by Lulu Pratt
“She’s very nice,” was all I said, not wanting him to read too much into anything.
“You should invite her to the company picnic for families coming up,” he said.
“Come on! That’s too much,” I shook my head.
“Well, you said you wanted to bring Jasper. We both know you’ll be up to your eyes trying to manage having any fun and looking after him. She can help you out, and you can both get to know each other. You young kids think intimacy and sex are synonymous. You should have a relationship with the woman you leave your son with every day, Jake. Get to know her better. You’re trusting her with the most important piece of your life.”
His words hit me hard. I knew he was right, about everything. Ashley was special to me, but I wasn’t sure just how. In only a day, she’d made Jasper’s life more comfortable than I had since meeting him. She was the womanly touch my mom said he needed in his life, and the last thing I wanted was to mess it up. But getting to know Ashley better didn’t have to be the start of a relationship. It could instead be a way to let her know how much I appreciated her. And even better, to allow her to get to know me better, after such a misleading introduction today.
Chapter 9
ASHLEY
CATHARINE WAS midway through retelling me about a date she’d had the previous night over a late breakfast at my place, but my mind was more on my upcoming shift at Jake’s. I had been dreading seeing him again after the weird interaction with Anna-Louise. The entire day, I’d replayed the scenario over and over in my mind, trying to recall any detail I’d missed, but there were none.
Thankfully, when he returned from work last night, he looked too exhausted to address what happened. But, today, I figured he might want to talk about it.
On the weekends it was agreed that I went over a bit later, so I wasn’t to arrive until midday. I’d been thinking about what it would be like from the second I woke up. Was he going to be there the entire day with me? Would he want to talk?
“Okay, what’s going on?” Catharine brought me back to reality, holding her mimosa glass so loosely I feared she’d spill it on my couch.
“What do you mean?” I took the glass from her hand, placing it on the coffee table in front of us.
“I mean, I just told you about the date from hell and you didn’t say more than a word. What’s on your mind? Because it’s obvious you’re somewhere else,” she tilted her head, feigning offense.
“It’s my boss,” I admitted.
“You mean the hot boss who keeps throwing money at you? Tell me more,” she reached for her glass.
“Hot? I never said he was hot.” I could feel my cheeks reddening.
“Well, your description gave me all types of military hotness. I guess I came to that conclusion on my own. Anyways, what did he do?”
We shared a quick laugh before I recounted the events of the previous day. If anyone could make sense of it, it was Catharine. She was always more experienced than me when it had anything to do with men.
“So, boss man has got baby mama drama,” she smirked as she sipped her mimosa. “I guess the writing was on the wall. Why else would he have full custody of a two-year-old boy?”
“I hadn’t even thought about it,” I said.
“It seems like she was overreaching her position. She clearly wanted you to think he was off the market. If that was really the case, she’d be taking care of her son and you’d be out of a job.”
“I don’t care if they’re together or not,” I argued, hoping I didn’t sound as unconvinced as I felt.
“Then why do you care?”
I didn’t have an answer.
When Catharine went to the kitchen, I was relieved. I didn’t want her digging into my thoughts, because I wasn’t sure where they would lead. I hated how much I thought of Jake, curious to know more about his story.
“Okay, on to some even juicier news,” Catharine announced when she returned with a second glass of mimosa. I wished I could join her, but I had to go to Jake’s soon and there was no way I was going to show up buzzed.
“Operation Nathan Takedown is in full effect!”
My heart sank. I’d hoped she didn’t plan to go through with her ridiculous plan. When she mentioned it earlier, I thought it was too outlandish to dignify with a response, but now I wished I’d let her know not to move forward.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I rolled my eyes.
“If you think Nathan is going to fuck over my best friend and get away with it, you’ve got another thing coming!” She raised her glass in the air excitedly.
“Okay, I’m going to have to cut you off soon. You can’t drive like that,” I reached for her glass.
“Oh, relax. I took an Uber here. Now, listen up. This is important,” Catharine beamed before launching into her plan. “I made the profile the other day and requested a bunch of friends. You see, if I don’t have followers, he’ll know it’s a fake account.”
“Uh-huh,” I hoped my disinterest wasn’t obvious. There was no way this was going to work. Nathan didn’t strike me as the type to spark up a conversation with a stranger online. And the idea that he would send naked photos was nearly impossible.
“Once I got one hundred followers, I sent him a request. I thought it would take a while for him to see me, but he accepted me immediately!” She sipped her mimosa again.
“You’re kidding me.” Nathan had never been big on social media when we were together. I had doubted he would respond to Catharine’s approach.
“Oh, it gets better,” she paused dramatically. “He sent me a message that said, ‘Hey, beautiful’.” She was yelling now. I could barely contain my own amusement.
“He did not! Catharine, you’re kidding!” I hollered as laugher rumbled in my belly. Just imagining Nathan on his phone, typing such a cheesy message, when it was Catharine he was chatting to was beyond hilarious.
“Check this out!” Catharine handed me her phone, which showed a brief but flirty conversation between her and Nathan.
