(Jessie)
A few days later I was fit enough to travel. To Randy's credit, he never once mentioned that he had even THOUGHT about adopting me full time. I didn't even know why. All I knew was that one day they're talking about adoption, and the next, we were loaded into John's Hyundai and heading south. But not before many tearful goodbyes.
"Bye, kid," Bret said. We were all in the hotel the morning we left. Vince was giving Randy and John a day off to bring me back to Louisiana.
"Bye, Uncle Bret," I said, hugging him.
"Now, I'm expecting you to break in those boots. I'll email you the instructions. And I expect you to run a mile every day, at LEAST. And if you can, hook up with your school's wrestling team, or weightlifting team. Got it?" I nodded.
"You got it." I turned to Vince next.
"Thank you, sir," I said respectfully. He gave me the eyebrow.
"Don't 'sir' me, not after all you've put me through this summer! C'mere!" He hugged me, and I laughed, desperately trying not to cry. "Now, I expect you to call me next time we're in New Orleans, you got it?" I nodded.
"You got it, Mr…" He gave me the look again. "Sorry. You got it, Vince." He nodded and I walked to the next people in line, Paul and Steph.
"Alright, you," Paul said. "I'm expecting to hear from you." Steph nodded.
"Absolutely." I tearfully turned to Ted.
"Teddy!" I moaned. I practically jumped on him, and he hugged me tight. "I'll call you when you get there, alright?"
"Promise?"
"Promise." I stood on my toes and whispered in his ear.
"The day of the accident, him and Sam talked about adopting me." I pulled away, and he cocked his head at me, glancing at Randy.
"Really?" I nodded, crying openly now.
"I don't know," I said. With a quick goodbye to everyone else, Stephen, Matt, Chris, the Hart Dynasty, we got into John's vehicle and drove south.
And so, that's how I ended up here. Unable to sleep, mulling over my summer. I'd go back to school in about a week, and life as usual would resume. Except, there would be no such thing as life as usual anymore.
I had left that with some wrestler guys in what seemed like a whole other life.