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Jesse walked into the apartment so quietly that Sonny almost didn’t hear her come in. But he did, looking up from where he was working at his laptop in the kitchen. She looked a little surprised to see him, but said nothing, slipping her shoes off and letting her backpack fall by the door with a small thud.
“You’re quiet, everything okay?”
He knew the answer already, she was never this quiet right after school and something just felt off. For a second it looked like she was going to shrug it off, but she swallowed, and Sonny’s stomach dropped when he realized she looked close to tears, staring at the ground.
“Come ‘ere Jesse,” He said and motioned for her to come over. The thirteen year old moved reluctantly, but melted into him when she landed in his arms, crying in earnest into his shoulder. He let her cry it out for a minute before pulling back, a million questions flooding his brain- alongside the thought that he was well prepared to throttle some middle schoolers because God seeing her so upset broke his heart.
“What happened?” He said softly, and Jesse sniffled, wiping her face with a sleeve.
“We were best friends last year, and now they’re just mean to me. Even Natalie,”
Sonny recognized that name as Jesse’s best friend since 2nd grade. But middle school was well, middle school.
“Mean how?” He said and she shook her head, crossing her arms over her stomach. “I don’t wanna talk about it,”
He sighed but gave a little nod, closing his laptop and standing up.
“Go get your shoes back on, we got some time before I have to get Billie from gymnastics,” He said and she listened, but looked up at him skeptically. “Where are we going?”
“Just come on,” He said lightly as they walked out of the apartment towards the parking garage of the building, Jesse walking in lockstep with him, even if with her hands shoved into the pockets of her hoodie.
-
Jesse spent the ride in his truck with her head leaning against the window of the passenger seat, humming along under her breath to the music on the radio and tapping her foot against the floor of the car. Until they took another right turn and she sat up, eyes widening out the window first before she turned to Sonny.
“Dad you hate Times Square,” She said bemusedly and he gave her a little shrug, tilting his head with a smile. “Yeah, but I love you.” He said and when looked a little happier than she’d looked thirty minutes ago, shelving how much he loathed Times Square for the afternoon was worth it.
They walked around the square, window shopping, doing a little actual shopping, and got hot dogs from a street vendor to sit down and people watch. Snapping a photo of her sitting crossed legged in her chair across from him on his phone, Sonny's heart caught in his throat looking at her. It felt like she was six two days ago, except now she was thirteen and in middle school and coming home crying about her friends being mean and he just wished he could stop the clock, even if just for a little bit. His oldest baby was getting big on him.
“We came up here one time when you were little because one of my cousins from Italy was visiting and wanted to do all the tourist stuffy, you freaked out so bad when we were leaving the Disney Store you wouda’ thought we were trying to kidnap you.” He said as they walked back to the truck, Jesse’s laugh as he told the story making him smile. “You’re screaming and crying and I’m hauling you out yelling over you at the cops eyeing us that I swear I’m her dad,”
“And they believed you?” She said quietly, eyes shifting to the cracks on the sidewalk.
"Well they didn’t arrest me so I think so,” Sonny said, pausing as he got into the drivers seat. “But I don’t think that’s why you’re really asking me that, hm?”
Jesse looked up abruptly from putting her seat-belt on, a flash of hesitation in her eyes before she leaned back in her seat, arms crossed and eyes on her lap.
“These girls at our lunch table were calling me stupid because all of them are on the advanced math track except for me,”
“Then Natalie said it’s obvious you’re not my real dad because you’re a lawyer and I’m just dumb.” She continued, looking away. “And that’s not even the worst part because then she said that’s probably why you wish you had kids that were really yours.”
Jesus. If he knew it wouldn't just make everything worse they’d be making a pit stop at this girl’s house on the way home.
“Jesse, I know you might not believe me right now, but all of that’s bullshit.” He said, and she cracked a small smile at his choice of language.
“Number one because you’re not stupid or dumb or any of that,” He continued “And number two because you are really my kid. The cops who thought I mighta’ been a child snatcher in the Disney Store saw it, your mom saw it when she asked me to adopt you. Natalie doesn’t get to tell you what I think about anything, because I’m me and she’s not, yeah?”
“I guess,”
She didn’t seem like she wanted to talk much more and he didn’t want to push her so they slipped back into comfortable silence save for the radio, Jesse letting her head drop back against the passenger seat window and nodding off as they drove home.
They pulled up to a red light and Sonny felt a little choked up as he watched her sleep, reaching across the console to gently squeeze her arm with a soft ”I love you baby girl," She stirred awake, grabbing for his wrist when he went to pull his hand away as the light turned green.
It took him right back to practically pulling his arm out of his socket to hold her hand from the front seat when she was little, and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat as he drove.
Time was just as much a menace as middle school girls, if you asked him.