When it’s time, we walk into the family fun center. I spot Jerrod waiting for us right away. He’s changed little, except for maybe thinning hair and a dad-bod belly taking shape.
“There, Aiden.” I point toward Jerrod. In the past, he’d run up excitedly to his dad, right into his arms. I note today, he simply saunters up with a grin on his face that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“There’s my guy!” Jerrod booms, almost trying too hard. He scoops Aiden up, and his body leans away—as if his skin doesn’t quite trust the arms holding him. “How’s the birthday king?”
Aiden smiles politely, feet back on the ground. “Good.”
“Hello, Stella.” A single cold nod is all I get, which is fine enough in front of our child.
“Hi. You two have fun. Text me when you’re done, and I’ll come pick him up.”
“It’s okay. I can drive him to the apartment,” he offers. Only we don’t live there anymore, and I want to honor Eli’s wishes not to have Jerrod anywhere near the house.
“We live with Eli now,” Aiden explains. Leave it to him, my innocent little one, not to realize what a box he just opened, one I hadn’t hoped to deal with this early in Jerrod’s visit.
A heavy dark cloud comes over us, even though we’re inside. I almost hear thunder rolling in, but really it’s Jerrod’s nostrils flaring, his jaw clicking, brow arched.
“Is that so? You failed to tell me you had a change of address.” His eyes narrow on me.
“Only temporary. The apartment is being remodeled, including an entirely new stairwell because of wood rot, so we had to move out. Eli has an empty house here and offered it as a solution,” I blurt in a rush. “Oh, here. I think I have some tokens in my wallet left over from our previous visit. Should be enough to get you started on the games, Aiden.”
I pull them out and drop them into his waiting hands. He runs off to play the basketball game, his favorite, where he tries to shoot as many balls through the hoop as he can in three minutes.
“See you later,” I call after him.
Jerrod steps menacingly in front of me. “I told you I don’t want Eli anywhere near my son. What about that don’t you understand?”
I look him straight in the eye, not backing down. “Unless you get a court order keeping him away, then you have no say, no right, to dictate our lives.”
“We’ll see about that,” he hisses, and stalks away.
I release a shaky breath. Not a great start to his visit.
The day of the party,after the shop closes, Mom and I set everything up. We push the big craft worktables together to make brick stations. Each one has sorted Lego bins.
The cake sits on the counter, frosted thick with blue icing because Aiden likes it that way. I pipe his name twice; the first one looked crooked. We tape blue and green balloons to the main window and door, streamers hang everywhere, and we quickly cut out a hand-lettered banner that reads:
Happy birthday, Aiden!
We hang it above the cake and gift table from the ceiling. The entire time, I avoid Mom’s eyes. She’s worried after I told her last night about my run-in with Jerrod at the fun center, which I kept from Eli.
“Everything will be fine, Mom. Let’s just get through the day,” I assure her.
Aiden runs into the shop, gasping and happy with the results. He zooms around, touching everything, so excited, especially when he sees there are a few presents for him already on the table.
“I love it, Mom. Thanks.” I get a hug from him, relishing every second.
“Go hug Grandma; she helped too,” I tell him, right as his friends start to arrive. Brenna’s son, Brady, is one of them. Ihaven’t let her in too much on the details of our life, but she’s nice and seems to think of me as her friend.
“I’m going shopping, if that’s okay, unless you need help?” She kindly asks.
“Go on and enjoy the time,” I assure her. We get so little time to ourselves as moms as it is.
“Great, I’ll be back early to pick him up.”
I wave at her and the parents as they drive off. The boys are all a bundle of chatter and giggles. They drop to the floor immediately, playing with a random large-size set of bricks I had set there. Their voices overlap in happy chaos. They use their imaginations to build spaceships and monsters, and other things.
It’s a cheerful sight. Until Jerrod arrives ten minutes late. My breathing becomes a little more labored under the stress of his presence. He’s too loud from the moment he steps inside.
