You cold?”
“A little,” Jessup says. “What did you end up doing with my coat?” It’s a dumb question, he realizes. The wrong question. The wrong time.
David John shakes his head. “Let me tell you something, Jessup. This is just some bad luck, okay? Same as it was for Ricky. Think about if I’d been in the alley with him in the first place, or if I just hadn’t texted him to meet me on the job, done it myself? You need to think of it that way. Bad luck, bad timing. Wrong place, wrong time. You did everything right, everything you could have to avoid this. That boy was pushing you, calling you names, calling you out, doing everything but daring you to fight him.” He looks Jessup directly in the eyes. “I’m proud of you, son.”
Jessup doesn’t say anything. Can’t say anything. What does it mean that Coach Diggins said the same thing to him, and then barely twenty-four hours later told Jessup to walk out of Deanne’s life? What does it mean that David John, this man who is not his father, thinks of Jessup as his son? Jessup thinks he might cry if he speaks. Breaks off eye contact and looks at the gravel.
“I am,” David John says. “I’m proud as hell. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident, pure and simple. And the truth is, nobody would have believed it, in the same way that nobody believed that Ricky was just protecting himself and nobody cared that I was simply standing by my son. What they cared about—all anybody cares about—is that we don’t say things the way they want us to say them. You see those fraternity brothers at Cortaca University lined up in court in their thousand-dollar suits, and they can stand up and say it was just an accident. They’ve got the right parents and the right New York City lawyers, and if some kid dies from hazing or from drinking too much at a frat party, well, that’s just a tragic accident and here’s a slap on the wrist. But that’s a different kind of family than us, isn’t it? They’ve got money. And if you were poor and black or Mexican or Indian, there’d be plenty of help for you, people standing up and saying you’re a victim of your circumstances. But nobody cares about us because we’re poor and we’re white. Might not be politically correct to say it, but it’s true. And as far as all of them are concerned, if we ain’t politically correct, then it means that we’re wrong. That’s how they see it. And that’s why you did the right thing, Jessup. If you’d called the police, if you’d just fessed up and said it was an accident, you’d already be in jail. Both my kids locked up.”
Jessup steals a glance and sees that David John is looking away now, gazing out toward the end of the driveway again. “Four years. Four years and all I ever did was run my business, work hard, raise you kids the best I could, go to church. And two black kids attack my son—they attack him—and he defends himself and I try to help, and they take me away. They attack my son and all he does is defend himself, and I do the same thing any father would do.”
His voice is as calm as normal, but there’s a heat to his words, real anger. “Take me away from you, from your mom, from Jewel, for four years. I’ll never get that back. We’ll never get that back.”
He turns back to Jessup. “Look at me, son,” he says. Jessup does. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident, pure and simple, but even if you’d killed him on purpose, I’d have a hard time blaming you. I’d stand behind you. I don’t condone violence. You know that. But that boy got what was coming. And the thing is, even though it’s true, you can’t ever say that. You know what happened, I know what happened, and Earl and Brandon know what happened. Nobody else. You got that?” Jessup nods.
“You keep your mouth shut. Stick to the official story and you’ll be okay. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, and I’m not letting them do what they did to Ricky, what they did to me. I think it might kill your mom to have you locked up. You understand?” Jessup nods again. His stepfather stands straight and strong. David John might as well be made from cast iron. “I’m not letting them do the same thing to you.”