Broken Half: A Tom Holland Story

Breaking News: Tom Holland Is Rubbish At First Impressions!

I pass the papers to her after signing my part. I watch as Morgan takes out her own pen: A bright blue sparkle pen with a pom-pom on top. She clearly did it just to annoy Ainsworth and it certainly worked, since the old woman had the facial expression of someone ready to explode.

We weren't even out of the building yet and I already love the kid.

But there was something else about Morgan's signature: it was beautiful. It was smooth and perfectly written, almost as if she was a VP for some rich company. I commented on it and Morgan smiled.

"When you daydream about something like this happening for years on end, you tend to want it to be perfect," She replies.

Ainsworth takes another sip of her bourbon and takes the last of the papers from Morgan. "If that's it you are free to go," She groans, "Mr Holland as you are aware the program lasts for only 2 months... but if any-" She glances toward Morgan, "problems... should arise, you can always bring her back sooner."

I offer her my best smile, "I understand ma'am. Thank you." I shake the old woman's wrinkly hand as I stand up, before turning to Morgan, "Ready to go?"

Morgan picks her back up from the floor, grinning from ear to ear, (completely ignoring Ainsworth's hand that she was holding out for her to shake) "Oh gods yes."

We make our way outside to the parking lot, and without even telling her to, Morgan opens the rear passenger door to my car and throws her bag in. She then slides into the front passenger seat herself. Chuckling to myself, I hop in the driver's seat.

Before I even pull out of the parking space, I turn to Morgan. "When Ainsworth was talking about sending you to previous houses, was she telling the truth?"

"That lady didn't call me by my own name more than a handful of times in the ten years that I was stuck there, and you really think that she was telling the truth?" She scoffs. Yeah, that was obviously gonna be a no.

I put the car in gear, "So I have no plans today. It was literally all about getting the signing done and getting you settled back at my place for the next couple of months."

She's shocked and raises an eyebrow, "You mean that I get to choose what we get to do for the entire rest of the day?"

I laugh, rounding a corner, "Well yeah this is like your special day, like a second birthday."

Morgan mumbles something, I lean in, "You're gonna have to speak up darling-"

"I don't know my birthday,"

She says it in a whisper, but I hear it loud enough to accidentally brake a little too hard at the four-way. "You-"

She sinks lower in the chair, "Yeah you heard me," she snaps back, her eyes flicking to the lights at the intersection "Lights green."

I'm not gonna lie to myself, her saying that kind of broke my heart a little bit. I try to change the subject quickly, "So do you want to do anything special? Fancy restaurant? Picnic in the park? An amusement park?"

I glance over at her and I see her staring back at me, an amused look on her face.

"What?!"

"You really aren't used to this whole kid thing are ya?"