Fireside (39 page)

AJ had never really thought about the word
detained.
He quickly learned that in his mom’s case it essentially meant she’d been sucked off the face of the earth.

Mrs. Alvarez hadn’t seemed concerned at first. She’d been sure there would be someone to look after AJ. Nearly everyone had relatives or someone with the church. AJ was the exception. He was the only child of an only child. His grandma lived in the valley, on the Mexican side. Bruno, his former stepdad, had been out of the picture since he’d left them high and dry. Which was how AJ ended up flying through the night to be with Bo Crutcher, the father he’d never met.

“That’s completely freaky,” Chelsea said. “And totally unfair. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

Too bad Chelsea’s opinion didn’t matter.

Without being invited, she dragged a chair over to the terminal and started searching the Internet. She was like a dog with a bone, typing in phrases like
“immigration law”
and
“naturalized citizen”
and trying to figure out why his mom could be living like a regular person one day, and an outlaw the next. Mainly, like AJ, she wanted to figure out how his mom might be allowed to stay in the U.S.

“Let’s write a letter to your congressman. Who is it?”

“No clue.”

“Well, geez, let’s find out.” Chelsea was pretty good at all this, and within a short time, they had sent a note via the Web sites of a Texas representative and a senator. For good measure, they sent the same message to the assemblymen from New York, too.

“Says here a medical situation would warrant special permission,” Chelsea continued, “if it’s a condition only a special doctor in the U.S. can deal with.” They both leaned toward the monitor and stared at before and after pictures of conjoined twins. The family came from a remote atoll in the Pacific, and a famous surgeon at Vanderbilt had separated the babies.

“Doesn’t look like anything that could help my mom,” AJ said, feeling relieved when Chelsea closed that particular Web site. Although the story had a happy ending, he was weirded out by the photos.

“Can she prove she’s in danger in her country?” Chelsea asked. “What about seeking temporary asylum?”

Asylum. It had been on last week’s vocabulary list. A place where crazy people are kept.
The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

“That won’t work,” he said.

“Then how about this? Bingo.” She printed out a page and handed it over. “Give that to Bo.”

AJ scanned the page. “Oh, sure. So he’s going to marry her just so she can be in the U.S.”

“It could work.”

“Or not.”

“Have you talked about it with Bo?”

AJ had a hard time talking to Bo about anything. Every once in a while, they connected. Like when they built the snowman together. And then there was that moment, when Bo had come to the city to get him, when AJ had felt a deep connection, safe in his arms. It had felt so good and so safe, that long hug. During moments like that, AJ could feel himself starting to like Bo.
Really
like him. But enough to talk about stuff like this?

He forced himself to step back, and to remember that he didn’t want to get attached to Bo. It was crazy to get attached to somebody you were trying to get away from, someone you never planned on seeing again.

On the other hand, what if crazy Chelsea was right? What if this could actually happen? AJ would have a real, actual family. Two parents and him. The thought made his stomach hurt, he wanted it so bad.

“He’d think I lost my marbles.”

“Why?” Chelsea demanded. “You said your mom’s single, right? Bo is single. They could—”

“That’s dumb. Just because they’re single doesn’t mean they should be together. They haven’t seen each other in thirteen years.” He ducked his head so she wouldn’t see his face, because without even trying, she had found AJ’s most secret dream—having a mom and dad.

“Well, I bet they were totally in love when they um, you know,” Chelsea said. “Maybe they’ll fall in love again.”

“You’re completely nuts.”

“Have you figured out a better idea? Has your lawyer?”

She was nuts, but she had a point.

“I bet it’s more complicated than that,” he said. “They don’t just let people get married so one of them can stay in this country.”

“I’ve heard of worse reasons for getting married,” she said.

Twenty-Five

“W
e’re not in Kansas anymore,” Bo said, looking around the suite at the Pierre Hotel. He and AJ were on the 34th floor, with a view of Central Park. They had ridden up on an elevator operated by an actual elevator man. The old-fashioned rooms overflowed with luxury—fancy furniture, amenities they didn’t know they needed, like little linen mats beside the beds, so their bare feet didn’t have to touch the carpet. There was a room service menu filled with stuff he couldn’t pronounce, but no minibar, because this hotel was too classy for a minibar. The bellman who had delivered the bags said if they wanted ice or a little jar of peanuts, they just had to pick up the phone and someone would bring whatever they wanted.

