Free Emancipating Alice by Ada Winder

clean up the whole house and she needs me to help her with grown-up stuff.”
    “Can’t grandpa help her?”
    Drew sighed and straightened up, lifting Jack to sit him on the bed in the process.
    “Jack…” He let out a long sigh. “Son, grandpa went to heaven yesterday.”
    Jack’s eyes grew round.
    “You mean he’s dead?”
    Drew nodded.
    Jack looked down for a moment, then back up at him.
    “Is everyone going away now?” Jack asked. His tone was soft but serious, and had no hint of self-pity; Jack wanted the facts. This made Drew even sadder.
    Drew sat down next to Jack and gathered his son into his arms, blinking back tears.
    “I’m not leaving you, Jackster. I’m always gonna be here for you, okay? And grandma’s still here…”
    “Yeah, but she’s old. She’s gonna die too. And you’re gonna get old someday too…” Jack looked down again.
    Drew’s attempts at holding back his tears failed when he saw his son’s small hand go up to his eye quickly. Jack wasn’t outright crying—Drew could tell he was trying to be strong, but the damp spot on the back of his hand gave him away. Drew’s heart grew heavier as he watched his son try to be a brave boy.
    As he sat there with his son in his arms, caressing his head, he found himself releasing everything he had held back the past six months—the loneliness, frustrations, anger, and pain over Lacey. He thought about how he’d never see his father alive again.
    He almost smiled as he thought about how Lacey would not like to see her two boys now—a weeping set of wusses, she would think them.
    ***
    Drew was glad he had decided to drive—he could make this a fun trip for the two of them although it was only a few hours. But he knew it would probably feel like forever to Jack.
    Drew tried to think up verbal games they could play on the way to cheer Jack up as he put their bags in the car.
    Before they left, he made Jack a sandwich, then wrote a note on the living room table, a toy frog as the paperweight. Off to my mom’s, my dad died.—Drew. He knew it was silly, that no one would see it, but just in case Lacey stopped home, he wanted her to know where they were. He had never changed the locks and she still had the key as far as he knew. As an added measure, and for the benefit of others who might call, he changed the answering machine message as well:
    Hey! You’ve reached the home of Drew Owens. Today is Wednesday, June twenty-eighth, and Jack and I are not here right now. If you need to reach us, call my cell. Thanks.
    As he ushered Jack out of the door, he glanced up at the enlarged headshot of Lacey on the wall of the living room, her eyes looking slyly back at him. He had been unable to remove anything that had belonged to her, unable to take down or turn away photos of her. Whatever she left, he left them just as she had left them. He even still had a photo of her in his wallet and his marriage ring on his finger.
    He turned away from the photo, closed the door and locked it behind them.
    ***
    On the drive to Illinois, Jack sat silently in the car, and no matter how many times Drew tried to start up a game with him he just sat and stared out the window at nothing.
    “What are you thinking about kiddo?” Drew asked him at last.
    Jack took a moment before answering.
    “About soccer. And the new Harry Potter. And KFC.”
    Drew could tell he was trying not to mention the things that were really bothering him at the moment.
    “So you want KFC, li’l man?”
    He knew Jack was nodding without looking at him. “Well then—you’ve got it. We’ll stop at the next one that pops up.” He paused. “You know I’ll do anything for you right, Jack?”
    Jack nodded again.

CHAPTER NINE
     
     
    Drew drove up the driveway of his parents’ house, admiring and envying their home as he usually did whenever he stopped by.
    He knew his parents had started off small when they were first together like him and Lacey, but he couldn’t help thinking about