“We’re also drawing blood for the DNA testing,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Is that necessary?” I asked.
"I told you I'm crossing my Ts and dotting my Is. I don't want any issues. Of course, you can refuse, but I think this is the best course of action." Susan's expression didn't change.
I glanced at Lisa, and she gave me an encouraging smile. I nodded at the nurse.
“Let’s do the little guy first,” she said.
Lisa held CJ close in her lap and sang to him while the nurse inserted the needle, and he barely flinched. She continued to sing as we watched the small vial fill with his blood, and before we knew it, he was wearing a PJ Masks Band-Aid and happily sucking on a lollipop.
I was next, and soon the nurse left. Lisa tucked CJ back into his stroller to go back uptown. My heart lurched at the thought of them leaving. I wanted to invite her and CJ to lunch, or give them a tour of the office, anything to have them with me a little bit longer, but it was good to maintain the boundaries we'd set, and even better not to fuel office gossip.
I stood by the elevator and watched the doors close with Lisa and CJ inside before returning to the conference room. I sank in the chair and turned to face Susan, who was staring at me.
“What?”
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That.” She wagged her finger between me and Lisa’s now vacated chair. “Is something going on between you and your nanny?”
“No, and I don’t think that has any relevance to CJ’s adoption.”
"Cole." She eyed me. "In family court, everything's relevant. And if you have a relationship with this woman, it could help your chances of adopting CJ."
“What do you mean?”
"Tomlinson is a traditionalist. He's also a piece of shit that has no place in our judicial system. But he believes children should be raised in what he deems are traditional families: One man and one woman, the races shouldn't mix, and don't get me started on his ableism. He once tried to deny an adoption because the mother used a wheelchair, and he didn't feel she'd be capable of performing the day-to-day duties of a mother."
“Are you fucking serious? So what happened?”
"We appealed and got the case reassigned. That schmuck is like the Teflon Don. Nothing can touch him. I think we're all just waiting for him to die at this point."
I sat back in my chair and sighed.
"Cole, I'm just saying, you're a single man, and you work ten—sometimes—twelve-hour days. CJ is basically being raised by his nanny. I know her name is Lisa, and she seems lovely, but I'm telling you how the court will see her. But,” —she tilted her head with a little smile— “if you and Lisa were married, then CJ would be raised by a stay-at-home mom while Daddy put on a suit and went to work to earn the bacon or whatever bullshit passed for logic in the 1950s or whenever Tomlinson crawled out of hell to attend Yale. See the difference?"
“Married?” My mind briefly flashed to what marriage with Lisa would be. There was a lot of me crawling in her lap after a long day at the office and watching her rock CJ to sleep. I also saw her waiting up for me to get home from work and giving up her dream of becoming a singer to take care of CJ. “That’s not gonna happen, Susan.”
“Okay…”
My lawyer clearly wasn't ready to give up what she thought would be the perfect solution. "What about an engagement—a fake engagement. You get engaged. She's already living in your house. You buy a ring. Then you ‘break up' after the adoption is finalized. It's worked before, and you don't want to take any chances."
I thought of what Lisa might say if I explained Susan's plan to her. I felt like she might say yes if it was to help CJ, and I wasn't sure what I thought about that. I also thought about her recent divorce. Would I be an insensitive asshole, asking her to do something like this? What could I even offer her that would convince her to agree to this? She did have student loan debt, and I no longer had to worry about paying for legal representation in the adoption proceedings. Technically, the money would be used for the same thing. Still, I didn't want to risk hurting her. There had to be another way.
“Susan, I can’t ask her to do that.”
“Look, Cole.” She did her motherly, hand-on-my-arm thing again. “You’re a good person. That’s why you deserve to be with CJ. If this thing goes tits up, you don’t want to look back and wonder if you did everything you possibly could.”
lisa
nineteen
"So, how's your new job?"Dr. Burch asked.
"I love it. It feels like I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing but not exactly the way I expected." I was stretched out on her couch, staring at the tiles on her ceiling. There was a water stain that was kind of shaped like a rabbit.
