“Not going to happen,” he says.
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He smiles. “Did you get the amended copy of the court papers?”
“No. What are you talking about?” He looks at him as Henry laughs again.
“My bad.” He leans over, opening his briefcase. “I filed this late last night. You should be getting a copy sometime today, but I’ll clarify it with the judge.” Henry hands him the paper; he snatches it and looks back at Henry.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Nope,” he says, looking at me. “I’m taking this very personal, so I’m coming out swinging,” he says, and the lawyer walks away.
I lean over and whisper, “What is going on?”
“You’ll see.” I look over, and the lawyer doesn’t have time to tell the Schneiders because the bailiff informs us to all rise.
The bailiff tells her, “This is the case of Schneider versus Schneider.”
“Thank you, Todd,” she tells him.
I look over at the judge. “Good morning, my name is Judge Kirk, and I will be the one presiding over this case.” She looks over at us and then opens the file. “Oh, this is interesting. We have a countersuit.” I sit here, looking straight ahead, not showing that I have no idea what all this means. “Mr. and Mrs. Schneider, you’re suing Mrs. Schneider for custody of your grandchildren, Lizzie and Daisy Schneider.”
Their lawyer gets up and says, “Yes, your honor, we have reason to believe she is unfit and is alienating their affections from them.”
I force myself not to roll my eyes. The judge nods to him, and he sits down. “Mrs. Schneider, you are suing the Schneiders for a hundred thousand dollars for the emotional distress of Lizzie and Daisy Schneider.”
I look at Henry, who gets up and answers. “Yes, your honor. The children have just lost one parent and informing them that they might lose another was traumatic, to say the very least.”
She nods. “The court is appointing a social worker to visit the children.” She looks down and reads a paper, then looks up at my in-laws. “I really hope that you know what you’re doing,” she warns them. “They just lost a parent. I would hate for them to lose someone else they love just for spite. We reconvene in two weeks.” She gets up, and we stand, waiting for her to walk out of the courtroom. My head falls right away, and I look over at Henry.
“Oh, by the way, you’re countersuing them,” he says, and I laugh quietly, turning and walking out with him. Elliot comes up to us.
“Sam,” he says, “I’d like to come and see the girls.”
“No,” I say right away, and I think I shock him, but I don’t stop. “I trusted you to take care of them, to take them camping, and what did you do? Do you know Lizzie cried the rest of the afternoon?” I tell him, and he looks shocked. “Do you know every single day Daisy asks me if you’re going to take them away?”
“Sam …”
“No,” I snap and advance on him, but Henry gets in front of me. “I called you and begged you to call me back, but you didn’t even have the gall to call me back, knowing that I was going to be served. You stayed in my house, and you ate at my table. You know damn well I’m a good mom.”
“I’m sorry,” he says softly.
“Yeah, that’s all I get from you lately,” I say and turn around, looking for Blake. I see him right at my back, and I feel good. I feel safe. I feel that it’s going to be okay.
“Mrs. Williams, I would love to have you over for lunch, but I have to be honest, I suck at cooking,” I tell her as she laughs.
“That’s okay, honey, how about we hit a restaurant?” she asks, grabbing her husband’s hand and walking out, leaving me and Blake alone.
He looks around and then comes closer to me, whispering, “How opposed are you if the first time I kissed you was in front of my parents?”
I look at him. “Um … very.”
“Right, so I suggest we speed up lunch,” he says, and my mouth becomes dry. “Shall we?” He ushers me out, but the only thing on my mind is his lips touching mine.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Blake
I watch her walk to the car with her head down and her shoulders slouched. When my mother chose the deli next to her house, she sat in the corner booth almost sinking to the floor. We all saw it, and I wasn’t the only one who hated it.
“Starting next week, I’m going to make a list of people we can call to the stand on your behalf,” my father says once we get to her house.
“The list won’t be long,” she says quietly. “I think I have Blake and the kids’ teacher, but …” She shrugs her shoulders.
It’s the dreaded time for us to leave, and I haven’t kissed her yet. I’ve done nothing but think about kissing her. I’ve played the scene over and over in my head.
“What are you guys doing this weekend?” I ask her, stopping the conversation about the trial.
“I have no idea,” she says, looking at me confused.
“Why don’t you and the kids come and spend the weekend with us?” I smile while she tries to swallow. “The city fair is in town, and we could take them to the zoo. Get their mind off all this.”
“But where would we stay?” she asks, and I don’t even wait for her to finish.
“With me,” I say, and she opens her mouth. “I have two spare rooms.” I see the wheels turning in her mind. “Why don’t you ask the kids and see what they say?”
“That sounds like a great idea,” my mother says. “Get them out of the house so they don’t have to think about everything going on.”
She looks around the table. “I guess I can ask them. It would be like a mini vacation.” She gets up. “The bus should be here any second.”
She walks out of the house while we sit at the kitchen table, and I look up. “I really hope you know what you’re doing,” my father says first.
“You need to tell Hailey,” my mother whispers. “She needs to know what’s going on.”
“Mom, nothing is going on,” I say, but even I don’t believe my words.
“If nothing is going on, then why are we here?” my father asks.
