My Happy Ending Part 1, page 19
“I brought my DVD’s with me to watch on the plane,” Cass added as she walked in the room. “I’ll just bring them over, I’m sure you have the popcorn, girl.”
“Of course,” Talia replied, her voice so soft I could barely hear it.
“And I left a message with Mark telling him I’d be at your place for a while, so he shouldn’t call the hotel room,” Tish said, stepping around me and entering the great room as well. Talia glanced up, noticing me and Emily standing there.
“Oh, I’m so glad that fits,” Lisa said, walking over to adjust Emily’s clothes, prompting Em to scowl at her and snuggle closer to me.
“She looks exhausted,” Talia commented, her eyes fixated on our daughter.
“Hell, Michael already knocked out,” Jaden said with a laugh, pointing to where Michael laid across Pete’s chest, drooling on his shoulder. “Elizabeth is only staying awake by talking Nan’s ear off.”
“I should get them home,” Talia said, taking Emily from my arms, ripping another piece of my heart to shreds.
This is their home...
“Talli, you could just...”
“No.”
Fuck, she wouldn’t even let me finish.
She turned her back, walking away from me, Emily’s head now on her shoulder.
Don’t... don’t fucking cry. Not now, Warner. Quit being such a fucking pussy.
“We’re just doing a girl’s night... um... in,” Cass said with a smile. She was always so nice to me, no matter what transpired at any given time, and I’ll be forever grateful. “You know, movies... popcorn... gossip.”
“Great,” I said with a short laugh, lowering my head and messing with the back of my hair.
“Actually,” she continued, linking her arm around mine, “as a golden rule, we avoid the subject of whatever’s upsetting us. Or we try to.”
I could only imagine what had already been said.
“And we’re gonna stuff popcorn and ice cream down her throat and hopefully she’ll feel better.”
“Thank you,” I said softly, trying not to get too choked up.
I didn’t know how much more I could take.
“I wanna go with Nana,” Elizabeth announced as she walked over to me. “Mommy said no.”
Oh, she always did this.
Whenever Talia told her no, she’d come running to me. Up to a certain point, I would always side with Talia, tell Elizabeth to do as her mother asked her to. But as Talia grew more distant, and I felt more unreasonable, I’d began to one-up her, allowing Elizabeth to get away with more, letting her do things that Talia had refused to.
Had I really resorted to that? Getting to Talia through the children?
“Daddy, I know you’ll say...”
“Baby girl, you need to go with Mommy. She wants you to go with her, okay?”
Elizabeth stood in shock at my words, her mouth half-hanging open at my audacity to deny her something she wanted. Once she realized I wasn’t changing my mind, her lower lip began to tremble, and big tears filled her blue eyes. “Mommy’s right. You don’t love us anymore.”
What the fuck?
Before I had a chance to respond, demand to know what she was talking about, she’d run from the room screaming about the unfairness of it all and how she wished she’d never been born, prompting Michael to raise his head off of Pete’s shoulder.
“Wha’s her plob-lem, Daddy?” he asked me and I merely shook my head and smiled. “Oh. Women. Right, Daddy?”
“Right, Little Man,” I replied, holding my arms out to him.
“You okay?” Pete asked me, and I shrugged in response.
No point in lying now.
Talia was coming back in with Elizabeth screaming on her heels about how she never got to see her Nana, and how she’d be going to school in the fall and wouldn’t have as much time to. Talia kept on walking, one eyebrow raised even as Emily looked at her sister like she was off her rocker.
“Man, Daddy,” Michael said with a shake of his head. “I just wanna go bowling for my birfday, okay? Just bowling.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and one glance at Talia, with the side of her mouth twitching as if she were trying to keep from smiling, I know she heard him, too.
“Just bowling,” I promised.
“I gots to go now, don’t I?” he asked, his arms draped around my neck.
“Yeah... yeah, bud, you do.”
“You take me to the car, Daddy?”
“Of course,” I replied, walking slowly out to Talia’s car, which was being loaded with most of Emily’s presents. I didn’t say a word about the bath toys, which were now drying off in the upstairs washroom. I wanted those here, for us, for when she was home.
Because this was her home.
Their home.
Even as I watched them drive away, my stomach in knots as I remembered Chris’s words, it just felt wrong. They shouldn’t be twenty-two minutes from this house. She shouldn’t be going anywhere but down the hall to her room, or maybe to the media room, for girls’ night in. Our kids should all be lying down right now, in their beds, in their rooms. They shouldn’t be driving farther and farther out of my sight, the taillights disappearing as she turned the corner at the end of the street.