This was all Kim’s doing. The reception at the hotel tonight, staged for media and sponsors, was going to be key to moving up the career ladder. Amid the hot, young rookies and early-round draft picks, Bo was an unlikely candidate, but Kim had made sure he was front and center. You become a star by acting like a star, she’d said.

She had also said she loved him. She loved him. He’d never realized how bad he wanted to hear that phrase until it came from Kimberly van Dorn’s mouth. The moment she said the words, he felt as though he could suddenly fly.

Yet AJ kept him grounded. Bo had insisted on bringing him along, hoping it might distract the boy from worrying about his mother. But it hadn’t, really. Bo could see it in his face—the tension and despair, even though Bo had vowed he wouldn’t rest until he brought her back.

“Get it?” he said. “Not in Kansas anymore—that’s from
The Wizard of Oz.
”

“Ha-ha.” AJ stood at the tall, heavily draped window, gazing down at the stark, bare trees of Central Park. “I’ve seen it.”

There was a knock at the door. A housekeeper came to deliver extra towels. “Here you are, sir,” she murmured, a Spanish accent thick in her voice.

Just for a moment, AJ locked eyes with the woman. She was small, and wore her hair pulled back. Her uniform was embroidered with the name Juanita. In that brief instant of connection, Bo could sense a recognition between them, two strangers bound by the deep ties of language. The woman offered a quick smile but ducked her head in deference. As she left the room, Bo gave her a twenty-dollar bill.

“Thank you, sir,” she murmured, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Bo could see everything in AJ’s face—yearning, frustration, fury. The housekeeper was simply a reminder. It must be hard for AJ to see Bo getting everything he wanted while Yolanda was suffering in some detention center across the border.

“I know you’re worried about your mom, but she’s going to be all right,” Bo said. “Mexico’s a free country.”

“She’s not free to come and see her own son.”

“We’re working on that, AJ. Your mother’s changed status is a setback. You’ve got to believe it’s one we can deal with.”

AJ swung around to face him. His eyes were puffy from tears he refused to shed. His small frame was backlit by the pale light through the window. The kid hadn’t been eating well, and now Bo saw his thinness starkly outlined. For the first time, Bo realized with a lurch of panic that AJ’s physical health was threatened. And there was no cure for a broken heart.

The boy took refuge in anger. “How do I even know you’ve been trying to help her?”

“I’ve been trying to help your mother since day one, and you know it. I just hired a private investigator, because Sophie wants to get more information about your mom’s family background.”

AJ narrowed his eyes. “Anything to get rid of me, right?”

“Don’t be a little shit,” Bo snapped, panic giving way to anger. “Your mom’s back in Mexico and I know that sucks for you, but copping an attitude won’t help a thing. Believe me, nothing will stop me from trying to bring your mom back.”

“You can’t wait for me to leave,” AJ persisted.

“If that was so, I wouldn’t have invited you to the city for the weekend. I would’ve left you behind in Avalon.”

“Why should I believe anything you say?”

“Because I love you, dammit.”

AJ looked as if Bo had hit him. “You love me.”

“Hell, yes, I love you. You’re my boy. My flesh and blood. And you’re an awesome kid, and after you’re back with your mom, I still want to see you, no matter what she says.”

“So when did you decide this? All of a sudden you want to love me.”

“It wasn’t all of a sudden. Ever since you were born I’ve
wanted
to love you, but your mom was in charge. Even though she had her reasons, it didn’t stop me from wishing we could be like father and son, at least some of the time. It’s a terrible thing, the way we were brought together, but I’m glad I’m getting to spend time with you. Anyway, yeah. I always
wanted
to love you. I’m trying to do it right.” He didn’t know how else to explain it. Getting to know AJ was like falling in love—not in a romantic way, of course. But it was a kind of anticipation, something he felt in his heart. He couldn’t wait to get up in the morning—couldn’t wait to see what the day would bring. Couldn’t wait to see his son’s face.

