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Her lips pressed together and she grabbedthe check, holding it up to the light. “It has the watermarks of a business check.” She looked at it closer. “And no typos. This might be real.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” I replied as she handed it back. “But with this, I could ...” I trailed off.
“You were saving that for a reason, weren’t you?”
“I was. And if this goes through, then I could still do it.”
“Wanna share with the class?” she asked.
I hadn’t voiced these plans. I was never sure if they would happen, but now there was something in my hands that could bring it to fruition.
“I want to adopt Eric.”
Mollie’s eyes widened for only a fraction of a second before her head tilted to the side. “You do?”
“I always have. I may have had guardianship of him, but he’s always felt like more than just my nephew. He’s more like my son. I want to make it real.”
A slow smile spread on her face. “Then you should cash that check.”
The cashier at the bank had taken one look at the check and then over at me, and I knew she had a ton of questions.
She didn’t ask them. And I didn’t offer up the information.
I should have known others would know within minutes.
“Hello, rich guy,” Kerry said as I pulled in next to her at school.
“Let me guess. Facebook.”
“Yep. But I didn’t post it.”
“I’m pretty sure that this violates some kind of privacy law, even if you didn’t post it.”
“One, Amber’s sleeping with the owner of that bank, and two, I don’t know how much it was. But it was a lot.”
I shook my head. “It’s not a huge deal. It was a refund from my lawyer. My expenses were covered.”
Kerry’s eyebrows raised. “Bywho?”
“The STM grant.”
“What? That covers lawyer fees too?”
“I guess so. If the check clears. The bank placed a hold on it.”
“Not surprised,” she said. “But hopefully it does. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“I’m trying not to.”
“What are you going to buy with it? Maybe a ring?” Kerry wiggled her eyebrows.
That wasn’t a terrible idea, if I had enough left over. “Probably not a physical item, but I have plans.”
“I’m on the edge of my seat.”
“I need to talk to the person about it first.”
Kerry sighed. “That’s so mature. But also boring.”