“She still loves you,” Kate said as she stepped up beside me, wrapping her arm around my waist. My arm settled right across her shoulders, squeezing her for just a tiny bit of comfort.
“I wish I could believe you.”
“Jase, I saw what happened.”
“And it wouldn’t have if she...” My voice trailed off at the painful memories from earlier. “Kate, do you think she’s okay?”
“More okay than that batty sister of hers,” Kate replied with a sigh. “Although I suppose I have to give some room to Lisa, considering she just buried her ex-husband a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, she’s...”
I blinked a couple of times, stopped dead in my tracks.
“She is a bit one off, and I kinda remember her being that way from the wedding, too,” Kate continued. “And that was him... Jack... that sat with her there, wasn’t it?”
“Jack... Jack’s...” I turned to Kate, looking her square in the eye. “Jack’s dead?”
“Well... yeah. That’s why Talli went to Ohio. Was that him? The one that...”
“When she went to Ohio... you mean just... just a few weeks ago, right before she...”
“Right before she left, yes. Jase, was that...”
“Holy shit, I don’t believe it.”
I turned from Kaitlyn, running my hands through my hair as I began pacing back and forth on my front lawn. This... it made perfect sense. Of course it would take something like that to have Talia and the kids leave, to make them go back to Ohio! Of course she wouldn’t just up and go, after she’d told me that she couldn’t come to Texas.
But... but...
“Kate, why didn’t she tell me?” I asked, my hands outstretched. “Did she think I wouldn’t want to know? Did she... did she just not want me there?”
“I don’t know, Jase,” Kate replied. “I... think they’re under the impression that you knew. I certainly was.”
“But I didn’t.”
I didn’t know.
And it was all so confusing to me. Was this good? Was this bad?
Did it matter?
Or was it too late?
“I have to get going,” Jaden was saying as she walked out the front door.
“Relax, they won’t start without you,” Pete quipped, and Jaden stuck her tongue out at him.
The nerve of happy couples.
“Hey... Jaden?” She was right by me when she stopped, turning towards me, her eyebrows raised as if she was waiting for me to continue.
What do I say? Why didn’t I know? Or... why didn’t she want me in Ohio? Or...
“I’m sorry, Jase, but I’m already late and...”
“Take care of my girl,” I said softly. She smiled and nodded before walking towards her rental car.
I needed her to look after Talia.
Until Talia would let me back in to do it myself.
CHAPTER 14
TALLI
I... KISSED HIM? SERIOUSLY?
“Talli, your ice cream’s melting!” Cass exclaimed with a giggle. I stared down at the contents of my bowl, now looking like green soup with bits of chocolate.
“I guess I’m not wanting ice cream right now,” I mumbled as I settled down a little further into my papasan chair.
I’m so embarrassed... how many people saw me do that?
“I’ll take care of that,” Tish said, standing up to take my bowl. “You three decide which movie we’re going to watch.”
Even in my own home there’s no escape. That... that couch they’re sitting on, would they really want to know everything Jase and I had done there?
“I’m Harry Pottered out,” Cass said, shaking her head slightly.
“No to Harry,” Jaden noted as she flipped through the DVDs that Cass had brought. “Um... do we want action, drama, or comedy?”
It wouldn’t be so bad if he had at least kissed me back. I mean... gah, it was just so humiliating! First the passing out, then the practically throwing myself at him, to have him just... reject me.
“Talli?” Jaden asked. I guess the decision had been given to me.
“It doesn’t really matter,” I replied with a shrug. I’d changed into yoga pants and a t-shirt so curling up in my papasan chair was as comfortable as having the girls around me. “Hell, we could watch QVC for all I care. It’s been too long.”
At least with them there, I wasn’t sitting here driving myself absolutely crazy going over and over everything that had happened at Em’s party.
Cass raised her eyebrow, turning to Jaden who merely nodded.
“What?” I asked.
“Comedy,” they said in unison.
Whatever.
I’m only driving myself half-crazy this way, see. I’ll have a little bit of distraction so I won’t have to think how good it felt to have his hands on me, his lips under mine...
“So I Married an Axe Murderer?” Jaden suggested.
