“If you know what the rules are, you’re a step ahead of some parents. Think in terms of what expectations you have for them. And be realistic. If Lisa always made their lunches for school, is that something you’re going to take on, or is that something they need to do? Or are you just going to give them money to buy lunch at school?”
“Where were you yesterday? None of this occurred to me. So although Hannah gave me a list of what to buy at the store, they both woke up for school this morning and looked for their lunches. How’d you know?”
“It’s all the little things I do that William wouldn’t think of because he’s not there every day.”
Trevor scrubbed a hand over his head. He’d never liked Tess’s ex based on how he’d made Tess feel over the years, so knowing that he wasn’t any better than William as a parent stung.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked.
“Anything.”
“Text me a list of all those things so I can talk to the kids.”
“I won’t know everything they have going on.”
“I know, but if you give me a list, it’ll be starting place.” He drained his cup as the waitress swept by for refills. He needed to get to the jobsite, but he needed the extra caffeine more as his head felt like it might explode based on this conversation with Tess. He then texted the kids and told them to wait for him at home—Lisa’s house—after school.
“I’ll do it at lunch.”
“No hot lunch date with Miles?” Nina asked.
Tess blushed. Over the past year, Tess and her boyfriend Miles spent many of their lunch hours together.
“He has a meeting,” she replied.
For the rest of their time at the restaurant, Nina nagged both Gabe and Evelyn about their social lives. Trevor guessed he got a reprieve from the nagging because he just buried his ex-wife. Last year, he’d still held out some hope that maybe he and Lisa might reconcile, and based on Nina’s urging, he’d approached Lisa about it. She, of course, had shot him down, but it hadn’t been as painful as he’d thought it would be.
We had our time, Trevor. I’m glad you’re in a good place now. But it’s time for both of us to move on. We’ll always love each other. We have a family, but we can’t be together.
When Lisa had spoken those words, it hadn’t hurt. If he’d still been in love with her, it would’ve hurt. For the first time since his divorce, he’d gotten closure. He and Lisa had had their time. Their relationship was strong, and they were united for the kids. Trevor had asked a few women out and had dated, but nothing had developed further than a couple of movies or dinners.
Now, between the kids and having to sell a house, it looked like his pitiful dating life would be put on hold again. So much for moving forward. Being a dad had to come first.
At five thirty, Trevor’s phone buzzed with incoming texts. He slid the phone from his pocket. Hannah wanted to know where he was. She and Evan had been sitting at home waiting for him. Damn. He’d lost track of time on the site. He’d cut the other guys loose more than an hour ago, but since he’d gotten a late start, he’d stayed. He’d completely forgotten that the kids would be waiting for him.
He sent a quick text telling her to order a pizza for dinner and he’d be there soon. He rolled up his tools and locked up the site. He didn’t have time to go to his house to shower, so it looked like he’d be sweaty and dirty while he talked to the kids. True to her word, Tess had sent him a list of things to go over with them.
And it was a hell of a long list.
Climbing into his truck, he thought about what to do. Hannah wanted Callie near. He understood, but he needed to be the parent now. He couldn’t put Callie’s needs above his and the kids’. He couldn’t afford both mortgages, even with whatever she was paying in rent.
Assuming she was paying rent. Knowing Lisa, she would’ve let Callie live there rent-free. He had no idea how to bring that subject up. Parking in front of the house, he cut the engine and sat for a minute to clear his head. His peace was short-lived, however, because a beater of a car squealed in behind him.
Pizza delivery.
Trevor got out of his truck and waved the driver over. “I’ll take that.”
The boy looked at the house and then back at Trevor, as if he wasn’t sure he could trust Trevor not to steal someone’s pizza. Trevor held up his wallet. “You could go to the door, but I’m sure no one inside has cash.”
“Okay.”
Trevor paid the kid and carried the pizza up the stairs. And knocked. How fucking crazy was it that he couldn’t get into the house? Hannah opened the door and took the pizza from him.
“Thank God. I’m starving. You told us to meet you here after school.”
“Yeah.”
“We get out of school at three thirty.”
He hadn’t thought about that. “Sorry. I was caught up at work.”
Evan came from the kitchen and grabbed a slice for each hand. Then he turned to leave.
“Hey, wait.”
Evan turned.
“Have a seat. We need to figure out what we’re doing.”
Evan plopped on one of the armchairs.
Hannah sank to the couch. “I thought we already did that.”
“So did I. But this morning was a cruel reminder that I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Should I go get Callie?”
“No. This isn’t about the house. This is about us.”
“But…she’s family.”
Trevor sat on the arm of the empty chair. He rubbed a hand over his head. Fine sawdust rained down, so he stopped and refocused. “It’s not Callie’s job to make decisions for you guys. That’s on me. And you. We have to figure out how to function.”
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he said, “Tess sent me a list of things we should talk about.”
“So Tess can tell you what to do, but not Callie? She’s been here. Tess doesn’t even know us.”
