by Katz, Avery
I stole sideway glances at him and thought about how much I loved him. I wish I could just confess my feelings and get it over with. How did I have enough guts to open my own business but not enough nerve to pour my heart out to him? My fear stemmed from the fact that he was a class A commitment-phobe. I witnessed it first hand at school and later during our countless outings. Greg was a charmer just like the rest of his brothers. Men were attracted to him due to his status and charisma. I fell for his charms over a decade ago and never fully recovered.
If I brought up my feelings for him, he might run off to Raplen or head back to California. I would rather have him around for as long as possible. Unrequited love was bittersweet, but it was better than losing him as a friend. I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. We landed in San Francisco two hours later. My car was waiting for us in the parking lot right where we left it. It was a brand-new Tesla with leather seats and auto-pilot mode which was perfect after a long night at the office. Greg climbed into the passenger seat and made a few business phone calls while I drove down the highway towards my mother’s house. She lived in Twin Peaks which also happened to be my hometown.
I missed Adley so much. Louisa was probably mad at me for not calling. Our love-hate relationship was like a crazy, unpredictable roller coaster. I took a deep, calming breath and pulled up in front of my childhood home. Our Queen Anne house had been restored over the years by my father. It was hauntingly beautiful with bay windows and a majestic wraparound porch. There was a tower on the second floor where I used to take power naps and watch Sex and the City.
“Wow. Your house still looks the same,” Greg said from beside me.
“Yeah. Remember the week you spent with me during our senior year? You were such a pompous ass back then. You used to steal hearts and never say sorry.”
“This sounds like a line from a Taylor Swift song.” He chuckled. “How old are you? Fifteen?”
“What? The radio plays her songs during my commute to work every morning. I was bound to memorize some of her lyrics.”
He laughed and brushed those wheat-colored curls out of his face. “Yeah. Just like you memorized all of Alanis Morisette’s songs during high school because you watched MTV by accident.”
“Shut your pie hole.”
“How very mature of you.”
I playfully smacked his arm before climbing out of the car.
“I never took you for a Tesla type of guy.” He smirked.
“Investing in clean energy is all the hype now. Plus, I want Adley to grow up knowing that her dad cared about the planet so she can, in turn, contribute to a cleaner environment.”
He followed me up the porch steps and watched me ring the doorbell. “I bet your baby forgot all about you. I heard babies have real shitty memories.”
“Where do you get your info from? Perez Hilton?”
“No. Facebook.”
My mother opened the door and instantly frowned when she saw Greg. “Oh. You’re back.”
“Of course I’m back, Ma. Where is Adley? I hope she didn’t give you a hard time.”
“Wendy came by and picked her up this morning.”
“What?” I gaped at her in shock. “Are you serious? Why would you let Wendy take her without asking me first?! You should have contacted me the second she got here.”
Anger swept through me like a hurricane. Wendy took advantage of my absence and played the victim like she always did. I was sick and tired of her antics.
“I tried calling,” she said, glancing nastily at my best friend. “But you were apparently too busy to answer your precious phone.”
Louisa suddenly noticed our matching wedding rings and screamed in horror. “Oh my Lord. Did you two get married? Now I know why you went to Sin City with him of all people.” She pointed a disgusted finger in Greg’s direction. “Bravo, Quin.” She mockingly clapped her hands. “And to think that I was furious with Wendy for cheating on you!”
I blushed and didn’t know what to say. Being in my childhood home brought back memories I would rather forget. Memories of losing my dad and having to put up with Louisa and her homophobic remarks.
“Yes. We got married, Louisa.” Greg finally came to my defense. His eyes burned like a mystical green fire. Mom instantly became defensive and crossed her arms over her chest. “So kindly stop looking at me like I’m a Hydra monster. Your son is gay. G-a-y. There is nothing wrong with him. He does not have the plague. Oh, and for the record, we fucked right here in this house ten years ago. Right under your nose.”