“Who knew you were an online tease!” I joked as I handed her the phone back.
“I told you, this can work!”
“Enticing Nathan to respond to a flirty message is a lot different than getting him to give me my money back,” I reminded her as I began to gather my things. It was half past eleven, and I wanted to get to Jake’s a little early just in case.
“Give a girl some time. You watch, he’s going to be eating out of the palm of my hand.” She held her hand out before closing it quickly. “And that’s when I’ll trap him. Giving him nowhere to turn but the bank – to bring you every penny back!”
“I’ll believe it when I see it. For now, let’s go so I can go earn money in the meantime. I can drop you off at your place.”
Catharine followed me out and continued with her plan the entire way to her home. I was grateful when we arrived, because I couldn’t stand to hear another word about Nathan. It was enough that he had duped me into handing over my inheritance. I didn’t want to spend every second worrying about getting him back.
It was nice to get to Jake’s home, which was beginning to feel like my happy place. Jasper raced to meet me, wrapping his tiny arms around my neck. Poking his sides as I carried him to the kitchen, his squealing laughter sounded through the house like music.
“Have you been a good boy?” I asked over his laughter.
“Yes! Yes!” he cried out through the giggles.
“I’m glad to hear it,” I smiled, kissing his cheek before setting him on the counter.
“He’s been waiting for you all day. He was a bit disappointed when you weren’t here this morning,” Jake said from across the kitchen island.
“Is that true?”
“Want to play, Ashley?” Jasper asked.
“Of course I do,” I replied, happy he was as excited to see me as I was to see him.
“How about you go ahead and play while I talk to Ashley for a minute,” Jake called out, interrupting our i
nteraction.
Jasper ran to the playroom, though it was clear he was a bit disappointed. My stomach sank at what I knew was the inevitable conversation I’d been dreading. Putting on my mask, I turned to Jake with what I hoped looked like a genuine smile.
“There’s…” he paused, avoiding eye contact as he had after Anna-Louise showed up.
Waiting him out, I refused to break through the awkward tension. Catharine was right, who cared what he had going on with the mother of his child? It wasn’t my issue to deal with, so I pushed my need to fix things to the back of my mind.
“I don’t know why I’m making this more difficult than it has to be.” Jake flashed a smile that brought tension to my pelvis. I hated how attractive he could be.
“There’s this family and friends picnic at my job. I was planning to take Jasper, but I know it’ll be nearly impossible to keep up with him on my own. I’d love if you would come with us tomorrow. I know it’s last minute, but you’ll be earning overtime. Otherwise, you can have the day off.”
I was speechless. I’d expected him to talk more about how uncomfortable Anna-Louise’s intrusion was, but instead he was inviting me to a picnic? I felt unprepared.
“It’s completely up to you. Don’t feel any pressure, because I was going to have to manage anyway. And I know you have a life outside of here, so feel free to take a day off,” Jake rambled nervously.
“No, it’s fine. I’d love to come.” I finally found my words as a smile spread across my face.
“Really? That’s awesome! Okay, great. So, you can just come at your regular weekend time, and we can head over together.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded, already wondering what I would wear.
“Okay, I have an appointment this afternoon, but I’ll be back in about two and a half hours.”
Chapter 10
JAKE
“I’M GLAD you’ve come today, Jake. I know it’s the weekend, but we really need to get a jump start on this. It sounds far off, but soon Jasper will be going to school, and you’ll need this worked out before then.” Edward spoke with conviction. That conviction was the quality that persuaded me to retain him as my lawyer.
Anna-Louise had made it clear she was not going to accept all I was doing as a good deed. From her recent behavior, I felt it safe to assume she was going to make things difficult. Well, I was going to make sure I came to the battle fully equipped with the best armor money could buy, and that meant my lawyer would be the best in the city.
“I appreciate the advice,” I nodded, looking over the stack of paperwork he’d given me.
“First, you’ll want to get through the first three pages, which require a bit of work on your end.” Edward looked up from his copy, glaring over his reading glasses. “Have you already had a paternity test done?”
My heart sunk. “Uh, no,” I muttered.
I’d never considered the possibility that Jasper could not be my son. When I returned home from deployment and Anna-Louise introduced him as my son, with her addiction my only concern was the welfare of Jasper. It never crossed my mind that I should get a DNA test, because regardless he needed someone to care for him.
“Well, taking care of that will make this process pretty straight forward. In this bout, it’s essentially you versus Anna-Louise. We both know how easily you will win against her, but we need our ducks in a row.”
Edward Patterson was all business, but it was what had made me comfortable opening up to him during our first meeting. The whole process of going to court and fighting for custody was intimidating, a process I was unfamiliar with. He’d done his best to break it down into terms I could understand.
“Is there any way I can get custody if he’s not my son?” I hated the sound of the words, but if there was a possibility, I wanted to make sure it didn’t stop me from fighting.
