The Foster Family by Jaime Samms

to go by. Was I supposed to serve them? Like with the coffee, when I really hadn’t known the household dynamic? Or was I supposed to just sit there and wait for permission? After another tense moment had passed, I let out a sigh.
    “I don’t understand,” I admitted at last.
    “Do you want to eat?” Malcolm asked.
    Of course my stomach growled on cue because he’d drawn my attention to the fact I was starving.
    The sound drew a smile from him and a small chuckle from Charlie.
    I wanted to toss off another smart remark, but for all his sternness, Malcolm didn’t look annoyed or angry. He was just waiting for me to answer.
    “Yes, I want to eat.” I managed to keep my tone level and polite and he acknowledged that with a small nod.
    “So?” Malcolm studied me, waiting.
    “So make sure there’s enough for you and Charlie and serve you both first,” I said.
    He smiled at me and nodded. “Simple rules, Kerry. There’s always a choice.”
    “Serve you first or go hungry?” Didn’t seem like much of a choice to me.
    “Serve us first because you’re the boy.” His smile wasn’t mocking or cruel. It was more like indulgent, and it made my heart skip a few beats and my hands shake. “Or sit and wait until we’ve eaten and if there’s anything left, serve yourself once we’ve left the table. I wouldn’t make you starve, just observe protocol.”
    And eat alone if I messed up. That idea made my stomach twist in a whole other, unhappy way.
    “Okay.” I rose and lifted the lid from our dinner. It smelled heavenly, and my stomach growled again. Spooning out a generous portion, I served Malcolm, then Charlie, then myself.
    “Thank you,” Malcolm said as I retook my seat. He picked up his fork and began to eat.
    Charlie beamed at me and nodded when I glanced his way. “Thanks, squirt.”
    I wrinkled my nose, but they were obviously pleased with me. I’d overcome some hurdle, passed some test, and I had to admit, pleasing them was a rush way more intense than spooging all over their shower would have been. It lasted longer too.
    We were sitting around the table after dinner, sipping the last of the wine when Charlie tossed me a wide grin. “I got you something today,” he said.
    “Me?”
    He laughed at the sound of my voice, squeaky and surprised.
    “Yeah you, sprite. Wait here.” He scrambled from his chair to the front door, and we listened to him rummaging for a few minutes before he came back and handed me a small, flat box about the size of his hand.
    “What’s this?”
    “Open it.” Malcolm gently pushed my knee with his foot. “Find out.”
    I pried off the lid and lifted a swatch of tissue off a square of butter-soft tan leather. “Charlie.” I ran a finger over the surface. “This is too expensive.”
    “Let the man do something nice for you, Kerry,” Malcolm ordered, and when I glanced over at him, he wasn’t exactly smiling.
    “But—”
    “Kerry, it’s just a wallet. You need a new one and I thought….” Charlie shrugged. “It’s like the one you had.”
    “It’s about a thousand times better than the one I had.”
    “Not even you can wear this one out, though,” Charlie said. “Well. Unless you drop it in the ocean too.”
    I grinned as I dumped the wallet into my palm. “I won’t, I promise.” I caressed the soft leather and Charlie chuckled.
    “You like it?”
    “It’s gorgeous.” When I looked up at him, he was gazing down on me like I’d just done some spectacular thing. “What?”
    His grin fluttered. “You’re adorable.” Before I could move, he ducked down and pecked my lips, fast and sweet, and was gone again. “Thank you.”
    “For what? You gave me the gift,” I reminded him.
    But he only smiled and took his seat at the table, and when I glanced at Malcolm, he was smiling at Charlie, and how was I supposed to refuse? I went to the bathroom where I’d left my pile of ID and coins and loaded it all into the wallet. Probably I shouldn’t have