“He’s nobody I care about,” Lucas says.
“My ex-husband,” Zoey says.
Katie frowns. “Lucas’ father? Thejerk?”
Me, Arlo, and Zoey all try to choke back our laughter, but Caine nods.
“Yeah,him,” Caine tells her, fist-bumping with her.
Caine is yet another big brother to her, and she follows both boys around like a puppy when they’re home.
Katie’s as protective of her big brothers as they are of her. Outrage fills her voice. “What’dhewant?”
“Nothing we couldn’t take care of,” I assure her. “Let’s eat.”
* * * *
Zoey does a good job of hiding her feelings from the kids, but once the three of us are alone in our bedroom later that night, her mask drops and she’s seething.
“What thehelldid that assholethinkwas going to happen?” she practically hisses.
Arlo and I exchange a knowing glance. We understand it’s a rhetorical rant, and she needs to get it out of her system.
“I mean,seriously? What did hethinkLucas was going to do?Thankhim for throwing him out? Buddy up to him? For fuck’s sake!”
Arlo and I quietly stand there, staying out of her way and letting her vent. She goes on for another five minutes or so before finally sitting on the end of the bed and staring up at us.
“Better?” I ask.
“No,” she grouses. “What right does he have to show up here like that after hethrewLucas out like garbage?”
“He’s an idiot,” Arlo says. “Which is why you traded up with us.”
Finally, the hint of a smile appears on her face. “Us?”
He hooks a thumb at me. “Yeah. Me and the whippersnapper here.” He grins.
I elbow him. “Shut up, you old geezer.”
She flops back onto the bed. “I donotwant another round of legal bullshit with him. I wouldn’t put it past him to file for another modification.”
I snort. “Gonna be hard to do when the ‘child’ in question tells the judge he wants nothing to do with him. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“The narcissist can’t stand being ignored,” she says. “Never forget that.”
I step over to sit next to her, where I take her hands in mine and press them against my chest. “Sweetheart,” I gently say, “he’snottaking Lucas away from you again. Lucas saw through him.”
Arlo sits on her other side and stretches out next to her. “Logic this out, sweetheart. He admitted to us what happened the last time, how Bill played him. Plus, now heknowsBill played him. He also doesn’t want to be played again. He’s happy with us.”
She takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it out. “I blocked Bill’s phone number on my cell after we got the order.”
“And?” I ask. “You have every right to do that. We have a home phone, and he’s got the number for it. He has our attorney’s contact info. He obviously knows where the house is. He could’ve written Lucas a letter. Lucas is a smart kid who learns from his mistakes.”
Lucas also still feels horrible about those two lost years. He talked to me about it last week when he went grocery shopping with me. I assured him we don’t hold it against him, because we know what kind of person Bill is, and how he manipulates people.
It’s guilt he’s working through, though.
No, there’s no chance of him falling for his father’s bullshit again.
Later, after we’ve gone to bed and Zoey and Arlo are both asleep, I lie awake and hope that, one day, if Katie is presented with the same kind of choice as Lucas was tonight, that she’s got the strength to remember how Lucas handled Bill and not fall prey to fake tears or a manufactured crisis.
If she learns only one lesson from her big brother, I hope it’s that one.