“No,” I said a little too quickly. I haven’t been able to watch that movie in weeks. All I keep replaying in my mind is rocking Emily while watching that movie as Bree stood in the entry way of my room, asking if I really didn’t mind her ‘stealing’ my husband for the evening to go to the studio. As if that’s what they really did, right? Jase and I had spent the entire day fighting, so at that point I’d been relieved to hear that door close.
Why?
Why had I been so stupid, so blind?
“Talli, you’re not helping us here,” Jaden said, nudging my foot with hers. She was standing beside me holding out two discs, While You Were Sleeping and 13 Going On 30.
“Is this oldies night or something?” I asked, making a mental note to stay away from romance as well. And anything with Mark Ruffalo, especially 13 Going On 30, since Dr. Paul Coffman could pass as his twin. Creepy.
“Why not?” Cass asked, her eyebrows hidden beneath her blonde bangs. “It could be fun.”
“If we’re going for oldies, why not... um... Breakfast Club?” I suggested. “Or... or Pump Up the Volume?”
“Pump Up the Volume is not a comedy,” Tish said as she walked back into the room.
“Oh!” Jaden exclaimed, pulling a disc out of the booklet, holding it up as if it were a treasure. “Drop Dead Fred!” She flashed a cheesy grin, and I had to laugh.
“Please don’t ever make that face again,” I said, still giggling.
“If it makes you laugh, I will do this face over.” She did it again, the bitch. “And over.” She got a little closer, grinning again. Dear. Lord. “And over.” She leaned right down in my face, the cheesiest grin she could conjure up.
“You’re helpless,” I said, pushing her back slightly.
“You’d push a pregnant girl!” she exclaimed with a wink as she made her way back over to the couch.
“Not just a pregnant girl,” Cass reminded her.
“An Italian gypsy pregnant girl,” Tish said, taking the disc from Jaden and walking over to my entertainment center.
“Fuck all of you, okay?” She stretched out, placing her feet on my coffee table.
Just like Jase used to do.
“You okay, Talli?”
I don’t even know who asked. I merely smiled and said the usual.
“I’m fine; don’t worry about me.”
But I wasn’t fine.
It was time to accept that.
MONDAYS SUCK EGG ROLLS with shrimp. Especially Mondays after a difficult weekend. The kids themselves had been relatively unaffected, other than Elizabeth and Michael asking repeatedly why they couldn’t stay with Jase. I didn’t expect them to understand, but I didn’t want them subjected to that... thing he was messing with any more than they had to.
Wow. Bitter much, Talia?
Anyhow, everyone had gone home, and it was back to just the kids and me. The condo seemed even smaller, and yet even emptier than before. I’d gotten up in a rush thinking I had to be at work, and then had to chastise myself for forgetting that I’d taken the day off... you know, since Jase wasn’t here to chastise me.
Damn, stop it, Talia!
So, I settled down to VH1 where, of course, one of Jase’s videos pops up while I’m drinking my coffee. I almost changed the channel but decided against it as nostalgia crept in.
I remembered helping him get ready that morning, since I’d kept him up practically all night. I even talked him into shaving, which about made the producers of the video have a heart attack but, in the end, had done wonders since his fans loved it. Wait... here it comes... here it comes... yep, that’s where he stretched out on the bed, and where his eyes... slid... shut.
Fuck.
I better change the channel.
About the time I reached for the remote, my phone began to ring. It caught me a bit off guard, but after checking the number I figured I better answer. Seeing my lawyer’s phone number on the caller id wasn’t helping the anxiety that was beginning to build.
“Happy Monday to you,” Sharise Adler said, although her voice wasn’t showing much joy.
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” I asked before taking a sip of coffee.
Oh, great. She sighed. This cannot be good.
“Jase has filed his own petition for divorce.”
With that one sentence it seemed the air had been sucked from the room. I mean, I should have seen this coming. I should had been able to spot it from a mile away. Of course he was going to file.
No wonder he didn’t kiss me back.
And what the hell is up with these tears in my eyes?
“Oh... um, okay,” I said softly. “So, what do I do now?”
“Well, Talia,” she began, again with a heavy sigh, “you should get in here as soon as possible this morning. I’m sending a car for you to pick you up, preferably before they’ve served you. We need to come up with a strategy.”
“A strategy?”
“Jase has filed for emergency temporary custody of the children.”
Oh... God...
He wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t take them away from me. He... he just...
“There are several demands they’re making,” she continued on, “and if you could get to my office immediately than we can comply and file a motion before they take physical custody of the children.”
