Shane scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. Just because she doesn’t hug her every second doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her. You have to understand that this is really hard for Alice. I think she’ll be fine later on, but it’s still new.”

“It doesn’t feel new to me,” I said. “Is that weird? I feel like Kallie’s always been there. I can’t even begin to think about what life would be like if she wasn’t around.”

“Don’t think about that then.” There was silence for a while. “I think it’s good, you taking her in.”

“You do?” I asked. Shane had never really said two words one way or the other on the whole situation since we’d brought Kallie home.

“Yeah.” She paused and looked pretty thoughtful. “I hope she gets to stay with you for the long term. I’d hate to see her have to bounce around the system.”

“I won’t let that happen, if I can help it,” I said with conviction. It surprised me a little, since I hadn’t been aware that I had such strong feelings about it. “I didn’t think it was gonna be a big deal, but every time I think about her having to go to a bunch of different foster homes it makes me nuts.”

“Are you thinking of adopting her?” Shane asked.

“I…” I paused. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about it, but yeah. If Alice wants to and if we know the birth mother won’t be any trouble, I don’t see any reason not to.”

“It’d probably be better for Kallie if it was like that,” Shane replied. “I’ve been thinking about it. Fostering, not adoption.”

“I think that’d be really good,” I told her. I would have elaborated, but we both knew what I’d end up saying so I didn’t really see the point in bringing up her past again. It was painful for her and I tried not to mention it if at all possible.

I also didn’t mention the fact that there was extensive drug testing. Alice and I had both had to go to several different doctors, but since I hadn’t touched drugs since the marijuana during my treatment and Alice never did more than the occasional joint, we hadn’t had much to worry about. Not that I thought Shane was using, anymore…but a lot of that stuff stayed with you. I didn’t say anything, though. She’d already know that if she was doing any research into it, and I saw no reason to bring it up. I just thought her idea was really good and I hoped something would come of it.