“A mother in Anna-Louise’s condition is never a good fit for single parenting. Any judge will see that, it’ll just take more proof and convincing. If you yourself demonstrate parental duties concerning Jasper and that you are the responsible parent to him, and an emotional attachment is clear between the two of you, you have a stronger case. You said that you are listed as the father on the birth certificate, which is also good. If you turn to page twelve, you’ll see how we can ensure there is more than enough documentation of Anna-Louise’s erratic behavior. This will help you regardless of whether you can prove paternity or not.”
Affidavits, notarized forms and hearings. Edward discussed everything over the course of two hours. By the time I left his office, my head was spinning. It was all so much to think about with so much to lose. I felt sick whenever I considered Anna-Louise raising Jasper. He deserved so much more than what she could offer in her current state.
And no matter what I tried, she refused to help herself. When I promised Justin that I would look after her, I meant it. But I never imagined it would mean raising her – our – son. The reality was all too heavy. Before I realized what I was doing, I had driven to my mother’s house after checking in with Ashley. I could see she was at the playground on the tracking app. She picked up on the second ring and said that she and Jasper were having a ball at the park.
A bit of me was jealous, but I needed to see my mom as it had been a few days.
“You sure know how to make a woman smile!” My mom greeted me at the front door with a big grin planted on her round beautiful face.
“I didn’t know I’d be stopping by, or I would have got you some flowers,” I said as she wrapped her arms around me.
“You don’t need a reason or a gift to stop by and see your mama. I’m just glad you were thinking of me,” she gushed. “Come on, let me make you a plate.”
My mom had been overfeeding me for as long as I could remember. As a teenager, it helped me make varsity football, but when I went off to basic training, I regretted every extra spoonful. Now, I had to be careful whenever I came by her house, because she loved to cook a full feast even though she lived alone.
“Just a small plate,” I warned her, but from the giggle she let out on her way to the kitchen, I knew she would disregard my request.
“So, how’s Jasper?” she asked when she returned with a massive plate. I wanted to complain, but my stomach was grateful for the fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes, and macaroni and cheese.
“He’s good. I just came from the lawyer’s office. I’m trying to see how I can go about getting full custody,” I explained before digging in. Tasting just as good as it smelled, I was happy she had disregarded my warning.
“You have full custody,” she argued.
“I mean legally, Mom. Anna-Louise popped up at my house the other day unexpectedly, and I knew I needed something formal to stop her from doing that whenever she wanted. Visitation would be something that needed to be formalized. It wouldn’t be fair on Jasper.”
“That Anna-Louise is something else. How did you two even get together? She was always chasing after you and Justin, trying to be part of your group, but I never thought you’d give her the time of day.”
My mother never held back when it came to me. I guess you had to be that way raising a son on your own. We were closer than most mothers and sons, and there were no secrets between us. Nothing was off limits.
“The night after Justin’s funeral. Some friends thought it a good idea to go get shitfaced. Anna-Louise was there, and I remember we were both upset and bonding over Justin. I barely remembered the night or the morning.” I shook my head, recalling one of the wildest nights of my life.
“You mean it was only one time?” her eyebrows raised conspiratorially.
“That’s all it takes, Mom. At least, that’s the speech Dad gave me my freshman year of high school,” I teased before piling my fork with food.
“That’s true. But what he probably left out for effect is that it is highly unlikely.” She sat back in her seat. I could tell what she was pondering before she even said it. That was how close we were. “Have
you ever considered the possibility that Jasper might not be yours, Jake?”
“That’s the point my lawyer just brought up. He said it will be easier to fight in court if I could prove paternity. I’d never even considered he could not be my son. The thought is really tripping me up,” I admitted.
“Well, that’s normal. I mean, she did everything she could to make you think he was yours. Hell, she even named him after you, despite never letting you know he existed. I wouldn’t even think she’d know your middle name,” she said as rolled her eyes.
My mother seemed to be more hurt about the fact that Anna-Louise didn’t share the news with me. I was halfway around the world, but my mother was right here in Raleigh, a short drive from her house. In her mind, she’d missed valuable time with her only grandchild. And to make matters worse, she’d given the boy my middle name, which created a connection despite my physical absence.
“You know, there’s no test in the world that can challenge the love you have for Jasper, or the bond you two have built.” I could already sense she didn’t think Jasper was my son. I hated to admit the deep questioning in my own mind, so I didn’t push it any further.
“Yeah, we’ll see what happens,” was all I said.
“Have you considered how you’re going to care for him if you do get granted custody? You know I love to help you out when I can, but I’m too old to be chasing after a toddler.”
“I hired a nanny! I didn’t tell you?” I could hear the excitement in my voice at the thought of Ashley. She was a ray of sunshine added to my life, but I knew better than to share all the details with my mom.
“Did you do a background check? I saw a story on the news of older men preying on innocent children by perpetrating as nannies, and it was…” she leaned back, shaking her head slowly as she remembered the news report.
“Mom, Ashley isn’t old or a man. She’s twenty-one, on a break from college, and Jasper loves her. She’s already turned the house into a child-friendly zone. He has a little playroom in the sunroom, and she helps me out with getting groceries and cleaning.” I heard myself carrying on and tried to reel it in.