“Well,” I say, throwing my hands up. “Come on, we have to help her.” My parents share a look.
“Yes, but we don’t have to bring them home. We don’t have to make sure she isn’t going to break. We don’t have to drive six hours in one day to make sure she and the girls are okay.”
I roll my eyes. “Son, you are so invested and involved, you don’t even see it.”
“Dad.”
“Do you know that when her brother-in-law came to talk to her, you gritted your teeth and flexed your hands every ten seconds?”
“They treat her like shit,” I counter.
“When she sat in the restaurant and wanted the booth to swallow her whole, your leg shook the whole time,” he continues.
“She’s fucking embarrassed, and she has no reason to be.”
“You invited her in your home to stay with you,” he finally says, hitting the nail on the head. “You haven’t dated one girl in seven years.”
“It’s too …”
“Oh, please,” my mother says, finally rolling her eyes. “I finally see the look in your eye I thought would never be there. The light.” She shakes her head. “There is nothing wrong with this. But”—she looks at my dad—“you would never do anything to hurt Hailey, anything, even start a friendship with a woman who holds a piece of her sadness.”
“It’s not her fau—” I say as my mother holds her hand up, turning to my father.
“What is this when I have no other questions and I’m done talking? Sort of like mic drop.” She motions with her hand. I don’t answer because the door opens, and Daisy comes running in first.
“We are going on a bacation,” she says, and I laugh as she points at me. “At your house.”
I smile at her. “Is that so?” I ask and look over to see Samantha and Lizzie come in, holding hands.
“S
o the girls think that spending the weekend away would great,” she says, smiling. “Mr. and Mrs. Williams, if you want, you can go, and I can bring Blake back.”
“That sounds great,” my mother says and gets up, looking at the girls. “I’m going to get Henry to put our tent in the backyard, and maybe you guys can have a sleepover.”
I look at my mom, not sure what she is getting at, but the kids get excited. “Can we do s’mores?” Lizzie asks. “And hot dogs on a stick?”
“Well, it isn’t backyard camping without it,” my father says as he pats their head. I watch the girls run upstairs to pack.
“I’m going to make sure that they don’t over pack,” she says, walking upstairs while I walk my parents out.
When I go back inside, I see the girls coming down with two backpacks. “We each have our own bag,” Lizzie tells us, and I see that Samantha is coming down, and she has changed to jeans, carrying her own bag.
“Are we ready to go?” I ask her as she grabs a jacket and makes sure everything is off. “I’ll load the girls.”
We walk out, and the girls get situated. Samantha comes down the steps, getting into the passenger side, and we take off.
We make it home just in time for dinner, and my mother calls to tell us that she is coming over with pizza. I walk into the house, leading the girls to the spare bedroom. It has a queen-size bed, so they are all excited about sharing.
They dump their bags, and I look at Samantha. “Follow me,” I tell her and go to the second guest room right next to mine. I open the door for her to see the queen-size bed, the white covers look super fluffy. “This is your room,” I tell her and take her bag. She walks into the room and stands in the middle of the room while I dump the bag on the bed.
“This is perfect,” she says, looking around. I walk to stand in front of her. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she starts saying and looks down, her hair falling in front of her face. I reach out to move her hair, and she looks up, smiling at me. My thumb rubs her cheek as I get closer to her. “Blake …”
“I haven’t kissed a girl in seven years,” I whisper to her as my head slowly moves down to hers, and she leans up, her breath hitching. I’m so close, close to finally tasting her when the door flies open, and Daisy yells, causing us to jump apart. “Pizza is here,” she says and turns around.
“Well. That wasn’t at all what I thought the first time would be like,” I say and hear Samantha laughing.
“It’ll be better when they are in bed.” She grabs my hand, walking to the kitchen where my parents have the pizza set up on the counter, and my mother is making plates for the girls. It’s the longest dinner of my life. I swear it lasted more than humanly possible for us to eat pizza.
Finally, my parents leave but not without promising to be back for breakfast and come with us to the zoo. When she leaves to put the kids in bed, I sit on the couch, my feet outstretched in front of me as I flip through the channels while I wait for her.
I hear the door close as she comes into the living room, her feet now bare. She comes to the couch, sitting on her legs next to me. “Hey,” she says, looking at the television.
“Hey,” I say, looking at her. “Was everything okay?”
“Yes.” She smiles. “I couldn’t think of a better night.”
“I didn’t think my parents would ever leave. Honest to God, they stayed forever.”
She leans forward, laughing. “It wasn’t that long,” she says. My head turns to her.
She leans in and kisses my lips, just like that, no waiting, no talking, she just comes and places her lips on mine softly. My hand goes to her cheek, right as her mouth opens and her tongue slides against mine. She changes the angle to deepen the kiss, and it goes from soft to hungry. I grab her hips, bringing her to straddle me, and her knees land on either side of my hips. My hands get buried in her hair while her hands rub up my chest. When she gets to my neck, her hands thread through the hair at the base of my neck. I move her head from right to left as our lips stay together.
Neither of us wanting it to stop, we both try to lead the kiss. I finally let her lips go as our chests rise and fall at the same time. “That was,” she says softly, “perfect.” She brings her lips down to mine again; this time, just giving me soft kisses.
