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“Mom… I… can you keep this a secret?”
“What do you mean, honey?”
“Don’t tell Dad.”
“Rex, I don’t understand,” I told him.
He sniffled again. His voice wavered. My heart ached for him.
“Dad was supposed to pick me up tomorrow morning. It’s his weekend. So I asked Mrs. Jakinovich to call him first,” he explained. “But Dad told me that I’m not supposed to cry for my mommy at a sleepover. He told me to tough it out.”
“He told you to tough it out?” I asked, eyes going wide.
“Don’t tell him I called you,” Rex begged. “He’ll be mad.”
“Rex, you don’t worry about your father. I’ll handle him. You just get your stuff and say a big, big thank you to Bobby J. and his parents for tonight,” I told him. “Maybe we’ll try this again and have Bobby J. sleep over at our place.”
“Maybe.” I heard him exhale heavily. “Please hurry, Mom.”
I assured him that I would and we hung up.
I looked over at Carter, knowing he heard everything. He knew our night was over.
“You’re probably going to want to head back to your place…”
“I’ll get my car keys,” he said.
Twenty-Three
Carter
I drove as Zoe comforted Rex in the backseat.
He was practically asleep by the time we reached the condo. I could tell the little guy was embarrassed, but he was too overwhelmed to stay awake. Once back inside Zoe’s place, she made him some chamomile tea. I watched as she added ice cubes to cool it to room temperature and so much milk to it that it was barely tea anymore. Rex drank it happily and she tucked him into bed.
I waited in the living room, drinking my own mug of tea. When she finally came out, she sank down on the sofa next to me.
“Thank you for driving us,” she said.
“Of course. Um… what did Rex mean about not telling his dad about tonight?” I wondered.
She gritted her teeth. “Rex called Desmond because he’s supposed to have his week with Rex starting tomorrow. We usually switch off on Sunday, but since the Jakinovichs are closer to Desmond, it just made sense to do it tomorrow,” she said. “But when Rex called his father, he refused to come get him. He thinks Rex should’ve have just toughed it out.”
“Wow.”
“But, I mean… he’s six,” she went on. “Of course I don’t want him crying for Mom all the time. I want him to solve his problems himself, but… he’s my kid and he’s scared.” She was exasperated. She struggled to get the words out. “Tough it out? Really, Desmond?”
I didn’t know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut.
“I mean, is that what he’s going to do when he gets…”
“When he gets what?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“When he gets what?” I asked again. “Zoe—”
“When he gets full custody,” she finally answered. “He wants to take him out of public school and put him in genius school and… and take him away from everything that might, I don’t know, dumb him down. Most of all, me.”
