“It’s the least of my worries. I only found out because his mother, who I only dated for a month and never told me she was pregnant, is in jail. She was arrested on Saturday night and looks like she’ll be there for a while. Baylee, that is her name, finally told her mother, Nettie, who the father was. Nettie showed up at my place for me to take him. She said she couldn’t do it anymore. She’s not well and it’s too much.”
“Whoa. So finding out you’ve got a kidandraising him?”
“Yeah. I’ve got an attorney in place. I’m going there next and we’ll get temporary custody filed with the courts. Social services has to be notified. Nettie hadn’t done it yet, she was avoiding it, but I have to play by the rules. I want to take him home right away, but if the case manager says no, Nettie will keep him until we get there.”
“I know you, you’re going to do what you want anyway.”
They’d play by the rules on paper, but he was still taking his kid home tonight. That wasn’t up for debate. After talking toNettie last night, he understood she wanted to still see Maverick for visitations and be in his life, but she couldn’t care for him or watch him nonstop.
He had to learn what he could on the fly and hoped Maverick adapted.
“I’m going to need help,” he said. “I have to find childcare, but until then, if it’s not too much, if you can watch him days I’m at the firehouse. Or nights and Jocelyn can take days. I know things have to be done here too. We can work it out together, but hire more help here too to ease things some. Maybe I’ll get lucky with childcare fast.”
“Whatever you need, I’m there, Chance. You don’t have to ask.”
“I know.”
“I’m glad Jocelyn is stepping up. I bet she’s more organized than you.”
“I’m lost, but I’d be more lost without her. This is a lot and I told her I’d understand if she wanted to bolt.”
“Don’t insult her or yourself, or I’ll cuff you upside the head like I did when you were a kid.”
He laughed. “I might need it. Jocelyn bought a doll and showed me how to change a diaper last night.”
His grandmother laughed. “I bet you start potty training him fast. Maverick, you say? Kind of funny.”
“Top Gun. Your favorite movie,” he said. “Baylee called me that. The whole need for speed and being a rebel in her eyes. I found it stupid.”
“You did when I told you I had a crush on Tom Cruise,” her grandmother said.
“Nettie said I could call him whatever I wanted. I think she meant shortening the name. She was calling him Mav, said Baylee called him Ricky.”
“Poor kid probably has no clue what his name is at that age.”
“I know. I’ll probably stick with Mav or Maverick. Sounds as if his life was like mine.”
“And that digs at you, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. But my son is going to know what it’s like to have a man in his life.”
“What about his mother?”
“For now, no way. I’m going for full custody, but that will take time. I’ll most likely get temporary custody granted right away. My place isn’t going to work for long. Not sure if it’s time to look for a house or not.”
A yard for a kid to run in. Something he’d never had.
He didn’t want his son playing in a parking lot or running on the streets.
There’d be a swing set and a basketball hoop, a sandbox for sure.
Everything he’d seen from a distance at friends’ houses when he got to visit.
Things he’d never had and wouldn’t even consider asking for.
His kid would have them all.
“You want your son to have a better life than you. It’s okay to say that and do those things, Chance. I’m not going to be hurt or upset.”