“Your lips,” I tell her, “were made for me to kiss.” She comes back for another kiss. I kiss her until we are both breathless. I kiss her until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. I tuck her into bed, the kiss bringing me on the bed with her, and I fall asleep with her head tucked into my neck and my arms around her. And I feel suddenly at peace.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Samantha
This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, ever. It’s almost like it’s a huge marshmallow. “Mommy. Blake made breakfast.” I hear Lizzie say from the side of the bed, and my eyes open.
Blake. I smile. For the seven years he hasn’t kissed, he’s certainly made up for lost time. The minute I sat on that couch, I couldn’t wait any longer and just went for it. I stretch my hands over my head and look at Lizzie. “Morning, baby.” I smile at her. “What time is it?”
“Almost nine thirty,” she says, and I jump out of bed. “Blake let us help make pancakes,” she says when we walk out of the room. I walk into the kitchen and see that the table has been set.
“Morning,” I say softly, going over to Daisy and kissing her nose. “Did you sleep okay?” I ask her, walking to the kitchen and Blake. I lean up and kiss his lips, and then we both stop, forgetting that the kids are here. We both look over and see that Lizzie saw but then smiled and looked down, sitting down. “Morning,” I whisper to him. Taking him in, track pants and t-shirt, his hair all out of place from sleep or from my hands.
“Your coffee is on the counter.” He points with the spatula in his hand while he flips the pancake.
“I can’t believe I slept so late,” I tell him, picking up my cup and taking a sip.
“Yeah, I snuck out before the girls woke up, and by the time I got out of the shower, Daisy walked out and asked if she could have pancakes.”
I put the cup down and look at this man. Two months ago, I didn’t even know him, yet I couldn’t picture my day without him now. A man who I hated, a man who slowly fixed my broken pieces.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, coming to me after he puts the last pancake on the plate.
“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. “Just thinking.”
“We—” He doesn’t have time to say anything because the doorbell rings, and then the front door opens.
“I heard that my special two girls are in town.” We hear Nanny from the front room as she walks toward the kitchen. She sees the girls and claps her hands together. “There they are. I heard you were here, and I couldn’t stay away,” she says, going over to them and kissing their head. “Good morning, you two.”
“Good morning,” I say. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Oh, no,” she says, then sits at the table. “I heard you’re going to the zoo and then backyard camping.” She turns to look at the kids. “Joanne was taking the sleeping bags out when I dropped by there. She is so excited,” she says. The kids start talking, and they basically don’t stop the whole time we eat. I sit at the table, and it just feels right. Everyone helps clear the table and get ready to go to the zoo.
It’s hands down the best day. So easy and smooth, at one point, Blake carried Daisy on his shoulders when she complained she couldn’t walk another step. Henry and Joanne were pointing out all the new things to the girls, who hung on their every word. Nanny even entertained animal sounds as we walked along the path.
We all went back to Joanne’s house, and she dragged the kids into the backyard. I don’t know who was more excited about the tent—Joanne or the kids. Henry built a little fire right outside, and she got the sticks and hot dogs so everyone could cook their own hot dogs. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in my life; my cheeks literally hurt from smilin
g.
My girls were at ease, and I was at ease. I walked the whole day without looking over my shoulder and without the fear I would run into someone who knew my in-laws or would want to see how I’m doing without Eric. Who would tell me what a great man he was and blah, blah, blah. I look over and see Daisy yawning.
“We should get going,” I tell Blake, who gets up. The girls say goodbye to Joanne and Henry, giving them each a hug.
We walk into the house, and I tell them it’s bath time. When the kids finish, I tuck them in, and they both fall asleep right away.
I walk out to the living room to find Blake, but it’s empty, as well as the kitchen. I walk toward the back, calling his name. “Blake,” I say. Walking into his room, I hear the shower running. The room is neat; a sitting chair in the corner with his clothes piled on it. I look around the bedroom, seeing that the bed is a king covered with a soft blue duvet and gray throw pillows. My eyes land on the picture of him and Frankie right next to his bed.
My feet move without my consent, my hand reaching out and grabbing the picture to look at them. Their smiles fill the picture. My finger moves over Blake’s face; he looks so young and so happy. His green eyes bright and shiny.
Then my eyes go to a smiling Frankie, her wild curly black hair blowing in what probably was a windy day. “Hey.” I hear him say when he walks into the room, holding a towel around his hips.
“I’m sorry,” I say, putting down the picture on the bedside table. “I shouldn’t have come in here without …”
He walks to me, bending his head down. My eyes land on a lone wet drop on his chest, and it hypnotizes me. I didn’t even realize he wasn’t wearing a shirt, showing me that he is all muscle. His abs defined, his chest broad, and his arms full. “It’s okay, Samantha,” he says softly, and my eyes snap up to his eyes.
“She’s beautiful,” I say softly
“She really was,” he says softly, coming closer to me, his scent hitting me right away. The need to run my hands up his chest, to pull him close, and kiss him is so big my heart beats so hard and loud.
Broken Love Story Page 14
