I like forever, Bo signed, but he still looked skeptical. How do I convince a six-year-old of my intentions when he’d been fucked over his entire life? And then it hit me.

“Okay, now I want to show you something but you can’t tell Mommy, okay?”

Bo squinted like he already didn’t think that was a good idea.

Smart kid.

I laughed. “No, it’s nothing bad, I promise. But I planned on showing her later on tonight as a surprise, but since you’re one of the men of the house now I figured I’d show you first. Would that be okay with you?”

Yes. Yes, he signed twice.

“Now did you know that these,” I pointed to the tattoos on my arms and hands, “are forever. These drawings will always be on me.” I pulled up my shirt and Bo eyed the white bandage covering one of the worst scarred areas on my abs. “They don’t wash off so they will never ever go away. They’re with me forever.”

I peeled back the tape and revealed the new tattoo underneath. Scars, vines, and hearts linked together two names. Bo & Dre. It was King’s best work ever.

“Remember how we were writing your name this week? Do you see your name?” I asked.

Bo enthusiastically pointed to his name. I smiled brighter instead of wincing when he jabbed the fresh ink with his little index finger.

“Yep, my man. That’s it.” I replaced the bandage and lowered my shirt. “And it’s there forever. So you’re not going anywhere, just like that tattoo isn’t going anywhere. You got it?”

Bo’s eyes widened when the realization set in. He launched himself at me, wrapping his arms around me tightly. I kissed the top of his head. “Now let’s get you home.”

Together we crawled out of his hideaway/weapon’s storage unit. I brushed the dirt from my pants and grabbed Bo’s hand. With his other hand he signed, pressing the tips of his fingers on the corner of his mouth and then again on his temple.

Home.

****

When I brought Bo back to the house, Dre ran out to meet us. She wasted no time reaching for him, lifting him up she hugged him so tight I was pretty sure she was cutting off his circulation. I almost wanted to laugh when he looked at me wide-eyed over her shoulder but I managed to contain myself. “Don’t ever do that again, okay?” she asked, looking him over. “Promise me, Bo. Don’t you ever leave without one of us, okay? We love you and if anything ever...” Dre stopped. “Just promise me.”

Bo nodded and signed, ‘I’m sorry,’ to her followed by ‘I promise.’

“Where did you go?” Dre asked. That’s when he looked to me like he didn’t know if he should tell her what he’d been up to. I didn’t want him to feel ashamed or embarrassed.

I pulled a bouquet of wild flowers I’d been hiding behind my back and handed them to her. “He went to pick you flowers,” I said. “Don’t be too hard on him. He wanted it to be a surprise. Right, buddy?”

“Awe, thank you, Bo,” Dre said, holding up the bouquet to her nose and inhaling deeply. “They’re beautiful, but you have to take someone with you next time,” she said. “Now go inside and wash up. I put your step stool next to the sink.”

Bo darted in through the sliding glass door as Dre and I looked on. He appeared again, this time through the kitchen window. Standing on the stool he washed his hands as he was told. He waved when he saw us looking, splattering soapy water from his hands onto the window.

“So what was he really doing?” Dre asked, using the flowers to cover her mouth as she spoke.

I waved back at Bo and gave him a thumbs up as he dried his hands.

“Organizing his arsenal.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Dre

After the scare with Bo, Preppy and I both decided he needed to feel more of a sense of permanence with us.

He was ours, the adoption was legal and binding, but the three of us still had different last names.

That’s why, on a sunny Friday morning, I brought Bo to the clerk’s office with me and waited for forty minutes. The goal was to leave the building with the same last name.

The Clearwater family was about to become an official party of three.

“THIRTY-FOUR,” a gravelly female voice called out. “THIRTY-FOUR.”

I stood up and waved my ticket at Bo. “Come on, buddy. It’s our turn.” I grabbed his hand and led him to the counter.

“I need two name change forms, please,” I announced to the bored looking woman behind the glass partition.

“Two?” she asked, looking at me above the rim of her reading glasses.

“Yes,” I said. “One for me and one for him.” Bo stood on his tiptoes and smiled at her.

“Hey,” she said, dryly. She tapped some keys on her keyboard while staring at Bo. “What are the reasons for the name changes? Divorce, marriage, adoption, emancipation...”

“Marriage for me. Adoption for him.”

“Do you have your certificate of legal adoption finalization form and your marriage license?” she droned.

I passed her Bo’s forms but realized I’d forgotten to bring the marriage license. It was fake, but they didn’t have to know that. “Crap, I forgot the marriage license, can you please look it up for me?”

“You’re going to have to fill out these forms before I can do that.” She passed me a pink and yellow form, the kind that makes a duplicate underneath while you write. “You can use the pencils in the corner over there,” she said, pointing to the far wall with an empty table and several chairs. All of which were occupied by people filling out the same kind of forms I now had in my hands. “Or you can fill it out on the computer over there.” She pointed to the older model PC on the other side of the room. “When you’re done, take another number.”

“Oh, but I just...”

“Number THIRTY-FIVE!” she called.

“Come on, Bo,” I said, opting for the computer since there was no one there I sat down and propped Bo up on my lap.

The form I needed pulled right up when I clicked NAME CHANGE APPLICATION. It was a relatively simple form but the computer hated me. “See? We can do this, right?” I asked. Bo nodded, but was fixated with a patch of mold growing on the ceiling tile above us.

Current last name was the first field I had to fill out. I entered CAPULET and pressed enter instead of TAB. A new screen pulled up with everything in the county public records that had to do with the last name Capulet popped up, including the transfer of the deed from Mirna’s house. “Shit,” I swore. Bo looked up at me and flashed me a knowing smile. “I mean shoot. Shoot,” I corrected, mussing his hair.