Physical... oh, no... no, please tell me this wasn’t happening...
“Is there anyone who can keep the children until we’ve averted this... well, glitch?”
“Why is he doing this?” I asked quietly, not realizing I’d asked it out loud until she answered.
“My guess is revenge.”
Revenge? Is this what it has come to?
“They’re demanding a drug test, among other things.”
A drug test? Why would...
Oh.
Oh!
“And a complete physical... it seems you had an episode sometime this weekend.”
An episode. Of course. Had I so naively thought he wouldn’t use that against me? Did he really think he could use that as an excuse to take the children?
Oh, fuck... could he?
I was in a panic, wondering what to do, who I could trust with the children. I couldn’t call Linda or Sondra; they’d take them straight to Jase. Had Jaden gone back to Missouri? It didn’t matter; I couldn’t get her involved. Pete would take them to Jase, anyhow.
Who could I trust?
And suddenly, I knew.
“How long do I have until the car gets here?” I asked suddenly.
“Due to traffic, it may take a little bit.”
“Okay... okay. I have to call someone, but I’ll be ready for when that car gets here.”
I’d often wondered why I’d been tortured with the latest hospital gossip. Seriously, did I need to know who was dating whom, or who was screwing around, or who was getting a divorce? No. I particularly sympathized with the gossip subjects having been repeatedly raked over the coals for years. But today, I was thankful I’d been subjected to the myriad of stories, one in particular. It was one of a doctor whose actress wife had filed for emergency custody, leaving him blindsided and scrambling desperately to get his children back.
It wasn’t just his advice I needed.
Dr. Paul Coffman answered his phone with a pleasant tone, or hint of laughter in his voice. I heard a small child’s voice in the background and cringed slightly. He’s probably too busy, and I’m just inconveniencing him... I mean, who in their right mind would get in the middle of this?
“Um... I’m sorry, I...”
“Talia?”
I was a bit surprised that he recognized my voice, but I recovered as quickly as I could. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Dr. Coffman.”
“We’re not at work, Talia. It’s just Paul.”
“Just Paul, right. Um...” I was trying to not stammer, not show the desperation I was feeling. “I... I need... help. I need help, please.”
“I heard about the birthday party,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine... seriously? You heard about that? I thought you were on vacation.”
“Of course,” Talia replied, her voice so soft I could barely hear it.
“And I left a message with Mark telling him I’d be at your place for a while, so he shouldn’t call the hotel room,” Tish said, stepping around me and entering the great room as well. Talia glanced up, noticing me and Emily standing there.
“Oh, I’m so glad that fits,” Lisa said, walking over to adjust Emily’s clothes, prompting Em to scowl at her and snuggle closer to me.
“She looks exhausted,” Talia commented, her eyes fixated on our daughter.
“Hell, Michael already knocked out,” Jaden said with a laugh, pointing to where Michael laid across Pete’s chest, drooling on his shoulder. “Elizabeth is only staying awake by talking Nan’s ear off.”
“I should get them home,” Talia said, taking Emily from my arms, ripping another piece of my heart to shreds.
This is their home...
“Talli, you could just...”
“No.”
Fuck, she wouldn’t even let me finish.
She turned her back, walking away from me, Emily’s head now on her shoulder.
Don’t... don’t fucking cry. Not now, Warner. Quit being such a fucking pussy.
“We’re just doing a girl’s night... um... in,” Cass said with a smile. She was always so nice to me, no matter what transpired at any given time, and I’ll be forever grateful. “You know, movies... popcorn... gossip.”
“Great,” I said with a short laugh, lowering my head and messing with the back of my hair.
“Actually,” she continued, linking her arm around mine, “as a golden rule, we avoid the subject of whatever’s upsetting us. Or we try to.”
I could only imagine what had already been said.
“And we’re gonna stuff popcorn and ice cream down her throat and hopefully she’ll feel better.”
“Thank you,” I said softly, trying not to get too choked up.
I didn’t know how much more I could take.
“I wanna go with Nana,” Elizabeth announced as she walked over to me. “Mommy said no.”
Oh, she always did this.
Whenever Talia told her no, she’d come running to me. Up to a certain point, I would always side with Talia, tell Elizabeth to do as her mother asked her to. But as Talia grew more distant, and I felt more unreasonable, I’d began to one-up her, allowing Elizabeth to get away with more, letting her do things that Talia had refused to.
