by Teri Blake
“He hasn’t!” At least, not that she’d known about. Channyon had smelled it and known right away. There had been that odor in his room. Coming to his defense would only make her look like she condoned the behavior. Karla sighed. “If he was caught, I’m sure he earned the ISS. I’ll talk to him more when he gets home.”
The woman made a slight noise that sounded like an accentuated smirk. “Because of his suspension, he’s not allowed to walk home, nor leave the building unattended. You’ll need to wait in the pickup line until a teacher walks him out to your car.”
Great. He’ll be in a wonderful mood after they paraded him in front of everyone as an example. “I’ll be watching for him.”
She hung up the phone and sat still in Sawyer’s truck, needing a minute to process all she’d just heard.
“Smoking, huh?” Sawyer took a deep breath. “That’s a tough one to break if he’s already formed a habit.”
“You heard?” She hadn’t thought the woman was that loud, but it was a small cab. “There’s only one place he could’ve acquired that habit.” One place where her children weren’t watched because the man in charge was too busy with his girlfriend.
“Rob’s,” Sawyer filled in where she hadn’t. “What will you do?”
At least he hadn’t immediately offered to call Rob and fix it, though maybe for once she’d have taken him up on it. “I don’t know. I need to think about this. If I call and accuse him of letting Davin smoke, before I even talk to Davin, then I’m probably walking into a trap. He would say I let him do it to get Rob in trouble with the court.”
Sawyer nodded his agreement. “Talking to Davin would be a good place to start. And maybe Maisy too. She may have noticed odd behavior that she couldn’t explain but didn’t want to say anything.”
Karla added that to her mental list of necessary things to do because of that call. The day had turned from horrible to great then back to horrible again. If Davin was addicted to cigarettes, getting him off of them would take time and effort. Effort he might not have.
“I don’t even know what to do to help him. My parents would’ve yelled then grounded me. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have a punishment, but what do I do to help him so he doesn’t do this again?”
Sawyer gripped the steering wheel. “I must admit, when I offered to step in and help you with your kids, this wasn’t something I thought would come up. You’ve got really good kids, and this is completely out of character.”
He shrugged, then went on, “Davin has been off since he got home and I thought it was just electronics, but if he’s got one of those E-cigarettes, what he may have actually been fighting was a lack of a way to charge it.”
When she’d taken his phone, she had taken all the charge cords too to keep the kids from using the excuse that their cords were in their rooms, so their phones should be also. He’d had two cords, but she’d just assumed the one was a spare and hadn’t looked at it closely.
“That may be. I don’t know anything about them. Do they need to be charged every day?”
“No, not nearly that often from what I’ve heard. And if he was doing it in his room, then that doesn’t explain the grumpy behavior. I don’t know. I think you’ll just need to talk to him. Ask him what he needs to help him stop. Maybe this is still new, and you caught it soon enough. I hope so.”
She wished he would offer to help her with this conversation, but something like this should be a mother and son talk. Sawyer might act like a dad once in a while and do things with the kids when he could, but he wasn’t their dad.
“I’ll need to go pick him up in about an hour. That will give me time to think and reasonably put my thoughts together. I’m just still in shock. He’s my good kid. The one who hugs me and supports me. He was there for me when Maisy when through a phase a few months ago before her birthday. I just thought he’d be the good quiet kid always.”
Sawyer laughed as he got out of the truck and came around to her side, then opened the door. “You know, Maisy went through that phase but they are only about a year apart, right?”
Roughly fourteen months, but it was close enough that people mistook them for fraternal twins. “They are close, yes.”
“Could they be going through the same ‘phase’?”
“Maybe, but she had reasons too. She was going through as much as I was, she just didn’t have the life experience to deal with it.”
“And now Davin is.”
She couldn’t disagree. But no one had smoked in their family and choosing this habit from a hat seemed an unlikely way of coping. “Well, we can sit here and speculate, or I can just talk to him.” Which was probably the easiest and best way because she couldn’t see why he would.
A few hours later, Karla picked Davin up and Maisy rode home with friends like usual to give them time to talk. Kids pointed at him as a teacher escorted him to the car. He whipped open the door and flung himself into the seat.
“Worst. Day. Ever.” He groaned and hurled his backpack in the back seat.
She wanted to be mad for his outburst, but held that in. For now, listening would get her more information. “I’m sure.” She waited for him to buckle up so she could move out the way of the parents honking behind her.
Once she was a block away from the school, she took a deep breath. “Care to tell me why I got a call from the school today?” She resolved to be quiet unless he asked her a question. This had to come from him.
Davin mumbled a reply, “My guess is they told you about my stuff?” He stared out the window, his posture rigid.
Well, that chat didn’t last long. “And?”
“And what? They caught me. There is no story.”
She bit back her frustration and remembered that he, too, was dealing with a family break up and all the emotional upheaval that caused. He was bound to change a little too. “Oh, but there is. Like, where, how, why…?”
He shook his head slowly. She could feel the eye roll from across the car.
