Chapter 2
2043 Words
Chapter Two
Frankie
When I walk in after my late shift, Sandy is asleep on the chair, the remote in her blanket-covered lap, so I slowly shut the door and tiptoe across the room.
As I place my purse on the kitchen table, my gut twists when I spot the Styrofoam cup from Nikki’s Gyros. Only one person brings that food in this house. Instead of nudging Sandy awake, I walk down the hall and peek into Jolie’s room.
Her rainbow nightlight’s glow allows me to see that she’s fast asleep with the polar bear stuffed animal snug under her arm. Jax won it for her from one of those crane games at Pizza Pies the last time we all went.
I shut the door and walk quietly back down the hall. Sandy is folding the blanket when I reach the living room.
“You can spend the night.” I always offer and she always declines.
“No. I’m good.”
I pick up the Styrofoam cup and she sighs, which means it wasn’t her who went there. She had a visitor while I was at work.
“He came for about five minutes and left. Jolie cried herself to sleep again.” Sandy shakes her head.
She carries the burden of my ex’s addiction. She shouldn’t. She’s always been there for him, but after the death of his father, Michael spun out of control. Sandy was grieving herself. It was a tornado of things that never fully landed back in their original spot.
I throw away the cup like I’d like to throw him out.
“Was he here for money?” I ask.
“I think so, but he never did have the nerve to ask after Jolie cornered him about Christmas coming up and asking where he was at Thanksgiving.” She lingers, putting on her coat and retrieving her keys out of her purse. “Frankie.” There’s a hitch in her tone that’s not usually there. “I don’t think he wanted the money for drugs though.”
I perk up, hoping that maybe he finally wants help. Not that we’ll ever get back together, but I would like Jolie to have a father in her life. “Oh?”
“He’s… leaving.”
“What?” I jerk back.
She puts up her hand up to stop me from overreacting. “He said after Christmas. That his friends are going west.”
“And what about Jolie?” I pace the front room, unable to process how he can treat his little girl with such little regard. All she wants is him. She doesn’t care that he’s a low-life druggie who hits women. All she sees is her father.
“I know. I said that, but you know him. He thinks he’s no good for her.”
“I think that’s an excuse,” I say, too meanly to the woman who bore him. I’ve always tried to bite my tongue when we talk about Michael. I try to be sensitive to the fact that she’s his mother, not to mention the help she gives me with Jolie can’t be replaced.
“I’m not sure it is, but regardless, I think we have to prepare Jolie.”
“I think he’s already been doing that by popping in and out of her life the past year.” Ever since I left him and got my own apartment, he makes and breaks promises all the time.
She nods and sighs.
“Sandy, you have to stop feeling responsible.”
“He’s my son. Of course I feel like I did something wrong for him to turn out like this. And I wish every night he could just see the light, but now with this move… it kills me to say this, but maybe it’s for the best.”
Is she really suggesting that no dad is what’s best for Jolie? But after a few seconds, my shoulders sag because she’s right. At this point, Jolie grieves after every one of his sporadic visits. She’s hurt and sad and can’t understand why she’s not good enough for her dad. I wanted to spare her the feeling of unwantedness that I endured after my dad left us and never returned, but Sandy’s right—she’s better off without Michael.
“Is he planning on telling me?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“That means I have to go for sole custody now. I can’t allow him to leave and possibly take her God knows where. What if he finds a lawyer and a sympathetic judge somewhere and he gets custody, only to abandon her because he wasn’t clean? Jolie needs stability.”
She nods. “That’s why I’m telling you.”
I cross the room and hug the woman who’s growing frailer by the day. I’ve asked her to move in with us on numerous occasions, but she shoots me down every damn time.
“Thank you… for everything,” I manage to get out past the ball of emotion clogging my throat.
She pats my back. “You girls are my family. I’m so s—”
I push her back by the shoulders and set my gaze on her. “Do not apologize for him.”
She waits a moment. We both know she wants to say it. “I should go. So I’ll pick her up after preschool tomorrow, then I’m taking her to see that movie, remember?”
“Thanks. One day I’m going to pay you back for this.”
She laughs. “Just visit me in the old folks’ home, okay? I don’t want to be one of those sad people they wheel in front of the nurses’ station to watch everyone who comes there to see other people.”
I laugh because she’ll never see the inside of an old folks’ home if it’s up to me. “Deal.”
She smiles and squeezes my hand before she leaves. “You’re so strong, you amaze me.”
I shake my head. People tell me I’m strong—but for what? Being a single mother? What choice do I have? My strength comes from not having any other option. But my life begins and ends with that little girl, and no man will ever come between that.
“You’re strong,” I say to her.
She laughs and opens the door. “Now lock up after I leave.”
“Text me when you get home, okay?”
She nods and I wait until she’s at the elevator before I shut my door and lock it. Then I watch her walk along the sidewalk and get in her car. I really hate having her leave so late at night to head home. It’s not going to work much longer.
