I’d been looking forward to it all week. Not because I needed a break from Leo, but because I wanted uninterrupted time with Chloe. Time to talk without spelling words we didn’t want Leo to understand. Time to remember what it felt like to just be us.
“Excited,” Chloe said, meeting my eyes with a smile that made my chest warm. “And maybe a little guilty for being excited?”
“Don’t be. Trudy said it was important for us to maintain our relationship separate from parenting.” I pulled her closer, keeping my voice low. “Besides, I miss you.”
“I’m right here,” she said, but her smile told me she understood what I meant.
“You know what I mean. I miss us. Just Sam and Chloe, not Daddy and Chloe-mama.”
“I miss us, too.” She kissed me quickly, then stepped back as Leo looked up from his sugar packet tower. “Okay, I’m off. Leo, be good for Daddy at your appointment, okay?”
“Okay, Chloe-mama!” Leo jumped down from his stool and ran over for a hug. “Will you show me the new puppies today?”
“Yes! They’ve been asking about you.”
“Really?” Leo’s face lit up with that pure childhood joy that never failed to make my heart clench.
“Really. Especially the little brown one with the white paws. She misses your gentle hands.”
After Chloe left, Leo and I had a few minutes to kill before his appointment. We spent it playing with blocks on the living room floor – Leo building elaborate structures while narrating complex stories about puppy adventures, me adding pieces where he directed, and marveling at how much he’d grown in just a month.
The custody process was moving forward steadily. Arthur had filed the petition in Oregon, and Patricia was handling the Illinois side. We’d had our first home study three weeks ago – a social worker named Margaret who’d spent three hours at our house, interviewing us, observing Leo, asking questions about our routines and plans for the future.
She’d let Leo show her his room – now decorated with posters of dogs and a glow-in-the-dark solar system on the ceiling. She’d observed dinner time, where Leo had helped set the table and told Margaret very seriously about how triangle sandwiches tasted better than regular sandwiches because “the shape changes the flavor.”
Margaret had smiled at that, writing notes in her folder. Before she left, she’d told us quietly that Leo seemed “remarkably well-adjusted for a child who’d experienced significant upheaval,” and that she’d be recommending our custody plan be approved.
It wasn’t final approval. We still had months of court proceedings ahead of us. But it was progress.
“Daddy, we need to go!” Leo announced, checking the Mickey Mouse watch Chloe had bought him. “Trudy doesn’t like it when people are late.”
“You’re absolutely right, buddy. Let’s head out.”
Trudy’s office was in a converted house on the edge of Willowbrook, painted cheerful yellow with a garden full of flowers that Leo loved to inspect before and after his sessions.Today, he was particularly interested in the butterfly that had landed on the lavender bush.
“Look, Daddy! It’s just like in the Hungry Caterpillar book!”
“It is,” I agreed, crouching beside him.
“Chloe-mama says butterflies used to be caterpillars, and they had to change to become butterflies. Like how I changed houses and got happier.” He looked up at me with those serious brown eyes. “Trudy says change can be scary, but sometimes it makes things better.”
“Trudy is very smart.”
“Hi Sam, hi Leo!” Trudy greeted us at the door. She was in her fifties, with kind eyes and the calm presence that immediately put everyone at ease. Leo had taken to her immediately. “Leo, are you ready for our session?”
“Are we doing the feelings cards?”
“We might. We’ll see what you feel like talking about today.” She looked at me. “Sam, I’ll let you know when we’re done.”
“Perfect. I’ll be in my truck if you need me.”
I watched Leo take Trudy’s hand and walk into her office without hesitation, chattering about the butterfly he’d seen. A month ago, he’d clung to my leg and cried when I tried to leave him anywhere. Now he went willingly, trusting that I’d always come back.
I spent the next forty-five minutes on my phone going over the weekend schedule with Kate. She’d been managing things beautifully while I adjusted my hours for Leo – covering shifts, helping me figure out a schedule that would let me do drop-offs and pick-ups once Leo started pre-K in the fall.
My phone buzzed. Trudy:Leo’s ready for pickup. Great session today.
I headed into her office, where Leo was proudly showing off a drawing he’d made – our family, he explained. Three stickfigures holding hands outside a house, with what appeared to be approximately twenty puppies surrounding them.
