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At the edge of the school’s parking lot, he crunched forward and held his head between his knees, clearly breaking down.
I rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. “We’ll figure it out,” I whispered into his chest. “Let’s go talk to the social worker.”
52. Josie
“These things just take time to get straightened out.” Karen, the social worker, sighed as she scanned over the paperwork from the folder. “It does cause an issue that he’s not on the birth certificate. When Fiona passed, the proper channel would’ve put Stevie in the care of Rhonda and Earl Haley, her grandparents, but you said the friend of Fiona’s swooped in and delivered her to you? Why?”
“She knew I was the father,” Tyler argued. “I’m the proper guardian.” He pointed to his chest. “I am her dad. I have a DNA test.” He started swiping on his phone for the proof and then held a picture out to the social worker.
“Okay.” Her brow wrinkled. “Don’t shoot the messenger, but it still doesn’t look good that the mother left you off the birth certificate. It makes it look like she didn’t want you involved. Do you have anything written that she’d want Stevie to be in your care over her parents?”
Tyler’s chest rose and fell quickly, a sign that he was losing patience. “She can’t stay with them. They’re dangerous.”
Karen narrowed her eyes at Tyler. “Do you have any proof that she could be in danger right now? If you have proof, it’d make things go much quicker.”
Tyler’s jaw ticked. “No. No, I don’t have any proof.”
She sighed again and directed her attention back to the papers. “Well, I’d advise that you lawyer up before this court date. I’m sorry, that’s pretty much the only advice I have… It looks like…”
“What?”
Her brow furrowed. “It looks like they’re seeking back child support as well as support moving forward. But the back support doesn’t really make sense in this case…”
“Oh my God,” I shook my head. “She called you a cash cow, Tyler.” I looked back at Karen. “You think this could be a money grab?”
She shrugged. “There’s no real way of knowing… but this is an… odd case, given the circumstances,” she said carefully. “I’ve never had a case with grandparents popping up out of the woodwork like this before. She’s never had a relationship with them? Ever?”
“Not that I know of,” Tyler said. “I’ll get her back, right?” he asked desperately.
Karen paused and clasped her hands together on top of her desk. She eyed me as if silently pleading that I help Tyler get ahold of himself. “A lawyer would know much more about this. But from what I’ve seen in the past, the grandparents are probably going to try to prove that you’d be an unfit guardian. If they successfully do that, then they’ll get custody despite DNA proof, and they’ll probably get child support as well. Off the record though… if they called you a cash cow,” she arched a skeptical eyebrow, “I doubt Stevie would see any of that child support.”
Tyler froze. He ran his tongue over his teeth and nodded. I could practically feel the anger reverberating off him. Without another word, he marched out of the office.
I threw a “thank you” over my shoulder before running to catch him.
________
Things happened quickly after that, and I suspected money changed hands to make things work faster. On Thursday morning, Tyler went to the courthouse with his lawyer and the judge put a temporary situation in place that didn’t quite favor him– he and I both knew it, but we left it unspoken. Tyler had to finance Rhonda and Earl’s hotel room until custody was decided, and he only had Stevie on the weekends.
In Stevie’s absence, the loft transformed into a sad, quiet place, with Hassik and Garcia afraid of saying anything that would make Tyler upset. There were no more brawls or video games or dance parties, and Tyler didn’t dare touch any of Stevie’s things. He barely stepped foot in his old room in fear of disrupting her space. He’d become a ghost of who he used to be. It’s like Stevie had stolen his light and taken it with her, and the only time he was his true self again was when Stevie was permitted to be in his care during the weekends.
Through the next two work weeks, Hassik, Garcia, my dad, and I were all called to the courthouse to give statements as character witnesses to help Tyler. He thanked me profusely the day I returned home from giving my statement, but other than that, he was practically silent throughout the week. He skipped hockey practices and games, telling my dad to put him on some kind of leave. I thought my dad would argue back, but the next day, news hit sports blogs that Tyler would be out for a month with an undisclosed injury.
And I understood why he did it…
For once in my adult life, my personal life mattered way more to me than my professional one. Before, I used to spend my time outside of school planning for the school day… Now, I did the best I could at school, but as soon as the bell rang, my focus went to Tyler.
I knocked on their loft door every day when I returned home from school with food in hand to force him to eat. But even then, he barely touched the food I brought to him.
I spent most of my afternoons in his loft helping him look over past custody cases. At one point he threw a folder he’d been holding across the room in frustration, and I knew he had a harder time reading when his mind was tired. When that happened, I tried to convince him to rest, but he’d call his lawyer instead and demand to talk through the case.
________
The final night before the final custody hearing, he banged on my door well past midnight. His shoulders slumped and he looked so defeated… which was so different from the Tyler I knew. Gone was his quick grin and larger-than-life stance. He’d definitely lost weight from not eating or working out, and he just seemed so…lost. Like he’d forgotten how to smile.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so…” He sucked in his top lip and shook his head. His lower eyelids were red, like he’d been crying.
“No, you have nothing to apologize for,” I said. I tugged on his wrist to pull him into my place. “Let’s go to bed. You need rest.”
