Page 75 of Full Throttle

“So, I have to move if I want more custody?”

Halton was silent for a minute. “Where is Cherry, Dom?”

“She didn’t want to come. She wants me to make this decision on my own. She says not to figure her into the equation.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Incredibly brave of her.”

“I feel as if I’m already losing her.”

“Not if you sit back and look at this rationally. With your head, not your heart.”

“Explain that to me.”

“Move ahead with your life. Let Josh be part of it. We’ll request extended visits, but nothing that causes Josh upheaval.”

“Such as?”

“You get him Friday evening until Monday morning. You pick him up after school and have him back there on Monday. You get three nights, two days. An extra day on long weekends.” He met my gaze. “That’s way more than you had before.”

He was right. It was.

“You get to attend parent-teacher meetings. Go to school events. You make him a priority, not your entire life.”

“What if he wants to live with me? I read a case recently⁠—”

Halton held up his hand. “I know. That was the States. Canada’s laws are different. A child is considered a minor until eighteen. He can’t choose to live with you if his mother doesn’t agree.”

“Damn.”

Halton chuckled. “Cherry was right about something else. You are a bulldozer.”

I had to laugh. “I suppose.” Then I grew serious. “I don’t want to lose either of them, Halton.”

“Then listen to me. Give this a little time. I’ll put together a proposal to ask for more visitation. Request another meeting and present it to the judge. But not immediately. You still have to prove to him you’re reliable. So we have to give it some time. You have to understand that.”

I didn’t argue, because I knew he was right. I knew Cherry was right. I was rushing everything.

“I know. I was…” I shrugged, lost for words.

“You were acting like a father who has missed his child. I get it, Dom. We’ll do this correctly and by the book. Work with the system. Show the judge how cooperative you’re being. How happy Josh is with you in his life.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “But prepare yourself for Roxanne to fight. We’ll fight back. The fact that he is doing better in school because of Cherry and her math teaching? That is gold. Keep that up.”

I blew out a long breath, my chest loosening. Halton was right. I was jumping too far ahead. I had let my emotions get the best of me.

“Okay. I’ll let you do your thing, and I’ll keep going forward with my life and Cherry. Adding Josh to it, not letting that take over.”

He nodded in agreement. “Yes. And get some sleep. You look like death warmed over. Go to Littleburn and talk to Cherry. Take her to dinner, talk to her, then take her home and reassure her.” He winked drolly. “This must be hurting her as well.”

I hadn’t slept the night before, and Cherry had avoided me at the garage all morning. She looked as tired as I felt. When I’d told her about meeting with Halton, she had nodded but refused to accompany me. Her words “take me out of the equation,” echoed in my head the entire drive in.

That was unacceptable. She was the constant in the entire equation. The equalizer. I needed her, even more than I realized.

“I will.”

I found Cherry at the garage. It was late, but she was at the desk, her head bent over, studying a form. She had her air cast off, resting her arm on a pillow. Her lips moved as she read soundlessly, her glasses perched on the end of her nose. She looked pale, but still so beautiful, it made my chest ache. The thought of losing her caused a pain I knew I wouldn’t ever recover from.

I knocked on the doorframe, and she looked up. “Oh. Hi.”

I walked in and shut the door behind me. I pulled out the flowers from behind my back and handed them to her. Her eyes widened, and I bent, cupping her face. I kissed her, sliding my tongue in and twisting it with hers. She tasted of coffee and chocolate, and I knew she’d been nibbling. It was another one of her nervous habits.