continued from here.

“He can’t keep getting in trouble like this, he’s gonna get ‘imself expelled.” William is remarkably unfazed by the whole thing, sipping coffee like it isn’t happening, meanwhile Jean can’t seem to calm herself down. It’s only been a few months since they agreed to take Casey into their care and she’s already handled a dozen phone calls and even more meetings with teachers — that’s apparently not including the notes he’d failed to give her.

She can’t handle another incident; she can’t handle seeing him explode like that again. Part of her feels sorry for the other kid, but a larger part of her knows Casey wouldn’t have done it if it was a minor situation. She’s not so much appalled at Casey as she is his teachers for opting to contact her over every failed assignment, but never the kid who’d been picking on him.

Jean glances over her shoulder into the living room where Casey’s been asleep on the couch, cradling his injured hand to his chest still. He didn’t say a word to her on the drive home, nor William as he’d tended to the injury. Hadn’t leaned his head on her shoulder and apologized the way he used to when he was little and had an outburst. He just isn’t that kid anymore. He looks frigid even in his sleep, curled up and closed off, his eyebrows still slightly furrowed. The pain in his face isn’t just about the kid at school, she knows it can’t be. “I’m worried about him, Will.”

“He just needs time to adjust,” William insists, leaning back in his chair. “But that’s never gonna happen if he doesn’t focus. We just gotta keep him in line and keep him focused on his schoolwork. He can’t just be allowed to do whatever ‘e wants like he did in Pahrump.”

Jean shakes her head slowly, not satisfied. Not convinced pushing him will do anything but hurt him more. And that’s the dynamic she and William have always had, the one that’s served them all their years of parenting and now grand-parenting; William Hadley is harsh, to the point, no nonsense. And Jean is softness, empathy, kindness. She thinks Casey’s had enough harshness. “He doesn’t need someone to push him, honey. He needs someone to hold him.”