My Brother’s Keeper - 42

“Why isn’t he answering?” Roy asked; a rhetorical question of course since Jerry and Max had no answer for him. Roy had tried calling before they’d left Tad’s apartment and had been sent to his voicemail where he left a message. Now they were at Max’s office after a twenty minute walk and he still couldn’t get through to Tad.

“I bet he turns his phone off when he’s in class,” Jerry suggested.

“But he knew I was going to call. He’d at least have left it on vibrate.”

“Guys, how about we get started,” Max said. He commiserated with them but he did have his own schedules to meet.

Once they were all settled in his office he laid out exactly what was going to happen and what Roy had to do in order to obtain guardianship of Jerry. When he finished, Roy nodded slowly as he looked at the notes he’d taken. Then, hesitantly, he asked the two questions that were uppermost in his mind at the moment.

“Will the court have a problem if Jerry and I are living with Tad, and what happens if my parent’s fight me on this?”

“As long as you can prove you legally live there you should be fine. I would suggest however that you omit the fact that you and he are in a relationship, if you are that is. As for your parents, I’m quite certain they’ll fight this, but I’ll fight harder and I have the weapons and the training to do that.”

“Then my name needs to be on the lease too?”

“It does.” Max stopped when the office door opened. Tad stood there and Max beckoned for him to join them.

Tad did, apologizing profusely for being late. “But I have a good reason, which I’ll tell you later,” he whispered to Roy.

“We were just discussing Roy’s need for a permanent residence.”

Tad looked at them in surprise. “I though that had been decided, they’re going to live at the apartment.” He frowned at Roy. “Or did you change your mind?”

“No, no,” Roy hastily assured him. “But…” he looked at Max.

“If this is going to work his name has to be on the lease as well,” Max explained.

“Oh, is that all. That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll talk to the rental company as soon as we finish here. It is a two bedroom apartment so they must expect people to have roommates.”

“Just make certain you let them know that’s what he is. There’s no sense in giving his family any unnecessary ammunition,” Max cautioned.

“But I was planning on marching in there and telling them I was moving my boyfriend in,” Tad replied with a straight face. Then he chuckled. “I’m not a complete idiot, Max. I already figured that part out.”

“Thought you would,” Max told him. “Now let’s get some paperwork done and then you’re free to leave.