“Dad’s. I took his. Because I could.”
“You took your dad’s cigarettes.” She still didn’t understand how he could light up in the school nor could she see him using a vape device.
“No, I stole one of his vapes. It was pretty easy.”
Rob smoked now too? He’d always thought smoking was disgusting and she’d agreed with him. Now both he and Davin were smoking? “You stole a vape from your father and he didn’t miss it?”
Davin didn’t bother to face her while he spoke. “No. I’ve had it since the second week I was there. He and Audrey have quite a few. He mentioned it and she claimed he lost it, then they never talked about it again.”
“So that’s what that oil stuff was for in your room?” How stupid. She’d thought the bottle was essential oil, but Channyon had probably known the whole time. E-cigs weren’t even on her radar and she hadn’t considered them.
“You went in my room?” His head swung so quickly to face her that his hair flopped in his face.
“Yeah, I did. Especially after Aunt Channyon said you smelled like weed.” She hoped it wasn’t weed, not that she knew anything about any drug that was smoked. There just seemed like a lot less stigma with cigarette smokers than pot smokers, so getting over it had to be easier…didn’t it?
He rolled his eyes. “Like she knows anything about it. Look, they took all I had so it’s not something you need to worry about anymore. I only had the one pen, so, after my ISS is done you won’t hear about this again.”
She pulled to a stop in front of the house and he slumped out of the car then headed for the door. He’d admitted doing it, but not why. “Because he could” wasn’t really an excuse. Maisy had the same opportunity at her father’s, but she hadn’t.
Maisy’s best friend pulled up behind and let her off. There were squeals from various girls, Maisy waved to them and the car drove off as quickly as it had come. Maisy saw her sitting there and walked over to the window, then opened the door.
“Something wrong? I heard
about Davin at school.”
So the news had spread. Karla couldn’t hope that it would remain a secret. “Yeah. Do you know anything else?”
Maisy shook her head slowly. “Just that he kept to himself at Dad’s. At first, he wanted to do everything with me like he normally does, which was fine because neither of us knew anyone in Arizona. But then, he just sort of separated himself from everyone. He wouldn’t talk, and I didn’t make him. I was trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
She wished she’d taken more time to talk to both of them about their time with their dad, but it was still a sore subject. She’d have to be the adult and get over that or risk having something happen like this again. “Bad situation?”
“Well, being alone there. Plus, neither of them work so there’s nothing to do. We sat in their apartment all the time. Dad smokes now because Audrey does and he smells all the time. You’d think with nothing else to do we would’ve spent a lot of time together, but we didn’t.”
She’d made the commitment from the start to say nothing negative about Rob to the kids. They could choose to love or not love their father based on him alone. When they’d been married, he was a good dad and she had no reason to believe he would change. Now, she wasn’t so sure.
“I assumed he’d spend time with you, but maybe he thought that was what the trip to Maui was for?” He had taken them on a weeklong trip. It had to be difficult to go from a vacation where money was not an issue to living with nothing.
“We didn’t talk much there, either. I don’t think he really knows us all that well since he was always working and now he doesn’t know where to start. When Davin started hiding away, he almost seemed relieved. If it hadn’t been so hot, I probably would’ve gone outside but I couldn’t stand it. I have to share a room with Davin there, so I really had no place to be when Davin would close the door and block me from going in.”
Maisy wasn’t quite old enough that she could choose to stop visiting her father, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to make her want to continue.
“I’m sorry. I know you were hoping before to stay with him for a while.” Maisy had fought quite hard to have more time with her dad.
“Not now. After he took us to Arizona without telling you and basically thought making you worry was hilarious, I was done. I wanted to be neutral in the divorce, but he didn’t really let us be. He wanted us to like his new girlfriend and treat her like we would treat you. That just isn’t happening.”
And, by the same token, she wouldn’t expect them to ever really treat Sawyer as a father. Unless they chose to. She derailed that train of thought before it could leave the station. Sawyer wasn’t offering to be their father, he had offered to help out when she needed. There was a big difference between helping and fathering.
Though, right now, they needed someone willing to be a genuine father. She would do her best but had obviously missed the mark when they’d come home with secrets and cigarettes and she hadn’t noticed.
“I’m sorry for not asking more questions about your time with your dad. I’m sure regretting it now.”
Maisy shrugged. “If you’d come right out and asked us on the ride home from the airport, we wouldn’t have said anything. We were both just happy to be out of Arizona. And I can say that even without Davin here because he told me so in the car.”
“He says that he can’t vape anymore now that the school took away his vape pen. Do you know if he has more? Do I need to search his room?” Not that Maisy probably knew, but she would be the most likely to have information.
Maisy shrugged. “I didn’t really know he was actually doing it, so I don’t know if he has more than one. Couldn’t hurt, I suppose.” She shuddered. “Just be careful with his mess. Most of the time I had to share a room with him I just closed my eyes to whatever he left around on the floor and pretended the room was only half the size it was…my side.”
