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Her tone told me that she was not impressed with the demand, but I knew she wouldn’t have allowed Don to know that. Don Peters was one of my biggest clients. He had bars all over Europe and America. They weren’t franchises, just different ones. One would be a country themed bar and another would be a high-end luxury private club. It all depends on the market and what was in demand at the time. He had a global marketing budget of a hundred million dollars a year. So when he made a random call and demanded to see me, I obliged.
“I’ll be right in,” I said before I ended the call.
This was not how I wanted this day to go. I had no idea what Christian was going to be like around Jeremy and around Jasmine. I had no idea how Jasmine was going to handle two young boys. I had wanted the day to be able to observe her and ensure she was suitable enough to care for my son. Now it was looking like I was going to have to throw her into the deep end and just hope someone taught her how to swim.
“I have to go into the office for an emergency meeting. I don’t know how long I will be,” I stated as I made my way towards the front door so I could put my shoes and jacket on.
“Okay, that’s fine. I have this,” she said with a confident smile, and I couldn’t tell if she actually believed that or if she was just bullshitting me. Either way, I had to leave so I was going to take it as the truth.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I told her before I headed out, having no choice but to leave the welfare and safety of my son in her hands.
***
The second I walked into my office, I was expecting to be greeted by a sixty-year-old man that spent good money on Botox and plastic surgery to look like he was forty. Instead, I was greeted with the annoyed sour look on my ex-wife’s face. Fucking Ellis. I didn't doubt for a single second that she had reached out to Don and got him to lie for her. There was no way that Janice would lie to me if Ellis had been the one to call. She was loyal to me, and it was something Ellis and I often fought about. She felt that Janice was covering for me when I was out cheating. I didn’t matter that I never cheated. Or the fact that Ellis was the one always cheating on me.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked as I went over to my desk and leaned against the window sill behind it.
If she wanted to talk fine, but I was not going to be giving her the high ground here.
“That’s how you talk to the mother of your child?” she countered as she went and sat down in the chair across from me. She crossed her right leg over her left, and she gave me a smug smirk. I had no idea what she had to be smug about. She was the one that walked out on her son.
“And here I thought you didn’t even remember him.”
“Of course I remember him. I carried him for nine months. I gave birth to him. I named him. I cared for him for two years. Do you honestly think the last year has been easy for me?”
She was trying to play the victim, but I wasn’t going to let her. She wasn’t a mother that got her child wrongfully taken from her. She wasn’t a mother that had a child die. She was a mother that walked out the front door one day and decided she was going to live her life and completely forget her son. She didn’t get to act like a victim. She didn’t get to act like the hurt party.
“I would have to imagine any mother that leaves their child, unsupervised, in their crib, and doesn’t look back doesn’t give two fucks about her son. So yes, I imagine it was very easy for you over the past year.”
She pushed off from the chair as she spoke and started to pace around like a caged animal, “You have no idea how hard it was for me to walk away. I had to though. I couldn’t handle all of the stress of being a single mother.”
“Single, fuck off with that shit. I was there,” I snapped.
She was not going to act like I neglected Christian or her. Yes, there were days where I wasn’t there because I was out of the state going to meetings, but that was my job. That was the job that made sure we had a nice place to live, and she could have whatever she wanted. It wasn’t just us. I had employees that were relying on their salaries. I had to make sure the business stayed in the black or my employees would lose their jobs.
“You weren’t there. You don’t get to act like you were the world’s best father. I was alone all the time with an infant. I had postpartum that I was wrestling with, and I needed support from my husband. But you were off doing god knows what with what whore you were seeing that week.”
“I never cheated on you. That was all you. As for postpartum, the doctors checked all of that and confirmed you didn’t have it. So don’t play that card either. You had support. You had all the help that parents would kill to have. You still chose to go back to drinking, partying, and screwing around. Just admit that you didn’t want to be a wife or a mother.”
“Of course I wanted to be a mother. I love Christian. I hate that I left. I have missed him every day. It’s why I am back here. I want to be a family again. The three of us.”
“You can’t be serious.”
She had to be joking. She had to have some type of ulterior motive. We hadn’t heard from her in months since she walked out on us, and now she wanted to show up and pretend like we were some happy family? I wasn’t going to allow her to do this. To allow her to think that I would be a pushover.
“Why wouldn’t I be serious? We have a son together. He deserves to have both of his parents in his life. Do you not agree?”
“That would truly depend on the parents in that situation. If both parents are loving and want what is best for their child, then of course. However, if one of those parents are constantly getting drunk, leaving the child unattended, leaving for weeks or months at a time with not a single phone call, then no, that parent shouldn’t be welcomed in the child’s life until they get their own life sorted.”
If Ellis came back and told me she was sorry, that she was through with screwing up her life and being a party girl, then this would have been a completely different conversation. I wouldn’t be getting back with her, but we could have an honest conversation about Christian and what was best for him moving forward. If she had been even the least bit apologetic and remorseful of her behavior. Only she wasn’t. She was acting as if she took a trip to the grocery store. This wasn’t some house plant that she left behind. This was our son. A living, breathing child that she gave birth to. Shouldn’t that mean she felt connected to him?
“Oh, so you think I shouldn’t be in his life?” she snapped, and I had no idea how she could think otherwise.
I stood up and turned my body so I was fully facing her as she finally stopped pacing around, “Look me in the eyes and tell me you have not spent the last year getting drunk and sleeping around. Tell me honestly that you have sat staring at your phone every single day feeling like a complete waste of space because you left Christian alone in his bed.” I tossed my hands up as I continued, practically begging her, “Give me fucking something that shows me you are not a piece of shit mother.”
“You think I don’t feel bad about it?” she asked as her anger was starting to seep into her tone.
“I’m not seeing any remorse. You waltz in here, after using one of my biggest clients to even get me in here. You start talking about getting back with me even though we’re divorced and you think what? That I’m going to kiss you and tell you how much I’ve missed you? Eighteen months Ellis. It’s been an entire year and a half and nothing but radio silence.”