Her face turned red as a tomato, but she refused to hit him with a comeback.
“Can we please get back to Adley now?” I interjected. “Mom, where did Wendy take my baby?”
“No idea.” She shrugged. “Now get out of my house before I call Immigration.”
“Ha! Good one, Louisa, but just so you know, I own a diplomatic passport. No one can arrest me.”
We left her seething by the door and walked the short distance to my car.
Some people never change.
12
Greg
Quin was beyond upset. He slammed a hand against the steering wheel and cursed Wendy.
“That bitch.” He huffed. “I hate using derogatory terms, but she ’s testing my patience with this shit. This is just so typical of Wendy. She enjoys causing havoc in my life. She once said I was boring and stuck in my ways,” he ranted. “I should have known this was coming. She warned me not to file for divorce.”
“Come on. Don’t beat yourself up over this. This is all her doing. She took advantage of your absence and made her move. This is all just a game to her.”
“I know! That’s why I’m pissed.” He sped past a slow-moving car and honked the horn. “Hey! Move to the right lane you idiot!” he shouted.
The driver gave him the finger, but he was too distracted to notice. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
He sighed and asked me to look up two addresses on Google Maps. The first one belonged to Wendy’s best friend. She was a model who lived in South Beach. Quin was tense as hell. He kept checking his phone in case Wendy called. I had no idea what kind of game she was playing, but it was far from amusing. My best friend was an amazing dad. He didn’t deserve to be treated like garbage by this woman. She did him wrong in so many ways. She’s the one who deserved to be punished, not him.
It took us twenty more minutes to arrive at the model’s house. Luckily, she was home but Wendy was a no-show. The woman claimed she last saw her gal pal two days ago. I wished we could pretend to be FBI agents and drive around the city in search of Wendy. Women loved a guy with a badge. Quin went around with a morose face, silently filled with anxiety. He gnawed on his lower lip until it started bleeding. I offered to drive on his behalf, but he said no. We ended up driving across town to Jordan Park where her other friend lived. My hubby rang the doorbell three times and banged on the door until a short woman with glasses answered it. She pulled him into a surprise hug and rubbed his arms affectionately. “Oh, Quin. I’m so sorry. I had no idea Wendy was cheating on you. You sweet, sweet soul,” she cooed. I could easily tell that she had a major crush on him. “She and I are no longer friends. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her in ages.”
“Oh.” Quin sounded disappointed.
We walked back to the cherry-red Tesla, and this time I insisted on driving. He handed me the keys with a pout. “That woman was undressing you with her eyes,” I told him once we were on the road. “She wants a big chunk of your man meat.”
He was too busy on his phone to react. I watched his fingers fly over the screen. He was certainly up to something. “So, where to next?”
“Mission Bay,” he said. “We need to pay someone a visit. Someone I should have kicked in the nuts the second I saw him.”
“Oh, shit. You mean..hairy balls?”
“Exactly.”
We stopped by Mr. Homewrecker’s apartment. His real name was Lionel. Not that we
cared. We preferred to call him hairy balls. Luckily, he was home. He also chose to answer the door in a bathrobe that showed off his equally hairy calves.
“Hello. Remember me?” Quin squared his shoulders and clenched his fists. The man recoiled and hid behind the door. “Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am the guy who kicked you out of his million-dollar penthouse. Does this ring a bell?”
“I know who you are,” Lionel replied. “Wendy told me about the divorce. She said you had a pencil dick, so I can’t really blame her for hooking up with me.”
“Excuse me?” I stepped forward with both hands on my hips. “He does not have a pencil dick, you asshole. For your information, he has a premium cock. Wendy just likes to spread lies about her exes. You’ll get a taste of her medicine soon enough.”
“Look, man. I don’t want any trouble,” Mr. Hairy balls said.
“Where is she?” Quin asked him, barely containing his anger.
“No idea. She just came by three hours ago and dropped off some of her stuff.”