“Mommy?” Jolie says, walking in from the hall.
“Hey, sweet girl.” I open up my arms and she walks into my embrace. I pick her up and she rests her head on my shoulder.
“Daddy came,” she says.
“I heard.”
“Him and Grandma were yelling.”
I kiss her forehead. I had a feeling. Although I’m fairly sure the screaming was him, not Sandy. I can’t blame her if she did yell. I’ve lost my cool with him more than once.
“Come on, let’s go to bed.” I shut off all the lights, grab my phone out of my purse, and head down the hall.
“Can I sleep with you tonight?” she asks.
“Sure thing, kiddo.” I turn off her nightlight and she reaches for the polar bear.
I sigh because part of me hates that Jax Owens has wormed his way into my daughter’s heart. Sometimes I question why he’s taken such an active role in my daughter’s life, but then it’s probably my own fault. Jolie’s at Ink Envy so much, he didn’t have much choice.
She snuggles into my bed, and I strip down, not bothering to brush my teeth or wash my face. Some days are too exhausting. Maybe I’ll regret it when I’m fifty, but right now, I just want my head on the pillow.
Jolie cuddles into me, and I wrap my arm around her and squeeze her tightly because I know things might get really messy once I file for custody. Michael might be leaving Cliffton Heights and the east coast altogether, but me filing paperwork for sole parental rights will infuriate him. Even though he doesn’t want us, he’s always believed that he owns us.
The next morning, I do my research and get the name of a family lawyer a friend of a friend used to get sole custody of her children. When I call to make an appointment, I find out the lawyer had two cancelations, so I pick the appointment time that allows me to stop by after work.
All I can think of during my shift is what’s going to happen. I imagine Michael’s reaction after the papers are served. He’s bound to confront me. Maybe I should take Jolie and hole us up in a hotel. But I try not to uproot her too much. She’s already had so many changes in her young life.
“What do you think, Spark Plug?” Jax asks from his chair. He’s currently leaned into a chair with his boots crossed up on his station, sketching in his journal.
“About what?” I work on my own sketch for my client who’s scheduled to arrive in about five minutes.
Dylan walks over and squeezes my shoulder. “What’s with you today? You don’t seem all there.”
He’s the best boss I could ever have. I know that even his friends would let Jolie and me stay at their apartments. Which makes me feel slightly better if I decide to go that route after serving Michael.
“Nothing, just preoccupied. What did you say?” I ask, fixing the shading on my sketch.
“Christmas?” Dylan fills me in.
“Sure. Do you mind if I invite Sandy?”
Jax watches me from the corner of his eye. I hate how he knows so much about my life, but I know nothing about his.
“Jackass skipping the holidays this year?” Jax asks.
I stiffen. “I’m not sure, but I know she’d rather be with Jolie than alone.”
His feet drop to the floor and he tosses the journal on his table. “Of course, who wouldn’t? I gotta take a piss.”
He disappears down the hall to the bathroom. I always find it strange how Jax can hate a person he’s never met. Michael won’t come into Ink Envy—I think he’s afraid of what my co-workers might do or say to him if he did.
“Rian wants to have it at our place. She’s got a lot of s**t to get done. So if you need a place to stay, I’m sure she’d love the extra help,” Dylan says while walking by me to the front counter. The man knows me well.
“I’ll see. Jolie would love it.”
Dylan chuckles, grabbing the appointment book. “So would Rian. She loves baking with Jolie, and she has certain Christmas cookies she wants to bake at the house instead of Sweet Infusion because they’re supposed to be homemade. Not sure what the location of baking has to do with it.”
“But you’re not going to argue with her, am I right?”
He laughs. “Hell no. What I’m saying is that you’d be saving me if you wanted to stay a few days.”
We both know Dylan is asking because Michael might show up at my place unannounced like he usually does, and I’m not interested in ruining Jolie’s Christmas. “Thanks.”
He nods. “I’ll be in the back if you need me.”
He leaves and Jax returns, sighing as he sits back down. “You shouldn’t have to hide out.”
Luckily, my client walks in before I cry and tell Jax all my problems. I have no idea how I hate him so much, but at the same time, he’s like a therapist to me. I could see him just sitting there, letting me unload it all on him.
“Mind your own business.” I stand to greet my client. “Hey, I was just finishing up your sketch.”
I purposely don’t look at Jax for fear I’ll crumble.
After my shift, I get in my car, and head to the opposite side of town. The side of Cliffton Heights where the country club is—and the fancy lawyer’s office.
I open up the door, give them my name, and sit in the waiting area. My knee bounces and I feel sick to my stomach. Maybe I should just go.
The door of the office opens, and for a moment, I consider bolting. If Michael leaves town, what does it matter whether I have custody or not? But this has been a long time coming and I can’t allow him to treat Jolie like the Holiday Inn, so I stay seated in my chair.
But when the person comes into the room, his presence demanding as always, my stomach sinks. What the hell is Jax doing in a family law office?
- Writer
