“Yeah, I heard. I also heard that he’s buying Archer’s attention with stories of his old job and playing sports with him and doing physical activities rather than academic ones.”
“Oh my God. Are we going down that road again? Because you just spent ten days with him doing a combination of things, most of which you’d never do on your own, and he had the time of his life. Or do you think some nine-year-old can fake that?”
“I had to do that shit to get him to stop bragging about Jayce. Do you think I liked half of it? It’s not whatIwanted to do!”
She ground her teeth. “It’s not about you. It’s about Archer. This was supposed to be a trip for him or was there something else going on you didn’t tell me about? Did you have to go there for work and leave Archer with your friend? Is that it? Because Archer said he spent a few days with them.”
“Kirk and I had a conference to attend together. Archer stayed with his wife and their children for three days.”
“Three days total he stayed with them? You left our son alone with someone he didn’t know for three complete days and had no interaction with him?” She was pacing around the kitchen. “Why didn’t he tell me that? Or did you tell him not to?”
“What do you take me for?” Tucker shouted. “I picked him up at night and we stayed in the hotel and then he went back in the morning.”
“But he didn’t spend that time with you. He spent it with them having fun, didn’t he?”
“By then I was sick of doing shit. As you said, it’s about Archer. He had a good time so what’s the big deal?”
She took a deep breath in and out. “The big deal is that you just called me to give me shit over not knowing I had a boyfriend and I’m positive it’s more about the fact you don’t like that our son would rather be with Jayce than you. It’s all a competition to you. So you had to work hard at being a father so that he wanted to be with you too. That’s what is eating you up right now. Just admit it.”
“He’s my kid and shouldn’t be talking about another man that way,” Tucker said. “You’re turning him against me.”
“Fuck you, Tucker. That’s what I’ve got to say to it.”
“Do you talk like that in front of Archer? Just one more reason for me to go for custody.”
Her heart sank, but she was going to stand her ground. She wouldn’t show him any weakness or he’d prey on it. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You’ll never do it because you can’t even spend two full weeks with your son before you’re pawning him off on someone else.”
“I don’t give a shit who you sleep with, but keep those men out of my son’s life.”
“You can’t make me. Because if you do that, I can come back and do the same to you and we both know you’ve got a more active past than me. If you want to have a better relationship with your son, then you need to work on it. I’ve been telling you this for years. This is on you and no one else.”
“I give him what I can.”
“You tell yourself that,” she said. “You ask yourself if it’s enough and if you want more because we both know you don’t. You work endlessly to win and when you’ve got the prize then you lose interest. Archer is yours and once you got him, you lostinterest. I get it now. I never realized it before, but now I see it. You don’t want to work for what you think is already yours, but that’s happening now.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve got competition. Male competition for your son’s attention and it’s eating you up you might not be able to win. But what you don’t understand is this isn’t a game. This is life. This is your son’s life. There is room for everyone and until you realize that, I’ll break another record and tell you—you’re losing your son on your actions and only yours.”
The phone disconnected in her ear.
How dare he hang up on her?
She stared at it in her hand, internally battling if she should call him back.
They’d only fight more.
He wouldn’t take it out on Archer, she was positive.
The only reason the fight was as bad as it was, was because Tucker needed to use her as his verbal punching bag to get it out.
“What’s going on?” Jayce asked. “As if I couldn’t figure it out.”
“He’s not pissed I’m dating someone, he’s pissed that Archer likes you more.”
“I’d be bent if I were in his shoes, but as you said, he made his bed. That’s all on him.”
“Exactly. And if you had a child that you had to share with another man, your son would still love you and love being with you. You’d be hurt if there was someone else in his life, but deep down you’d know if it was good for your kid, you’d accept it.”