Had I really resorted to that? Getting to Talia through the children?
“Daddy, I know you’ll say...”
“Baby girl, you need to go with Mommy. She wants you to go with her, okay?”
Elizabeth stood in shock at my words, her mouth half-hanging open at my audacity to deny her something she wanted. Once she realized I wasn’t changing my mind, her lower lip began to tremble, and big tears filled her blue eyes. “Mommy’s right. You don’t love us anymore.”
What the fuck?
Before I had a chance to respond, demand to know what she was talking about, she’d run from the room screaming about the unfairness of it all and how she wished she’d never been born, prompting Michael to raise his head off of Pete’s shoulder.
“Wha’s her plob-lem, Daddy?” he asked me and I merely shook my head and smiled. “Oh. Women. Right, Daddy?”
“Right, Little Man,” I replied, holding my arms out to him.
“You okay?” Pete asked me, and I shrugged in response.
No point in lying now.
Talia was coming back in with Elizabeth screaming on her heels about how she never got to see her Nana, and how she’d be going to school in the fall and wouldn’t have as much time to. Talia kept on walking, one eyebrow raised even as Emily looked at her sister like she was off her rocker.
“Man, Daddy,” Michael said with a shake of his head. “I just wanna go bowling for my birfday, okay? Just bowling.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and one glance at Talia, with the side of her mouth twitching as if she were trying to keep from smiling, I know she heard him, too.
“Just bowling,” I promised.
“I gots to go now, don’t I?” he asked, his arms draped around my neck.
“Yeah... yeah, bud, you do.”
“You take me to the car, Daddy?”
“Of course,” I replied, walking slowly out to Talia’s car, which was being loaded with most of Emily’s presents. I didn’t say a word about the bath toys, which were now drying off in the upstairs washroom. I wanted those here, for us, for when she was home.
Because this was her home.
Their home.
Even as I watched them drive away, my stomach in knots as I remembered Chris’s words, it just felt wrong. They shouldn’t be twenty-two minutes from this house. She shouldn’t be going anywhere but down the hall to her room, or maybe to the media room, for girls’ night in. Our kids should all be lying down right now, in their beds, in their rooms. They shouldn’t be driving farther and farther out of my sight, the taillights disappearing as she turned the corner at the end of the street.
“She still loves you,” Kate said as she stepped up beside me, wrapping her arm around my waist. My arm settled right across her shoulders, squeezing her for just a tiny bit of comfort.
“I wish I could believe you.”
“Jase, I saw what happened.”
“And it wouldn’t have if she...” My voice trailed off at the painful memories from earlier. “Kate, do you think she’s okay?”
“More okay than that batty sister of hers,” Kate replied with a sigh. “Although I suppose I have to give some room to Lisa, considering she just buried her ex-husband a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, she’s...”
I blinked a couple of times, stopped dead in my tracks.
“She is a bit one off, and I kinda remember her being that way from the wedding, too,” Kate continued. “And that was him... Jack... that sat with her there, wasn’t it?”
“Jack... Jack’s...” I turned to Kate, looking her square in the eye. “Jack’s dead?”
“Well... yeah. That’s why Talli went to Ohio. Was that him? The one that...”
“When she went to Ohio... you mean just... just a few weeks ago, right before she...”
“Right before she left, yes. Jase, was that...”
“Holy shit, I don’t believe it.”
I turned from Kaitlyn, running my hands through my hair as I began pacing back and forth on my front lawn. This... it made perfect sense. Of course it would take something like that to have Talia and the kids leave, to make them go back to Ohio! Of course she wouldn’t just up and go, after she’d told me that she couldn’t come to Texas.
But... but...
“Kate, why didn’t she tell me?” I asked, my hands outstretched. “Did she think I wouldn’t want to know? Did she... did she just not want me there?”
“I don’t know, Jase,” Kate replied. “I... think they’re under the impression that you knew. I certainly was.”
“But I didn’t.”
I didn’t know.
And it was all so confusing to me. Was this good? Was this bad?
Did it matter?
Or was it too late?
“I have to get going,” Jaden was saying as she walked out the front door.
“Relax, they won’t start without you,” Pete quipped, and Jaden stuck her tongue out at him.
The nerve of happy couples.
“Hey... Jaden?” She was right by me when she stopped, turning towards me, her eyebrows raised as if she was waiting for me to continue.
