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“No!” he bites out. “Okay? No, she doesn’t. But she—”
“She needs help.” I drag him back around when he wants to turn and study his daughter. “She needs to get clean. What she doesn’t need is an enabler.”
“I’m notenablingher,” he snarls. “I’m just… I’m…” He exhales, exhausted. “I’m trying to help her. Because she’s better than this mess, and some of the responsibility sits with me.”
“Fletch—”
“Not all of it,” he clarifies. “Not even much of it. But I was a part of her world for a long time, and when our marriage fell apart, so did her life. Jada deserves a chance to get clean without judgment. And she sure as shit deserves to get clean without the threat of losing Mia hanging over her head.”
“Not only willshelose Mia, but you’ll lose her too! If you continue to send that little girl home to a junkie mother, then you’re knowingly, intentionally placing her in danger.”
I cast a look across to Archer. To his broad hand tapping the girl’s back, and his startling stare boring deep into mine.
He’s listening, but he’s not interjecting.
“He knows too,” I press. “As cops, you’re both mandatory reporters who wouldn’t hesitate to protect any other child. Butthisone, the most important one, you send her back there?”
“It’s not like—”
“Itislike that, Fletch! How often does she wander her apartment building on her own? Does she go to the store on her own? To the park?”
When his eyes flash with guilt, I pile on. “Does she try to cook? Is she at risk of choking on her food because no one is watching? Is she at risk of her mother’s drug dealers coming to the home, looking for payment?”
“Minka—”
“Archer said she had a friend over tonight; is Mia at risk of seeing that happen? Or worse, being violated by one of those men?”
“Enough!” Angry, he backs away from me and makes his sleeping daughter startle against Archer’s chest. “Just stop! Fuck.”
“Protect her!” I growl in response. “Maybe her mother was a good person, and maybe she deserves a little slack, but she’s a grown-ass woman who gets to make her own choices. The moment Mia was born, you and your wife no longer mattered. Your feelings, your opinions, your comfort. It no longer matters. You became parents, and parents do not have rights. You have obligations.”
“Delicious, stop—”
“You’re obligated to provide a safe space for your daughter, Charlie Fletcher, no matter how much it hurts your feelings to be a bad guy to your ex. And Mia has a right to a home where she isn’t dirty or hungry or worse. Those are the damn facts, and if you leave it all alone and things remain as they are, when Mia is hurt, or goes missing, or chokes on her dinner, or drowns in the bath because her mother isn’t paying attention, that’s on you. Because you knew, and you let it happen anyway.”
“You’re fucking brutal.” Turning away from me, Fletch jams his palms against his face and groans. “You’re mean.”
“I’m advocating for a three-year-old who doesn’t even know yet that this,” I hold up three fingers, “means three. Not this,” I hold up four. “She’s a baby, Fletch. She doesn’t know who to call for help. Or how to call. She doesn’t know her numbers. She’s entirely too trusting, considering she became my best friend within minutes of meeting me. She’s beautiful and sweet and innocent, exactly how she should be… but beautiful, sweet, innocent children need a guard at the door to protect them.”
“Minka—”
“Her guards are a junkie, and a father who thinks it’s okay to keep the status quo.”
“Fuck!” He spins back and burns me with a glare. “Why do you have to throw down like this, Mayet? I didn’t come here looking for your opinion.”
“Welcome to my world,” Archer rumbles from across the room. “Welcome to my doomed relationship and the reason we can’t actually be together.”
I point a dangerous finger toward Fletcher. “Fix it. Tonight. Or tomorrow. But fix it before she goes back to that place.”
Then I point to Archer. “Stop hiding behind your stupid little morality code and admit I’m right. About all of it. Join me on the side of what is real, then maybe you’ll get laid again. Until then, pat that sweet baby’s butt before she wakes up. But don’t fret too much.” I look down on Fletcher with scorn. “It would seem she’s accustomed to sleeping through the sounds of adults arguing.”
“Shut the fuck up, Mayet!”
“Hey!” Archer grumbles to his friend. “Chill.”
“You’re not even with her!” Fletcher exclaims. “So stop defending her. It’s annoying!”
“It’s the way it’s gonna be.”
