Seduced by Design

Let Down

Jaden

It was past lunchtime, and I felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. I checked the document I had been working on and sighed. Byron had messed up. Again. Corey had caught him red-handed stealing from the supply room. And considering that Byron was a technician, the stuff he was stealing was high-quality computer equipment that wasn’t cheap. The last time he had been caught, Byron had pleaded with Erik. His girlfriend had dumped him and left him with a baby. A small part of me had understood that part, but Byron had moved in with his mother. He needed the extra money since his mother didn’t work and her pension wasn’t enough to cover the additional fees of having a baby in the house. The girlfriend had disappeared, and Byron had acted instead of just talking to me, or Erik, or his boss. Now, Erik was unsure of how to proceed. We could give him another chance, but I knew Erik. He would want to do more to help Byron. And I just wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. I read through the paragraph again just as my phone rang. I saw Kathy’s name flash across the screen, and I groaned. I had been trying to get a hold of her since this morning.

“Kathy,” I answered. “What the hell?”

“Sorry, Jaden…moving has been a bit of a pain in the ass. I couldn’t find my charger,” she explained as she apologized. I sighed softly because I knew Kathy. This wasn’t like her at all. So, either she was lying, or she was lying.

“Ok, well…are you still going to pick the kids up today at four?” I asked her. When Kathy had agreed to give me full custody, I knew it had nothing to do with me, but everything to do with her boyfriend. It wasn’t like he wasn’t nice to the kids or anything like that. It was that he enjoyed going out and having kids didn’t allow him to continue living that sort of lifestyle. However, when Kathy had agreed to move closer to Chasea to be able to maintain a relationship with her kids, he had agreed. Under the condition that they only had the kids once a month. That had been months ago. Every time it was time for her to take the kids, something always came up.

“Um…”

“No. Whatever bullshit excuse you are about to spew out…I don’t believe it. It’s been months since you last saw them, Kathy,” I told her angrily. I could hear him in the background, complaining about something. Kathy groaned softly, and I just knew she was going to cancel. It didn’t matter what I said.

“Jaden, we’ve just moved. The house is a mess and…and we just aren’t ready for them yet,”

“Months, Kathy. Months. Do you get that?” I asked her. “I mean, we might not have had the best marriage, but you were a great mother to them, Kathy…but now? They don’t even know you anymore…in fact, they are already expecting you to drop them off this weekend,”

“Jaden,” she whispered, and it was my turn to groan. “I just…I can’t right now,”

“I call bullshit. Put that dickhead of a boyfriend on the phone,” I ordered.

“It’s not him,” she argued, but I didn’t believe her.

“Put. Him. On. The. Phone,” I repeated. It suddenly went quiet, and I checked to make sure that the call was still connected. When I saw that it was, I simply waited. A moment later, I heard him.

“What’s up, Jaden?” Brian said, and I had to bite down my tongue. He wasn’t a bad guy. He really wasn’t. I just didn’t like him.

“Why can't you guys take the kids this weekend?” I asked him.

“Look man, we just got moved in. We haven’t even unpacked all of the boxes, and the rooms aren’t ready,”

“Why not? Come on, Brian. This is getting old. It’s her kids too,” I argued. Brian didn’t say anything, and I sighed. “At least take them out on Saturday,”

“Ah…Saturday…tomorrow…I mean, what do you want us to do exactly?” he asked, and I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know he was worried about them staying over and potentially ruining any of his plans.

“Come and get them. Take them out for lunch, maybe do some shopping? I told Kathy last week that the girls need new underwear and that’s her department,”

“Can't we just pay in some money for that?” he asked, and I groaned loudly. “Right, right…um…can I get back to you on that idea?”

“No, Brian, you can’t. Put the call on speaker,” I demanded. I heard him mutter something about how I was a pain in his ass, but I ignored that remark.

“Jaden?” Kathy said and I took a deep breath.

“Listen to me carefully, both of you. If you don’t come and pick the kids up tomorrow and spend some time with them, then it’s over. Do you hear me?” my threat was met with silence, and then I heard her start to cry. “Don’t pull that card on me, Kathy. I’m warning the both of you. If you don’t pick them up by nine o’clock tomorrow morning, it’s over. Get it? Got it? Good,” I hung up and looked up to see Erik standing in my office doorway. He shot me an apologetic look and I sighed. He had probably overheard it, but it didn’t matter. Erik was a good friend and if anyone could and would back me up, it would be him. Him and Mark.

“How far are you?” he asked, and I nodded, grateful that he wasn’t about to dive into my family drama.

“Almost done,”

“Ok, meet me in the conference room down the hall in ten minutes,” he said before he left. I nodded and got back to work. The girls would be happy so that they could go to their party, but that meant I had to come up with something for the boys. Being a single father didn’t always suck, but today, it sucked big time.