More sniffles and then, “Yeah.”

“Alright, hey bud I gotta go ok? But I need you to try to be strong. Everything’s going to be ok.”

“Ok.”

“Yeah? Ok I’ll talk to you soon. Try to get some sleep.”

“Shane?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Shay. Goodnight.”

Shane finishes talking to the social worker and writes down the address and all the paperwork she will need to bring in the morning and hangs up.

She lets out a sigh and buries her face in her hands.

“Babe come here,” Carmen says as she pats the spot next to her on the bed. “Tell me what happened.”

Shane lets herself crash into the bed face down. With her head buried in the sheets she says, “I don’t know.”

Carmen puts a hand on Shane’s back but can feel her tense up. After everything they’d been through over the past two years, Shane still seemed to close up whenever things got rough. Carmen knew that getting angry about it and demanding that Shane open up would just make her withdraw more, but it was so hard to see the woman she loved struggle by herself. It made her so mad that Shane couldn’t see how important it was to Carmen to be honest and open.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Who was that on the phone?”

“Some woman named Julie. She works for the DCF and I guess something happened with Gabe because now Shay is in custody and is staying at a group home tonight.”

“Ok well lets go get him. He can stay here. Lets go.”

“We cant. We have to be approved first. I’m going in to meet with his case worker tomorrow morning and try to see if he can stay here.”

“Ok what time? I told my sisters I would go shopping with them in the morning but I can cancel that.”

“No! You don’t need to come with me. Im not some helpless kid who needs there mom to hold there hand. He is my brother and I’ll handle it.”

Carmen could feel the rage boiling up inside of her but past experience told her to keep it hidden.