“Clock’s running, Jerilyn,” I say. “As soon as you walk through Mike’s office door and sign the papers, I’ll ask Lucas to remove the video. So the sooner, the better. If you aren’t here in twenty minutes, Mike’s heading over to file the emergency motion, and this offer expires.” I punch the button to hang up on her anddamn, doesthatfeel good.
Lucas stops filming. The three of us share a fist-bump before Mike turns to his computer and gets busy.
“I want something in there not just about her admitting what she tried,” I add, “but that she promises not to try to come back at Lucas, Caine, Arlo, or me later with this bullshit. That if she does, she agrees she’ll pay full child support fromtodayforward, retroactively.”
“Oooh, don’t know if a judge would allow that, but we can throw it in and see if it sticks. Only matters if she fights it.”
My phone’s now blowing up with texts and calls from friends, and I can guess what all of them are about. I silence the ringer, ignore the texts, and send all the incoming calls to voice mail.
“Do me a favor, please,” I say to Lucas. “Text Mom and ask her if she can pick up Katie from school. And if she can’t, please text Arlo and ask him. I don’t want to tie up my phone in case Jerilyn calls back.”
“Sure.” He does.
Mike is grinning. “This is going to be the easiest couple of hundred I’ve made all month,” he says. “Soon as she signs it, I’ll run it over and get it filed before she can change her mind.”
“We need a provision in there about getting Katie’s things from her,” I say.
He nods. “You have someone—besides you, Arlo, and Zoey, that is—who can go get them from her?”
“Yeah. We can ask a couple of guys from Arlo’s work to go do it.”
“How much visitation you want her to have?” he asks.
“Can I get away with none?” Fuck being nice—that’s over. The nice guy is gone.
This is fuckingwar.
“I’ll put in there visitation at your sole discretion, and that it’ll be supervised by a third party of your choosing. And the stuff you said about not flying her unaccompanied should you decide to allow her to have an unsupervised visitation out of the state.”
“Sure.” I slump back in my chair, tip my head back, and close my eyes as exhaustion rolls through me. “I didnotneed this shit today.”
“No one ever does,” Mike says. “But fortunately for me, that’s what keepsmybills paid.”
