“I don’t want you to feel that way. You did a great job with me.”
“I did what I could. Not like other kids got, but I put you first.”
“Which was more than my mother did. More than Baylee is doing for Maverick.”
“Are you going to talk to this woman?”
“At some point. There is too much going on now, but once I can, I will.”
He’d want her to sign over custody to him. It’d make everything move faster, but he didn’t know if that would happen.
As long as Maverick was in his care for now, he’d deal with the rest as it came.
“Your head is spinning, isn’t it?”
“It’s hard for it not to be,” he said. “I’m not someone who makes lists. I guess it’s a good thing Jocelyn is. She’s out buying what she thinks I need right away. She talked to Nettie. We won’t take anything from there because Maverick will go back there to visit or stay when I’m working, if I need it or she wants him.”
That was going to be hard for him to do, but he told himself he couldn’t take the only person who cared for his son out of his life. Not completely.
And he didn’t want to do anything to make Nettie fight him for custody. The nicer he played, the better it would be for everyone.
They were just possessions and he knew what he could provide his son would be better.
“I expect to get first dibs on my great-grandson. I need to buy things too. I’ve got an extra bed, but nothing else.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Which was another reason it might be easier if he got a house. He could have a guest room for his grandmother to stay in and not worry about all those things cluttering her small apartment.
“This isn’t one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants deals, Chance.”
“I know. You’ve got a lot of questions too, but I need to get to my attorney’s office and then Jocelyn and I are going to get Maverick. He was somewhat taken with her, not so much with me.”
“Did you even try?”
“No. I didn’t want to without knowing.”
“I’m not surprised by that. Open yourself up, Chance. This little boy needs you.”
“And I’m going to be there for him.”
30
FOR THE BEST
“The place is a dump,” Chance said when they pulled into the trailer park. “I wanted to take Maverick yesterday when I was here.”
Jocelyn looked around at the rundown trailers. Not even new ones, but ones that were rusted with cracked windows, even pulled away siding, sitting on uneven bricks.
“Are you going to bring him back here for visitations?”
She wasn’t so sure she could do it.
“I don’t know. If I’m told I have to, I will. I’d rather Nettie came to my place. I guess we’ll work it out.”
“You’re set up as best as you can be for now,” she said. “If the bed isn’t delivered, you’ve got the playpen.”
“Will he fit in that?” he asked.