“Shit.”
I followed him back to the car and tried to calm him down. The vein in his forehead was throbbing like mad. “Come on. Don’t be like that. We’ll find her. I promise.”
He gnawed on his bottom lip and grabbed his phone from the dashboard. “I should call the police on her ass,” he muttered. “That should teach her a valuable lesson.”
“And what, pray tell, are you going to say? That you left Adley with Louisa to go to Vegas, and the baby mama kidnapped the kid? Be reasonable, Quin.”
He turned to me with a dark expression on his face. “You know what? This is all your fault. Us getting married was most definitely your idea. I should have stayed sober when you decided to binge drink and get shitfaced. We’re not college kids anymore, Greg. We’re adults. Adults have responsibilities,” he ranted. “I have a baby girl whose whereabouts are unknown, so do not ask me to be reasonable.”
I sat there and listened to him unload his shit on me. He made me sound like an irresponsible brat. How typical of him. “Jeez. Come on. Get it all out of your system.”
He switched the engine on and pulled out of the parking lot. “Maybe you should just go back to Raplen,” he said. “I was on the verge of putting my life back together before you showed up. I really was. Things were going so well, minus the Wendy thing.”
I swallowed my pride and allowed him to express his displeasure. I knew deep down that he was lashing out because he was worried about Adley. Wendy delivered such a low blow by visiting Louisa. She knew the older woman would take her side, especially after she saw her son with me. Louisa had such a nasty streak. She probably thought I was behind his divorce too.
He finally gave up and drove us back home. There was no point in harassing her friends and current hairy lovers. I could not believe that Wendy cheated on Quin with that dude. I never liked her, but I always kept my opinion to myself.
A loud giggle greeted us when we arrived at the penthouse. Quin practically burst through the door and rushed to the living room. We found Wendy sitting there with her daughter in her lap.
“Welcome back, lover boy,” she said with a smirk.
Quin visibly relaxed when he saw his daughter, but his eyes emitted angry sparks. “What the fudge, Wendy?!” he said through gritted teeth. “I spent the entire afternoon searching for you.”
She laughed and tossed back her auburn curls. “Oops. Sorry. My phone was switched off this whole time. Besides, you should know better than to fly off to Vegas with prince Gag over here.” She gave me a pointed look. “Yes. Louisa told me all about your history.”
Quin stepped forward and tossed his car keys on the coffee table. “Look who’s talking.” He sneered. “If you take Adley anywhere near Lionel, I will take legal action against you. I bet the judge would love to hear about how you fucked a guy in our bed while our daughter was in the other room.”
Wendy remained cool as a cucumber. She crossed her legs and listened with that same ugly smirk glued to her plump fake lips. “Are you done? Because I have a yoga class in twenty minutes.”
“I should go sit in the kitchen.” I cleared my throat and tried to sneak out of the room, but Quin reached out and grabbed my arm. His stormy blue eyes were trained on his ex-wife who appeared to be far from remorseful.
“No. Stay,” he grunted. “Stay and listen to her bullshit. Maybe my ears are playing tricks on me. Did she really say that she has a yoga class in the middle of a serious conversation? A conversation about the well-being of our only child?”
“Oh, I care about my baby more than anything,” she said. “I actually plan on filing for full custody. This is how much I care about Adley. I want her all to myself. Right, sugar?” she cooed.
“You just declared war on me, Wendy,” Quin told her. “She’s mine too.”
“Sorry not sorry, lover boy.” She shrugged and got up. “I warned you not to sign those divorce papers. Nobody messes with Wendy and gets away with it. Not even a sweet, sensitive fruit like you,” she added.
“What a bitch.”
She strutted to the door in her Louboutin heels and gave me a dirty look on her way out.
“I heard that, Greg. It’s not good to swear around our baby. You should watch what you say from now on. Unless you want to lose custody. Anyways, I will see you in court. Bye-bye.”
