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“Bell.” I crouched down until I was eye level with her. “You can’t go into your brother’s room and do things without asking him. It’s his personal space, understand?” I brushed her curls back.
Her little face scrunched, her lips turning into a frown. “Okay, fine.”
Standing, I looked over at my seven-year-old. “Give her a little grace—she’s only five, bud.” I ruffled his hair.
Knowing him, it wasn’t really the troll doll in his fish tank that was bothering him. It was the end of summer, with only a few weeks left, and there was only one thing my son was looking forward to.
I walked past the two, toward my room, where I pulled my cell free again and opened the texting app.
Hey,football camp starts this week—are you going to take him?
I shotthe text off to Logan, already knowing the likelihood of getting a response was nearly non-existent. That’s how he chose to parent, which was on him. He was missing out big time. He had promised Cole he would be the one to drive him to camp, but I think my son knew deep down that his father wouldn’t do it, just like he hadn’t shown up for Bella’s ballet performance, or her soccer tryouts.
He and his girlfriend had a brand-new baby; they werebusy…
I looked at my phone, willing him to respond, wishing he would answer if I called, but I knew he wouldn’t. It was partly why I had full custody of the kids; he usually wasn’t reachable, but if I was being honest with myself—though Lord knew I’d never be honest with my children about this—their father hadn’t fought to keep them. He’d agreed to pay child support and to see them every other weekend, but even that was something he’d done with no enthusiasm.
He hadn’t seen them in two months, although he’d talked to them on the phone and FaceTimed; he hadn’t shown up in person one single time this summer. He lived over the mountain, two hours from where we were, just two measly hours between him and his babies and he could never seem to get away.
“Mom?” Cole crept in, gently laying a hand on my arm.
I hadn’t even realized I’d started crying. I swiped at my cheeks quickly while smiling at him. “What’s up?”
“Um…I was wondering if we could go to the store to look for gear for this week?”
Such a simple request. He didn’t know we only had two hundred dollars in the bank account, or that his father hadn’t paid child support this month. He didn’t know that I was scrounging every dollar we possibly could, and I wasn’t about to tell him that either.
“Yeah, bud, let’s go.”