The attitude was something he’d never seen in Hannah before, and it startled him. He took a breath so he wouldn’t snap at her and then spoke. “Tess isn’t telling me what to do. I asked her to send me a list of all the mom things she does because I have no clue. Last I checked, Callie’s not a mom, either.”
Hannah didn’t respond. She simply ate more of her pizza. Evan still hadn’t commented. He was busy going in for another slice.
Looking back at his phone, Trevor continued. “For instance, this morning, you guys expected me to have lunch made for you. I’d assumed that since you’re not toddlers, you’d make your own.”
Hannah’s lip trembled. “We know how. It’s just that Mom…”
Trevor closed his eyes. He was completely fucking this up. “I know. I’m not saying you have to. But no one told me. I need to figure out a schedule, and we need to decide what we’re all going to be responsible for. As much as I’d like to say that I can do what your mom did, it would be a flat-out lie.”
“If you got me a car, I could drive us to school. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about getting us there,” Evan offered. Of course he’d try to get a car out of this. He’d been asking for one for almost a year.
“We’ll see. Let me get things with the house settled and maybe we can get you something. But if we do, you’ll have to chip in with everything like driving your sister to practice and going to the store if we need it.”
“I can do that.”
“Let’s talk school first. What do I need to know?”
“I know.” Hannah jumped up and ran to the kitchen. A moment later, she returned carrying a calendar. “Mom keeps everything on here. We can use this.” She handed Trevor the calendar.
He took a minute to look at it. Lisa, as always, had everything organized. Finals were marked later in the month. Marching band camp for Hannah. He flipped through. Lisa had things marked all the way through the rest of the year. ACT test for Evan, the start of school, a college fair. It took all of thirty seconds to start to feel overwhelmed all over again.
Noise from the other side of the house caught his attention, and he looked up to see Callie standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Hey, guys. I saw the light on, so I came over. Am I interrupting?”
Trevor shook his head. “We’re still figuring things out.” He pointed at the pizza. “Help yourself.”
She grabbed a piece and came closer. “Whatcha looking at?” She angled her head and then laughed. “The master calendar.”
“It’s not funny. Do you see this? Who can keep track of all of this?”
Callie edged around his legs and sat on the chair beside him. “I think that’s kind of the purpose of the calendar. To keep track.”
She leaned closer, and Trevor caught a whiff of her perfume or something. It was light and summery. He wanted to take a deeper breath, then suddenly realized how wrong that was. He shifted away.
Callie gave him a confused look.
“I haven’t been home to shower yet.”
She moved into his space and sniffed. With a smirk, she said, “Not too bad.”
…
Callie had no idea what she was doing. Was she flirting with her best friend’s ex-husband? It was all kinds of wrong. She’d come over to the house when she saw the light on because she was lonely. A soul-deep loneliness that she wasn’t sure how to handle. Then when she saw Trevor sitting here looking all confused and vulnerable, she wanted to get closer.
So she made a joke, but in truth, he smelled good. Like a hardworking man and sawdust.
Hannah tossed a crust back in the box and said, “Mom kept the calendar so she would know where we needed to be and other things she needed to remember. She has marching band camp listed so she remembers that she has to get me to school on those days. Just a dropoff.”
“What about this ACT test for you?” Trevor asked Evan.
“I took it already. Mom wanted me to take it again. I don’t want to. You can take it off the calendar.”
“Why did she want you to take it again?” Callie asked.
“My score kinda sucked.”
“Well, taking it again might be a good idea then. You should know what you need to get for the colleges you’re looking at,” she explained.
“I’m not going to college.”
Trevor’s face shot up from studying the page in front of him. “What are you talking about? Of course you’re going to college.”
“No, I’m not. School is stupid. I hate it. Why would I sign on for four more years?”
“Because that’s how you go places in life.”
Callie watched as Trevor became agitated, and his reaction caused a similar response in Evan.
“I’m not going to college just so I can pretend I’m going to get some great job when in reality, I’m gonna be stuck with a hundred grand in debt.”
“You don’t need to worry about debt. Let me worry about what it’ll cost. You need a degree.”
Evan lifted a shoulder. “You didn’t.”
Callie looked from father to son, both of them ready to boil. She laid a hand over Trevor’s. “Maybe he has a point.”
“What?” Trevor stood.
“College isn’t for everyone, and it would be a waste of money if it’s not something he wants.”
“Yes,” Evan said, with a fist in the air.
Whatever she’d expected, it wasn’t this. Trevor’s eyes flashed, and his jaw clenched. “Can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?”
She nodded and stood. Following him out of the room, she felt like she was headed to a firing squad. Trevor walked until he was near the back door before he wheeled on her.
“How could you?”
“What?” She honestly didn’t see anything wrong with what she’d said.
“You completely undermined me as his father. He needs college. It’s something Lisa and I always expected of them.”
“But he’s almost an adult. He has to start making his own decisions.”
“He’s a child. Allowing him to make a stupid choice makes me stupid. It’s my job to help him get where he needs to go in life.”
“Trevor, you can’t make him want college.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he wants it. He needs it.”
