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I’d said to her before in the dark and quiet hours of the night how I didn’t want her to feel trapped by my life when she was just bursting out of her cocoon. She was just starting her business. She didn’t need to be tethered to a man nearly twice her age who already had a child. But Cara remained adamant. She wanted to be there. And she was willing to work at it, to bridge that gap between us.
I was, too. But the fact remained — there were challenges Cara and I had to overcome. But that didn’t mean I didn’t deserve a chance to be seen in a positive light.
“So then what happened?”
I smiled softly to myself. “Well, she chose me.”
Jenson pounded his fist on my desk, making me jump. “There you go! There he is!”
I flushed. “So we left. And I took her home.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “I bet you did.”
“Jenson, don’t do that.”
“What? I’m not doing anything! You just said you took her home. That’s totally innocent.”
I grabbed a stress ball from the top drawer of my desk and lobbed it at Jenson. He blocked it just in time. “Get your mind out of the gutter, you idiot.”
“What? I’m just happy for you, man. It’s been too long since you’ve connected with anyone. Or had anything more than short-term hookups. Happiness suits you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nice try. No matter how much you suck up, I’m a gentleman. I don’t’ kiss and tell.”
“You wound me.” Jenson clutched his heart and pretended to be offended.
There was a knock at the door.
“You expecting someone?”
I pushed myself up from my desk with a grunt. “No, but I have a ten o’clock. They might be early.” When I opened the door, however, I was not met with my appointment, but a woman with strawberry blonde hair I’d never seen before, her expression so serious she might as well have been at a funeral.
“Mr. Taves?”
“Uh, yes. Can I help you?”
The woman held out a legal envelope to me. “These are legal documents for you.”
I took the file from her and she left without another word. I stared down at the envelope, heart pounding.No…it can’t be.
“What is it?”
I turned around to Jenson, my mouth gaping open. “I don’t know. But if I had to guess…”
As soon as our eyes met, Jenson knew what I was thinking. He swallowed thickly, Adam’s apple bobbing.
I unwound the thread holding the envelope closed and pulled out the documents as fast as I could, slicing my finger on one of the papers in the process. I didn’t even feel the pain through my scattered thoughts.
Family Court of the State of New York…
I didn’t have to read further. I crumpled the paper in my hand tightly. “Fuck.Fuck.”
“Is it custody papers?”
“What the hell do you think?!” I threw the papers down on the desk for him to look at and began to pace around the room.
“Aw, Jesus. Wesley, I’m sorry.”
“I knew it. I knew from the moment she said she wanted to visit that she was up to something. I just had this feeling…” I felt sick to my stomach. Lisbeth was attempting to get custody of Lucy. I didn’t even care if she was appealing for partial or full. She didn’t deserve either. Not to mention, I knew it wasn’t what was best for Lucy. If Lisbeth hadn’t made it clear from her years of absence, the visit just a few weeks prior had put the nail in the coffin. Lisbeth would always be about Lisbeth, first and foremost.
