The Depth Between Us

Part 10: Forever My Girl

It's now the first week of August. The summer truly flies by when you're having fun and kept busy.

It's Tuesday night and everything was quiet at Jay's apartment. Kiera was in the guest bedroom, while Jay was at his desk in the living room. He was doing some research on an adoption website. Jay read that his apartment would have to be inspected and that another family member would have to be present during the court hearing. Then, Jay glanced over at her birth certificate and read her birth date. Her birthday was three weeks away on the 20th!

"Jeez, I'm gonna be on a time crunch." Jay said to himself.

He pulls out his phone to contact Will. He tapped on the contact and waited as the phone rang.

"Jay, what's up?" Will asked on the other end of the line.

"Hey, man. Are you busy?" he asked.

"My shift just ended. Why?" Will answered.

"You wanna meet up at the bar near my place? I gotta talk to you about something." Jay explained.

"I'm on my way." Will said, then the phone call ended.

Jay shuts down his computer, then gets up from his desk. He walked down the hallway to get to the guest bedroom, then knocks on the door.

"Come in." Kiera said on the other side of the door.

Jay turned the knob and opens the door to enter the room. Kiera was sitting at the little desk with her watercolor paints.

"What's up?" she asked, looking over the chair.

"Hey. I'm gonna meet up with Will for a little bit." Jay said.

"Okay. I'll probably be asleep whenever you get back." Kiera said.

"Night, champ." Jay said.

"Good night." Kiera said.

Jay leaves the apartment to walk to the bar that's down the street.

Kiera finishes her latest painting of a cherry blossom branch, then her phone starts ringing. She doesn't recognize the number so she declines the call. Not a minute later, she sees that the number left her a voicemail. Kiera was hesitant, but listened to the voicemail.

"Hey, Kiera. I wasn't expecting you to pick up since we had been disconnected for a long time. Anyway, it's your BFF, Cheyanne! It looks like we're gonna be roomies at Central Chicago University. Call me back as you can. See ya!" the voicemail said.

Kiera couldn't believe what she had just heard. She and her best friend are finally reuniting after all these years. She tapped on the number and the two friends started talking like they never left.

After a hard day at work, Will met up with his brother to take the edge off. They got their drinks, then sat down at a table.

"You doing okay?" Will asked.

"Yeah." Jay answered.

"How are things with you and Kiera?" Will asked, then took a sip of his drink.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Jay said.

Will could tell that his brother sounded serious, so he put his drink to the side so that he can listen carefully.

"I'm listening." Will said.

"I'm looking into officially adopting Kiera and I need another family member to be present in court." Jay explained.

"Wow, that's a tall order. Are you sure about this?" Will asked.

"Well, her own mother signed over her parental rights to me and Kiera mentioned that they're not close with other family members. She needs me right now, more than ever." Jay explained, then took a sip of his beer.