She sighed. There was no getting through to him. “I think you should at least listen to his reasons for not wanting to go.”
“I didn’t ask you what you think. Just because you felt the need to buck against everything your parents ever expected of you doesn’t mean every kid should. They’re my kids.”
His words were like a slap to her face. Her throat constricted, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing. She swallowed hard and lowered her voice. “Seriously? I’m well aware that they’re your kids. That doesn’t mean I don’t love them and have their best interests in mind.”
Then she turned and slipped out the back door. Stomping across the grass to get to her house, she allowed the anger to wash over her. How dare he? Of course she believed college was important, but it only mattered to people who wanted jobs that required a degree. Whatever.
Inside her cozy house, she opened a bottle of water and checked her email. She had proposals out and was waiting to hear back, but she’d been neglecting her work since the funeral. In fact, most days she could barely get out of bed. But after tonight, a trip to the other side of the world sounded pretty damn good.
And as luck would have it, the client whose shoot she’d left because of Lisa’s death had sent a message. They loved the work she’d completed and wanted her to come back to the Philippines for more photographs. She reread the email slowly. They wanted her to travel to smaller villages and shoot so they could create brochures that exhibited the local cultural experience.
Callie loved those jobs the most. Where she could just let loose with her camera and shoot anything and everything that interested her. She replied, saying that she’d be there in a couple of days. With the time difference, she expected a quick response, so she kept her phone nearby. Email was great for the initial contact, but she preferred to speak with the people hiring her to get a real sense of what they wanted.
She logged onto her favorite travel site to book her flight. As she worked, she saw the glow of the light in Lisa’s kitchen. Part of her wanted to go back and hang out with the kids because she always missed them when she was gone, but the rest of her knew that if she walked back into that house, she and Trevor would fight. It might even get ugly. What he’d said hurt her, and she wasn’t going to just forget it.
They were all grieving and out of sorts, but that didn’t give him the right to treat her like she was a stranger who didn’t know the kids or what Lisa would want for them. Before she could get too wrapped up in her anger and hurt, her phone rang. It was Jasmine, the woman who had booked her for the job in the Philippines.
“Magandang umaga, Jasmine. It’s good to hear from you.” Callie only spoke English fluently, but she’d traveled enough that she had a collection of phrases in many languages.
“I’m sorry to hear of your loss.”
“Thank you.” Condolences from strangers were the hardest thing about losing someone. They didn’t know Lisa, had no idea what her death meant, so going through the motions poked at her. She knew they were being kind, but it felt phony.
“Are you sure you’re ready to get back to work?”
“More than I thought. Let’s talk about this project. What are your goals?”
As Jasmine explained what kinds of photos they wanted, Callie took meticulous notes about where she’d be going so she could plan ahead. She was so caught up in the information that she didn’t notice when all the lights turned off at Lisa’s and she was alone again.
Chapter Four
Trevor felt like an ass, and for the past week, he’d been kicking himself for the way he’d spoken to Callie. He’d felt blindsided by the whole conversation with Evan. Of course he and Lisa wanted the kids to go to college. It was part o
f why he’d busted his ass for years. They wanted Hannah and Evan to have a better life than they’d had. Wasn’t that what every parent wanted?
But he’d had no business talking to Callie like that. He knew that she wanted him to look at the big picture. If nothing else, Callie always had the kids’ backs. He couldn’t fault her for that.
And now he couldn’t even apologize. She hadn’t answered her phone, and although he’d knocked on her door every day, she hadn’t opened it. After the third day, he gave up and assumed she’d left town again. She had mentioned that she might have to finish the job she left. He kind of thought she would’ve said something before leaving, though.
He and the kids had fallen into a rhythm. Hannah decided she wanted to take over dinner, for which Trevor was grateful because in general, he didn’t cook. He knew how to, but when it had been just him it had seemed like a waste. Hannah found some recipes, and he and Evan had become her guinea pigs. In trade, Evan took over making lunches for both of them, as long as Trevor reminded him at night.
That boy never got out of bed early, and he couldn’t remember to do anything without about ten reminders. Trevor couldn’t imagine what he planned on doing, if not college. They had completely tabled the conversation after that night.
They all continued living at his house, but Hannah insisted that she wanted to move back to Lisa’s. Trevor left his job every night and went to Lisa’s to do a little work before heading home and collapsing. It might not be a great routine, but it was a routine.
He had cut out some busted drywall so he could patch a hole Evan had made a few years ago. Back then, Lisa had mentioned that Evan was angry and acting out, but she hadn’t told him Evan had thrown things and busted holes in the walls. Evan copped to it as soon as Trevor brought it up. As he measured the hole, the doorbell rang.
Who the hell would come here? The only person who ever came by was Callie, and she had a key.
He went to the front door and found a delivery guy on the porch. “Can I help you?”
“I have your dinner.”
“I didn’t order anything.” But he could smell onion rings and French fries, so he considered paying for it because his stomach growled.
My Best Friend's Ex (Daring Divorcees) Page 5