Firestone by Claudia Hall Christian Page B

out. Annette’s
driver watched the whole thing from the sidelines. He grabbed a
warm jacket from the coat closet and followed them out.
    The ride to the airport was filled with
Annette’s opinions about Jeraine and Tanesha. When they got to the
airport, Annette bought the boy a plane ticket to Denver. Without
saying another word, she dropped him off at airport security. The
driver leaned down to help the boy with his jacket. The camera
filmed the man stuffing money into Jabari’s pockets.
    “ Bye,” Annette said, and
she walked off.
    Jabari watched her go before walking into
airport security. The cameras followed Annette out of the
airport.
    Tanesha pushed the laptop closed.
    “ How could anyone do
that?” Jeraine whispered. “She’s proud of . . .
abusing . . . my . . .
my . . . He could have . . .
died . . . and . . .”
    Jeraine looked at Tanesha and shook his
head. Tanesha put her arm around him. He pressed his head into her
shoulder.
    “ Mom, Dad, me, we’ve all
tried to see him,” Jeraine said into her arm. “You have to know
that I tried. It’s not like she said on the TV. I tried everything
I could think of to get a chance to see him. So did Mom and Dad.
She made up stuff and . . .”
    He shook his head.
    “ And
he’s . . . really great,” Jeraine said. “Funny,
smart, and . . .”
    Jeraine leaned back to look at her.
    “ Are you going to leave
me?” Jeraine asked.
    “ Me?” Tanesha asked. “Are
you dealing with your life?”
    Jeraine nodded.
    “ Are you high?”
    Jeraine shook his head.
    “ Are you sleeping around
with who knows what?” Tanesha asked.
    He shook his head. She smiled.
    “ Why would I leave?”
Tanesha asked.
    “ Because Jabari is going
to live with us in your perfect yellow house,” Jeraine said. “More
wreckage from my fucked up life.”
    “ A child is not wreckage.”
Tanesha’s response was immediate and her voice was
harsh.
    He looked up into her eyes. She wrinkled her
nose.
    “ I always figured your
kids would come live with us,” Tanesha said. “Sooner or later, if
you got your shit together, they’d come live with us.”
    “ W-w-why?” Jeraine
asked.
    “ I don’t know,” Tanesha
said. “Women’s intuition.”
    Jeraine smiled at her.
    “ But I do want to kill
that Annette,” Tanesha said.
    “ But not me?” Jeraine
asked.
    “ I’m pissed at you for
being so careless as to have a child with that . . .
thing,” Tanesha said. “But it’s done. He’s here, and according to
everyone, he’s pretty awesome. Heather might not give him
up.”
    “ She has to!” Jeraine
said.
    Tanesha smiled, and he hugged her.
    “ She and Blane were kind
to let me sleep here,” Jeraine said. “They didn’t have to, but
I . . .”
    “ You wanted to be near
him,” Tanesha said. “That seems pretty normal to me. What’s going
to happen?”
    “ He met with his
attorney,” Jeraine said. “He has his own attorney, and Jammy filed
for immediate termination of parental rights — hers, not
mine.
    “ Schmidty’s handling this
for you?” Tanesha said.
    “ It’s part of his ‘clean
up your act’ program,” Jeraine said. “Nothing’s going to happen
until Monday. The TV show intervened and we have a court hearing
first thing Monday morning.”
    “ How did they do that?”
Tanesha asked.
    “ Jammy says that she
planned this whole thing.” Jeraine gave an angry nod. “The TV
people helped her.”
    “ Helped her abuse your
son?” Tanesha shook her head. “I don’t know what to say about
that.”
    “ I know,” Jeraine said.
“She called after the show aired and squawked about wanting him
back. She says it’s my fault because
I . . .”
    Jeraine looked into Tanesha’s face for a
moment.
    “ You broke her heart,”
Tanesha said. “Such drama. Shit, I could have written this story
myself. Did you keep the letter she sent you? You know, the one
that said that she got pregnant on purpose so you would have to pay
her