The boy was quiet for a long time. Bo braced himself, hoping he hadn’t crossed a line with that speech, which revealed more of his heart than he’d intended.

Finally, AJ said, “Okay.”

“Christ, you’re a pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Yeah, well, so’re you.”

AJ had turned Bo into someone he barely recognized and never expected to be—a father. A better man than he’d been before AJ came into his life. He couldn’t claim to be good at it, but he was clear on what he felt for this boy. “I’m not going to quit helping your mom. Say you believe that.”

AJ stared at him for a long time. Bo sensed all kinds of things going on in the boy’s head, but all AJ said was, “I believe it.” He still looked unhappy, though.

“Would you rather I hadn’t brought you to the city for the weekend?” Bo challenged him. “Would you rather have missed out on this?” He encompassed the fancy suite with a gesture.

“No,” AJ admitted. “It’s cool.”

“And just so you know,” he told AJ, “all this wouldn’t seem nearly as cool if you weren’t here with me.” Bo meant it from the bottom of his heart. If there was one thing he’d learned from being with Kim, it was the power of saying what you meant, loud and clear.

“Okay.” The boy was still guarded.

“So, what do you say? I better get dressed for high society. And you can get busy picking out what you want to order from room service and what movies you want to watch while I’m at the reception.” He finally coaxed a smile from AJ by finding an upbeat radio station that was playing “Superfreak,” and dressing in time to the music. He slapped on aftershave in exaggerated fashion, then tossed the bottle to AJ, who cringed a little as he daubed some on.

“I hope I don’t blow it tonight,” Bo said.

“You won’t blow it.”

“The reception’s going to be full of VIPs.”

“Quit freaking.”

Kim had told Bo what to wear. He knew better than to argue with her taste. He held up a sport coat that had cost him more than his first car. The song on the radio faded, and a commercial came on, so he turned down the volume. He felt AJ watching him, and sensed a shift in the boy’s mood. “What?”

“You could fix everything, you know,” he said in a voice that was almost too quiet to hear.

Bo paused in the middle of knotting his tie. “What do you mean, fix everything?”

“My mom, is what I mean. You could fix it.”

“If I knew how, I’d fix it.”

“There’s a way.” AJ paused, took a deep breath. “You could marry her.”

“Sorry, bud. What’s that?” Bo hoped he’d heard wrong. But the curl of dread in his gut told him otherwise.

“If you married my mother, she’d be allowed to live in this country legally. I swear, it can work. People do it all the time.”

The way it came out, all in a rush, indicated to Bo that the boy had been thinking about the idea for a while, probably trying to figure out how to broach the topic.

“Aw, AJ.” Bo’s heart ached for the kid. He’d probably built up this big scenario in his mind, picturing the three of them together as a family. Bo was familiar with his father fantasies. He’d had them himself as a kid. “That kind of thing isn’t going to work. The system’s set up to keep people from doing it.”

“It’s a free country,” AJ said. “You’re allowed to marry anybody you want, right?”

“The authorities have ways to figure out which marriages are sincere and which took place just to cheat the system.”

“You know how to be sincere,” AJ insisted. “You’ve been studying it, I’ve seen you. Kim taught you how to be sincere.”

“It’s not the same. That’s media training, not…Sorry, AJ. I get where you’re coming from, but it’s not going to happen.”

“You liked her once, didn’t you?”

The stark question hung in the air. “Your mother, you mean?”

“Yes. You liked her once. You liked her enough to make me. Maybe you could like her enough to bring her back, and stick around long enough for her to change her status. It wouldn’t be hard. I looked it up on the Internet, and the forms are even on the Immigration and Naturalization Web site. You just fill them out and send them in. I know it can be done.”

“You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

“What about what you said before?” Desperation edged AJ’s voice now. “You said you’d do anything for me.”

“I should have qualified it—I’ll do anything legal and ethical.”

“This
is
legal. I need to be with my mom. Tell me you’ll at least think about it.” AJ sank down on one of the beds and grabbed a pillow. The massive bed made him look tiny and bereft.

Bo went down on one knee in front of him, touched his shoulder. “Your mom’s lucky to have you, AJ, she really is. And the two of you are going to be together soon, that’s a promise.”