That would change starting today. Part of Davin’s punishment would be cleaning his room with supervision. Then she would know for sure if what he said was true about the vape pen.
One thing was certain, if she ever smelled that swampy smell again, he would be hearing about it. And she would never be so naive again.
Chapter Thirteen
Steam rose from three coffee cups and sun poured in the open bay window of the dining room. Channyon picked up her cup, ready to take the first sip as someone knocked. Karla glanced from Channyon to Aryn and back again.
“Expecting anyone?”
“Maybe Sawyer?” Channyon rested the warm mug against her lips and closed her eyes.
Karla stood and headed for the door. A moment later, voices drifted in from the front. Becker’s low voice greeted Karla, then he stepped inside. Channyon set down her cup and headed for the kitchen to get one for him.
“Good morning.” She gave him a peck on the cheek. It was about all she could manage yet, but it was a start. She expected him to smile, but something lingered in his eyes. “What is it?” Something was wrong and she didn’t care if her sisters knew.
“Let’s take our coffee out on the porch. It’s not too hot quite yet.”
She poured him a cup and handed it to him, then went to get her own.
“What is it?” Aryn’s brows rose. “He sounds so serious.”
Karla frowned. “Well, he is a lawyer, Aryn.”
Both women laughed at the obviousness of the statement, but Channyon couldn’t join in. They’d come so far in the week he’d been there. What could’ve gone wrong, and would it get in the way of what they’d accomplished so far?
Becker waited for her on the back patio. She slid the door closed, making sure the screen wasn’t open for her sisters to listen, then sat across from him. “All right. Now I’m good and worried. What’s going on?” Why did the universe have to conspire against her?
“I didn’t mean to worry you, but I got a call last night. I’ve been thinking about it since.” He paused to sip his coffee. “It’s good, thanks.”
“Never mind about the coffee. Stop stalling.” She set her own mug down. If she couldn’t enjoy it, why bother.
“I told the office I wasn’t to be contacted. That they should pretend like I don’t even exist until I return. If I return.” He was careful to avoid her eyes. “But one of my colleagues called me last night. He’s got a case that probably should’ve been mine because I’ve worked with the family before.”
Her gut ached. He was going to work. What case could be so important that they needed him more than she did? “I know you’re not supposed to talk about cases. Just lay it out. Are you leaving?” Maybe thinking work always came first was selfish, but after they’d been through so much, she needed to know he put her first.
“I’m telling you because I trust you and because I think it’s important that you understand what I’ve been fighting with. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here and keep working through this with you. I see real progress, and this feels like a step back.”
“You’re leaving then.” He’d already decided. Had probably decided very quickly after he got the call.
“No, I haven’t. I wanted to talk it over with you first.”
“Me?” He’d never talked with her about anything involving his cases.
“Yes. This is my dilemma. I represented a woman about three years ago in a case where her employer was discriminating against her because of her son. They were docking her pay, on hours she’d worked, when she had to leave early to get him from the daycare and various other things, since she had no husband to help with those things.”
But what did this have to do with today? They couldn’t still be harassing her?
“She was killed in an auto accident yesterday.”
Channyon held her breath. A death meant more work. That much she knew. And the woman had a child, he’d said she was a single parent. “You’re not thinking of adopting this child…” She was not ready to consider children yet. Not after the past year.
“No,
that hadn’t crossed my mind. I need to go to help David with this case because I know this boy from working with his mother. Her fiancé is the only father he’s ever known and he wants to adopt the boy.”
“But they weren’t married…” Her gut said there was something wrong with a man who wanted custody of a boy he wasn’t related to.
“No, and there was no will from what I could gather. Her parents have never actually met the boy, but they’re stepping in and want to take custody. The boy went into foster care last night.”
She held her breath. Couldn’t one of the other lawyers in the office handle this? The client he’d worked with was gone, he couldn’t help her. “I don’t understand why it has to be you.”
He reached out and took her hand across the patio table. “Because that boy needs someone to take his case. He needs someone to care about where he goes for his good, not the good of the two entities fighting for him for their good.”
She shook her head and tried to tug her hand away. He was trying to play to her emotions. Was he using her desire for children…to leave? “How do you get to decide? Especially with how you feel about children. How do you decide what’s best for this boy? How old is he, anyway? Can he even tell you what he wants?”
Becker didn’t even bother to look hurt by her questions, like he’d known just what she would ask. “It’s not about what he wants. It’s about who will provide for him the best, care for him. Can two people who have never met him care for him? Does the man who isn’t legally his father, but who has helped raise him, deserve to keep him even though they aren’t related?”
She hated the choices already. “I’m no lawyer and I’m glad I don’t have to think about this. I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision. But you asked me what I think, and I think someone else can handle this. I don’t think it has to be you. You’re supposed to be here…untouchable.”
He ducked his head. “I know. But my gut says I’m needed. I really think that knowing his mom is a big part of this. I feel like I knew her better than any of my team. I want you to say that I can do this, because it will eat me alive if I don’t go and help him.”
