Page 89 of The Rules of Dating

“Smile!” Colby interrupted before glaring at him. “Brayden, careful with your language.”

Brayden chuckled. “I was gonna say trash compactor.”

Colby actually laughed, which was nice to see. He was lucky to have these guys in his life. As difficult as this was, it would be far worse if Colby had no support system.

“I love garbage trucks!” Saylor announced, clearly trying to figure out what her crazy uncles were talking about.

Holden poked her side. “You do?”

She twisted her fork around the last of her pasta and nodded. “Yup.”

Colby looked over at her adoringly. “Saylor likes to watch the garbage trucks come and take the garbage away, don’t you, sweetie?”

She nodded. “We can see it out the window!”

Owen feigned excitement. “That’s so cool, Saylor. I remember liking to watch that too when I was your age.”

Holden smacked the table. “Okay, no more trash talking. Let’s pop open the beers.”

The guys stuck around for a half hour before leaving together at the same time. I insisted on cleaning up while Colby took Saylor in for a bath. I could hear the sounds of splashing and giggling in the distance. Ah, the blissful ignorance of having no idea that your so-called mother was trying to destroy your father’s life. I hoped Saylor never had to find out what was going on.

After they came out, I watched as Colby joined her on the floor with her Barbie dolls. He had the Ken in his hand and, per Saylor’s request, was pretending to be Barbie’s boss at the zoo. Her Barbie was a zookeeper from Mars.

At one point, Colby suddenly put the Ken doll down and pulled Saylor into a tight hug. This little girl had no idea how many different emotions must have been swirling around in her dad tonight. Frightening thoughts flooded my own mind. There were so many unanswered questions. Would Maya be able to take Saylor out of the country? That would absolutely kill him.

Colby closed his eyes, and I somehow knew he was saying a silent prayer. I said one of my own. It was more like a vow. Billie, you’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure this man never loses his daughter. Whatever it takes.

It was a hard truth to swallow. Because in that moment, I knew I wasn’t going to stand in his way if he had no choice but to marry that bitch, even if it killed me.

CHAPTER 19

Colby

Phillip Dikeman, my family law attorney, frowned and shook his head. “I wish you’d come in sooner, Colby.”

“Maya just showed up four days ago, and this is the first appointment I could get to see you.”

He tossed the petition she’d given me on his desk. “I meant before Saylor’s mother waltzed back into your life.”

“Why would I have come in before she reappeared?”

“Because we could have terminated her parental rights by abandonment. New York only requires six months of absence to file a claim for involuntary termination of rights.”

I dragged a hand through my hair. “Fuck. I had no idea. When everything first went down, I met with my parents’ attorney. He told me I should file and get legal custody right away, but I guess I kept expecting Saylor’s mother to come back. When it eventually became clear that wasn’t going to happen, our life just sort of fell into place. No one ever asked me to prove I had custody of my daughter, and I don’t know… One day passed and then a week and suddenly my daughter was four.”

Phillip smiled and pointed to a framed picture on a shelf behind his desk. “Tell me about it. Mine just went to the movies with a boy last night. I swear she was four just yesterday.”

I shook my head. “How screwed am I?”

“I’m going to be straight with you. If she’s able to prove everything that’s in this petition, which I’m going to assume she can for a moment, there’s a good chance the court will give her some visitation. It will be limited and supervised, at least at first. But any judge we get is going to weigh what’s in the best interest of the child versus penalizing a parent for mistakes they’ve made. And barring a mother from seeing her daughter because she sought treatment for mental health issues—especially one who stayed away from the child out of fear she was not fit to parent—is not something a judge wants to do unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“But it’s all bullshit! She didn’t keep away from Saylor because of any mental health issues! She admitted that to me. She kept away because she liked her life better without a kid. The only damn reason she came back is because she needs something. This has nothing to do with my daughter being better off with her mother in her life. Honestly, as much as I despise Maya, if she had come back with a true desire to see her daughter—really had some mental health issues and regretted leaving her the way she did—I’m not sure I would try to keep them apart. Saylor deserves a mother. But this woman—she doesn’t deserve Saylor. She’s doing this for the wrong reasons, and I need to do everything in my power to protect my daughter from that evil.”

Phillip nodded. “I get it. I really do. And I’m absolutely on board with fighting this every step of the way. I don’t want you to think I’m not, Colby. But the paperwork she’s got here paints a different story than the one you’re telling me. She has independent professionals swearing she suffered from a mental condition and has worked hard to get to a better place for the sake of her child. What do you have to prove your story is the one the judge should believe? Unfortunately, more often than not, it’s what you can prove is true and not what is actually true.”

I felt like throwing up. “So are you saying I should’ve recorded what Maya said to me? Unlike her, my mind doesn’t work that way. The last thing I was thinking about when she knocked on my door was building a legal defense.”

He shook his head. “Of course. And I’m not saying you needed to record her. In fact, even though New York is a one-party consent state—so only one person needs to consent to being recorded—it’s still inadmissible in court unless we can find an exception. Not much is black or white in the law, unfortunately. I’m just laying things out the way a judge is going to see them. We can absolutely have you testify that Maya has an ulterior motive, but it may come down to our word against hers.”