“Hey, Cap.”
“Hey.” I clap him on the shoulder. “How are you?”
“Good. All good. You?”
I don’t think anyone has ever told Evan that he’s a bad liar, but I’m not sure I have the heart to be the first to do it.
Ignoring his attempt to turn the small talk around on me, I ask, “How’s Leo doing?”
He must not realize that he flinches, but I don’t miss it. “Oh, he’s fine. Thanks for asking. He was covered in glitter glue when I left last night.”
“And what else?”
“Huh?”
“What else aren’t you telling me?”
Evan tenses automatically, then seems to remember I’ve never been one of the people that he’s had to hold up his defenses against. We go way back, and we’ve been through too much together.
And, thankfully, Old Bill is too busy grumbling about “three across.”
“There’s a custody hearing in a couple of weeks, actually,” Evan admits. “Bella’s cousin filed a motion with the help of a couple of Leo’s other blood relatives. They claim I’m not fit to raise him.”
Anger floods through me, but I keep my cool for his sake.
“That’s bullshit. You’ve been raising him since he was a baby. And on your own, for most of that time.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not his real dad.” Evan sighs and shakes his head. “Anyway, maybe they’re right.”
“Evan.”
“I work bizarre hours. Multiple overnights a week. Not to mention that a career in emergency response is extremely dangerous. I mean, I’m never in as much danger as you or Trent or whoever, but… what if something happened to me? Leo would have nobody. In fact, the only truly stable presence in his life is his nanny, but Rosa’s mostly just doing me a favor because she was good friends with Bella. I would never expect her to step in as his guardian if… I don’t know.”
Usually, Evan is a man of few words. Maybe not as bad as me, but certainly not a chatterbox. So, the fact that he’s just let all of this pour out of him tells me that he’s been keeping way too much bottled up.
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” I assure him. “You’re too good at your job. Too careful, too meticulous, and too fucking smart to make a life-threatening mistake.”
“But—”
“Andyou’re the best thing that kid has. You’re steady, Evan. You’re present. You’ve given him a good home and more love than most kids gets.” More love than I got from my own father, that’s for sure. “Even the toughest of judges will see that.”
“It’s just that, with all the bullshit going on with the station…”
“You’re not going to lose Leo. I’ll personally do whatever I can to ensure it.”
Evan stares at me for a long moment. He doesn’t ask me to elaborate on what, exactly, I could possibly do to sway a judge’s opinion on the matter. Especially when I’m currently the captain of a sinking ship. But it doesn’t matter, because as soon as I have a spare moment, I’m going to sit down and figure it out myself.
“Thanks, Cap,” he says, offering me a weak smile. “I appreciate it.”
I clap him on the shoulder again.
“Fucking six-across,” Old Bill mutters, then looks up at us. “Either of you fellas know who the ‘doomed Prince of Denmark’ might be?”
“It’s Hamlet, bud,” Evan replies with a sigh.
“Ham-what?”
“Hamlet. The play? Shakespeare?”