What do I say? Why didn’t I know? Or... why didn’t she want me in Ohio? Or...
“I’m sorry, Jase, but I’m already late and...”
“Take care of my girl,” I said softly. She smiled and nodded before walking towards her rental car.
I needed her to look after Talia.
Until Talia would let me back in to do it myself.
CHAPTER 14
TALLI
I... KISSED HIM? SERIOUSLY?
“Talli, your ice cream’s melting!” Cass exclaimed with a giggle. I stared down at the contents of my bowl, now looking like green soup with bits of chocolate.
“I guess I’m not wanting ice cream right now,” I mumbled as I settled down a little further into my papasan chair.
I’m so embarrassed... how many people saw me do that?
“I’ll take care of that,” Tish said, standing up to take my bowl. “You three decide which movie we’re going to watch.”
Even in my own home there’s no escape. That... that couch they’re sitting on, would they really want to know everything Jase and I had done there?
“I’m Harry Pottered out,” Cass said, shaking her head slightly.
“No to Harry,” Jaden noted as she flipped through the DVDs that Cass had brought. “Um... do we want action, drama, or comedy?”
It wouldn’t be so bad if he had at least kissed me back. I mean... gah, it was just so humiliating! First the passing out, then the practically throwing myself at him, to have him just... reject me.
“Talli?” Jaden asked. I guess the decision had been given to me.
“It doesn’t really matter,” I replied with a shrug. I’d changed into yoga pants and a t-shirt so curling up in my papasan chair was as comfortable as having the girls around me. “Hell, we could watch QVC for all I care. It’s been too long.”
At least with them there, I wasn’t sitting here driving myself absolutely crazy going over and over everything that had happened at Em’s party.
Cass raised her eyebrow, turning to Jaden who merely nodded.
“What?” I asked.
“Comedy,” they said in unison.
Whatever.
I’m only driving myself half-crazy this way, see. I’ll have a little bit of distraction so I won’t have to think how good it felt to have his hands on me, his lips under mine...
“So I Married an Axe Murderer?” Jaden suggested.
“No,” I said a little too quickly. I haven’t been able to watch that movie in weeks. All I keep replaying in my mind is rocking Emily while watching that movie as Bree stood in the entry way of my room, asking if I really didn’t mind her ‘stealing’ my husband for the evening to go to the studio. As if that’s what they really did, right? Jase and I had spent the entire day fighting, so at that point I’d been relieved to hear that door close.
Why?
Why had I been so stupid, so blind?
“Talli, you’re not helping us here,” Jaden said, nudging my foot with hers. She was standing beside me holding out two discs, While You Were Sleeping and 13 Going On 30.
“Is this oldies night or something?” I asked, making a mental note to stay away from romance as well. And anything with Mark Ruffalo, especially 13 Going On 30, since Dr. Paul Coffman could pass as his twin. Creepy.
“Why not?” Cass asked, her eyebrows hidden beneath her blonde bangs. “It could be fun.”
“If we’re going for oldies, why not... um... Breakfast Club?” I suggested. “Or... or Pump Up the Volume?”
“Pump Up the Volume is not a comedy,” Tish said as she walked back into the room.
“Oh!” Jaden exclaimed, pulling a disc out of the booklet, holding it up as if it were a treasure. “Drop Dead Fred!” She flashed a cheesy grin, and I had to laugh.
“Please don’t ever make that face again,” I said, still giggling.
“If it makes you laugh, I will do this face over.” She did it again, the bitch. “And over.” She got a little closer, grinning again. Dear. Lord. “And over.” She leaned right down in my face, the cheesiest grin she could conjure up.
“You’re helpless,” I said, pushing her back slightly.
“You’d push a pregnant girl!” she exclaimed with a wink as she made her way back over to the couch.
“Not just a pregnant girl,” Cass reminded her.
“An Italian gypsy pregnant girl,” Tish said, taking the disc from Jaden and walking over to my entertainment center.
“Fuck all of you, okay?” She stretched out, placing her feet on my coffee table.
Just like Jase used to do.
“You okay, Talli?”
I don’t even know who asked. I merely smiled and said the usual.
“I’m fine; don’t worry about me.”
But I wasn’t fine.
It was time to accept that.
MONDAYS SUCK EGG ROLLS with shrimp. Especially Mondays after a difficult weekend. The kids themselves had been relatively unaffected, other than Elizabeth and Michael asking repeatedly why they couldn’t stay with Jase. I didn’t expect them to understand, but I didn’t want them subjected to that... thing he was messing with any more than they had to.