She slammed the door behind her, causing Adley to cry.
“Great. Just great.”
13
Quin
I almost had smoke coming out of my ears at the sight of Wendy and her devil-may-care attitude. She seemed awfully confident for someone who committed adultery. How dare she threaten to take Adley away from me? This was Louisa’s fault. She must have told her to push my buttons and ruffle my feathers in order to get rid of Greg. I was incredibly harsh on him on our way to the penthouse. I wished I could take back what I said about him messing up my life. My anger sometimes prompted me to say the most horrible things.
“Fudge. Fudge!” I muttered, trying to remain calm in Adley’s presence. The last thing I wanted was for her to grow up in a broken home, but shit happens.
“Hey, are you okay? Your face is troubling me,” Greg said. “I saw every single shade of red on your cheeks today.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m surprised you’re still here. You know, after everything I said to you in the car. I was out of line. I’m responsible for my own crap, not you. I’m a grown man. I can’t use you as a scapegoat. The past couple of days have just been overwhelming.”
“It’s all water under the bridge, hubbs.”
I shook my head at him. He kept coming up with cute nicknames for me. Something other than Quinny. I knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but I was too busy to humor him. “We should probably press pause on our divorce,” I told him.
“Damn. I was just about to suggest the exact same thing. Great minds do think alike.”
“True. My main goal right now is to find a great lawyer. Someone who can give us advice on what to do and how to move forward regarding the custody.”
“Say no more,” Greg said. “I have the perfect man for the job.” He scrolled through his phone and told me about his lawyer. He had an office in San Francisco, so we were able to book a meeting with him on the same day.
Adley cried and begged me to carry her. We watched a bit of Barney together until she calmed down. She was normally an easy going, non-fussy baby, but the animosity between Wendy and me must be affecting her.
“Is she alright?” Greg asked from beside me. “She looks constipated.”
“Nope. She’s just cranky is all,” I explained. “Can you please help me prepare a snack for her?”
“Sure. I could use a snack too.” He grinned.
We went to the kitchen where I placed Adley in her high chair and went to work. Greg and I worked in tandem, chopping baby carrots and fixing sandwiches made out of whole wheat bread, cheese, roast beef, and lettuce.
“Gag! Gag
!” My baby called out to him. “Eat! Eat!”
“Aaw, she wants you to sit and eat your sandwich with her.” I cut the toast into tiny squares and served them on a plastic plate. I loved watching her eat because she treated her food with respect, unlike other bratty babies. I wondered if she was going to grow up to be tech-savvy like her father. She seemed to have inherited a large chunk of my genes.
“Umm..okay.” Greg sounded hesitant so I playfully nudged him towards her. Getting rid of his so-called baby-phobia was on my agenda.
“Jeez. Relax.” I smiled. “She won’t bite you.”
“Haha. I hope not. Does she even have teeth?”
“Yes. She went through another teething phase last month. It was a nightmare.” I filled him in.
I made a cup of green tea for myself and sat down at the kitchen table. He stole glances at Adley who was adamant on sharing a piece of her sandwich with him.
“Thank you. See? I have my own.” He pointed at his own layered BLT, but she stretched out her tiny arm and dropped the piece of bread next to his plate. It would have landed on the floor if not for his fast reflexes.
I drank my tea and gazed out the window. So much for blowing off steam in Vegas. I chewed on my lower lip nervously. I mentally calculated the cost of hiring a lawyer plus everything else. I had to bring in more clients at this rate. I already borrowed a loan from the bank in order to rent more office space and purchase printers and other equipment. This divorce had the potential to suck me dry. Wendy probably wanted full custody of Adley so she could demand child support.
“Earth to Quin?”
Greg’s voice rescued me from my all-consuming thoughts. I turned to him with a weak smile. He knew me well enough to know just how worried I was about everything. It was in my nature to freak out. “Sorry. My brain was just doing a bit of math. How much did you say your lawyer charged per session?”
