, and he breezed through them, but the homework assignments had really piled up in the time Shawn spent skipping classes and running around all over town in the evenings and afternoons. As he started to realize how much work there was to be done, Shawn gave a few eye rolls, and he wasn't exactly the image of respect, but to his credit, he didn't break the grounding.
Cory approached Jon after class on Monday. He looked over his shoulder to make sure everybody was out, then he said, "Mr. Turner? I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you."
Jon chuckled. "You care about your friend. Don't apologize for that."
"Shawn says you grounded him."
"For drinking. Yeah." He wasn't going to defend himself to Cory. It was none of the kid's business, and he knew he had been lenient.
"Thanks."
"Thanks?"
Cory shrugged. "It's what my dad would've done."
Jon figured he'd have to take that. It wasn't like Shawn was going to be thanking him anytime soon.
Six days after Jon gave Shawn the list, Shawn approached him asking to be ungrounded. It took Jon over an hour to look over all of Shawn's work, during which Shawn did his homework for the day. The kid had obviously spent a lot of years ignoring his teacher's instructions, and his grammar and spelling were pretty bad. But Jon knew the difference between a student putting an effort and not. Shawn had followed every line of instructions on every project, checked and double checked the rubrics. It wasn't A level work, but it was clear the kid had really tried.
"OK, kid," Jon said when they both finished, handing over the stack. "You're officially ungrounded."
Shawn grinned. "So I can go over to Cory's?"
"Sure. Need a ride?"
"No, I can walk. I've been doing it all my life."
"OK, but I'm picking you up at 6:30."
"Why?"
"Because I'm supposed to take you to a parent visit."
Shawn's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Grab whatever you need on your way out, unless you want me to pick you up earlier so we can swing back by the apartment."
"No, I don't need anything." He left the apartment with nothing but the clothes on his back and a huge smile on his face.
Jon tried to focus on grading. When he couldn't do that, he tried doing some cleaning in the kitchen, since the dishes were clean, but he found himself absently running a rag over the same surface over and over again.
He was worried about that parent visit. He didn't know why he should be worried about it, but he couldn't think of anything else to explain his nervousness. Maybe it was the fact that he had finally reached some stability with Shawn, and this was an unknown, a wildcard that could change things and make them worse somehow. He didn't know how the Hunters perceived him, if they knew he was the one who made the call, if Shawn would tell them. He knew that they were neglectful at times; he didn't know if they were abusive in any way, if they would hurt Shawn.
But maybe the thing he was the most worried about was that they wouldn't show up at all. That would devastate Shawn, send him back to square one. In the end, foster care was supposed to be about reunification. About supporting the parents so they could get back to the point where they could care for the child. About the child forging strong connections with a stable adult so they could learn to trust again.
The time slipped through Jon's fingers. In the end, he didn't get anything done before he had to leave to pick up Shawn.
Amy was the one who came to the door. She had a concerned look on her face. "Hi, Jon," she said hesitantly.
Jon resisted the urge to ask what he had done wrong. "Evening, Mrs. Matthews. I'm just here to pick up Shawn."
"Yeah, of course." She looked back behind herself, where Morgan was coloring at the coffee table. "Morgan, can you go Get Shawn from Cory's room?"
Morgan shrugged and took off.
Amy turned back to Jon. "He's been going on about visiting his parents. Is it true?"
"That's where I'm taking him now."
"Do you know if they are even in town?"
Jon swallowed. "I hope to God."
"I'm just not sure it was wise to tell him he had a visit coming without knowing for sure whether his parents would show up."
"I hear you." Jon wasn't sure exactly how he could have avoided telling Shawn what was coming; it wasn't like he could just drive the kid around without him asking where they were going.
"It's so hard to watch him go through all of this."
"The feeling is mutual."
Her eyes filled with sympathy. "If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to reach out."
"I will, Mrs. Matthews." Jon didn't bother mentioning that it would take pretty extreme circumstances to break through his pride enough that he could ask for help beyond an occasional request for advice. He figured that went without saying.
Shawn and Cory came down the stairs. "Hey, Jon," Shawn said, "is it cool if Cory comes with us?"
Jon thought it might be nice to have the moral support if things went badly, and he was breathing in to give his permission, but Amy shook her head. "No, Cor, let Shawn go see his parents on his own."
Jon gave her a curious look, but she shook her head quickly. "Just trust me," she said quietly.
Saying, Jon reached out a hand to beckon Shawn toward the door, and he walked him out. He drove to the address the social worker had given him, and he parked out front.
The building surprised him. It just looked a lot like an office building. He walked Shawn up to the front, checked him in with a receptionist, and someone took Shawn in, telling Jon to come back in an hour.
Jon didn't have anywhere to go, and the visiting center was just far enough from his apartment that it wasn't worth going home and coming back, so he sat in his car. He had a book with him, so he tried reading, but he found himself reading the same sentence over and over again. If Shawn's parents hadn't been there, they wouldn't have taken him into the center. Shawn hadn't been abandoned this time. For some reason, though, Jon just couldn't stop worrying about him, no matter how many times he told himself how important this was and that it was the best case scenario.
He went back into the center after 55 minutes and waited in the lobby. It was about 10 minutes before Shawn came out, smiling comfortably.
"How did it go?" Jon couldn't resist asking.
"Good. He's doing a lot better."
"He?"
Shawn shrugged. "I didn't really think my mom was coming back, anyway. But my dad can take care of me."
Jon didn't say anything as they got into the car. Shawn was quiet for the first minute or so of the drive, and then he said, "You don't have to worry about me for too much longer, he's going to get me back in like two seconds."
"That's good to hear, but you know I don't mind having you."
"Yeah, I know. But my dad just has to do a parenting class and go to some counseling. So he can get a job and stuff. He hasn't been drinking and he was never actually doing drugs, and so he doesn't have to try to do rehab or anything." Shawn settled back in his seat, smiling. "He has until May, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was going home by Christmas."
"Well, that's great, Hunter, but sometimes that stuff takes some time, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. Maybe not by Christmas. Maybe I'll be stuck with you for the holidays this year."
"Are you OK with that?"
"I'll still get to visit them. It's OK."
Jon looked over at him with some mix of concern and amazement. He didn't know how to feel, and he didn't know how to take Shawn's attitude. The kid was either incredibly brave and resilient, or in total denial. May be a little of both.
But the way he was thinking was also exactly the way Jon would want him to think. He was hopeful and excited about going home someday, but he wasn't so fixed and obsessed that he couldn't deal with where he was now. It was a lot more like the way he had been that first year.
Shawn's dad had come back at the end of the year. And then his mom had joined them. On the surface, it had seemed like a happy ending.
He could only hope this story ended happier.