Wow. Bitter much, Talia?
Anyhow, everyone had gone home, and it was back to just the kids and me. The condo seemed even smaller, and yet even emptier than before. I’d gotten up in a rush thinking I had to be at work, and then had to chastise myself for forgetting that I’d taken the day off... you know, since Jase wasn’t here to chastise me.
Damn, stop it, Talia!
So, I settled down to VH1 where, of course, one of Jase’s videos pops up while I’m drinking my coffee. I almost changed the channel but decided against it as nostalgia crept in.
I remembered helping him get ready that morning, since I’d kept him up practically all night. I even talked him into shaving, which about made the producers of the video have a heart attack but, in the end, had done wonders since his fans loved it. Wait... here it comes... here it comes... yep, that’s where he stretched out on the bed, and where his eyes... slid... shut.
Fuck.
I better change the channel.
About the time I reached for the remote, my phone began to ring. It caught me a bit off guard, but after checking the number I figured I better answer. Seeing my lawyer’s phone number on the caller id wasn’t helping the anxiety that was beginning to build.
“Happy Monday to you,” Sharise Adler said, although her voice wasn’t showing much joy.
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” I asked before taking a sip of coffee.
Oh, great. She sighed. This cannot be good.
“Jase has filed his own petition for divorce.”
With that one sentence it seemed the air had been sucked from the room. I mean, I should have seen this coming. I should had been able to spot it from a mile away. Of course he was going to file.
No wonder he didn’t kiss me back.
And what the hell is up with these tears in my eyes?
“Oh... um, okay,” I said softly. “So, what do I do now?”
“Well, Talia,” she began, again with a heavy sigh, “you should get in here as soon as possible this morning. I’m sending a car for you to pick you up, preferably before they’ve served you. We need to come up with a strategy.”
“A strategy?”
“Jase has filed for emergency temporary custody of the children.”
Oh... God...
He wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t take them away from me. He... he just...
“There are several demands they’re making,” she continued on, “and if you could get to my office immediately than we can comply and file a motion before they take physical custody of the children.”
Physical... oh, no... no, please tell me this wasn’t happening...
“Is there anyone who can keep the children until we’ve averted this... well, glitch?”
“Why is he doing this?” I asked quietly, not realizing I’d asked it out loud until she answered.
“My guess is revenge.”
Revenge? Is this what it has come to?
“They’re demanding a drug test, among other things.”
A drug test? Why would...
Oh.
Oh!
“And a complete physical... it seems you had an episode sometime this weekend.”
An episode. Of course. Had I so naively thought he wouldn’t use that against me? Did he really think he could use that as an excuse to take the children?
Oh, fuck... could he?
I was in a panic, wondering what to do, who I could trust with the children. I couldn’t call Linda or Sondra; they’d take them straight to Jase. Had Jaden gone back to Missouri? It didn’t matter; I couldn’t get her involved. Pete would take them to Jase, anyhow.
Who could I trust?
And suddenly, I knew.
“How long do I have until the car gets here?” I asked suddenly.
“Due to traffic, it may take a little bit.”
“Okay... okay. I have to call someone, but I’ll be ready for when that car gets here.”
I’d often wondered why I’d been tortured with the latest hospital gossip. Seriously, did I need to know who was dating whom, or who was screwing around, or who was getting a divorce? No. I particularly sympathized with the gossip subjects having been repeatedly raked over the coals for years. But today, I was thankful I’d been subjected to the myriad of stories, one in particular. It was one of a doctor whose actress wife had filed for emergency custody, leaving him blindsided and scrambling desperately to get his children back.
It wasn’t just his advice I needed.
Dr. Paul Coffman answered his phone with a pleasant tone, or hint of laughter in his voice. I heard a small child’s voice in the background and cringed slightly. He’s probably too busy, and I’m just inconveniencing him... I mean, who in their right mind would get in the middle of this?
“Um... I’m sorry, I...”
“Talia?”
I was a bit surprised that he recognized my voice, but I recovered as quickly as I could. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Dr. Coffman.”
“We’re not at work, Talia. It’s just Paul.”
“Just Paul, right. Um...” I was trying to not stammer, not show the desperation I was feeling. “I... I need... help. I need help, please.”
“I heard about the birthday party,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine... seriously? You heard about that? I thought you were on vacation.”
