9. Andy #2
The girls ask about the custody case in hushed tones, and I give them the same rundown that I gave Jedd. There’s not a lot that I can tell them, because nothing has happened yet, but after promising to keep them updated on the case, we all turn back to the movie.
Audra lets out a little whimper, and Maisie sets her plate on the coffee table before presumably going to the diaper bag.
“I got it!” Piper calls before Maisie fully stands. “She wants her bottle, right?”
“You betcha. It’s in the side pocket of her bag.”
Piper pulls the bottle out and walks back to Audra, who’s rolled over to her back and is starfished on the floor waiting for the milk. Once Piper gives it to her, she sits back down and lightly draws circles on Audra’s tummy.
“Someone’s a caregiver,” Jem says with a smile. I pull my phone out and snap a quick picture.
“Sounds like her auntie,” Maisie says with a smile to me.
My phone rings in my hand, the number for the lawyer’s office on the readout.
“Gimme a sec, I have to take this. Be right back.” I move toward the back of the cottage where our bedrooms are, and once I shut the door behind me, I swipe to answer the call.
“Mr. Rupert?”
“Andy. Sorry for the late call.”
“No problem. What can I do for you?”
“I was just calling to let you know that I called in a couple of favors. The court cleric moved some things around, and we have the first hearing for your case Monday morning at nine.”
“Whoa. That was fast.” Faster than I was expecting, and the pit of my stomach tightens with nerves.
“Yes, much faster than normal, but after talking with you and Melinda, I thought it best to get the ball rolling. Has anything changed?” he asks, his tone clearly expressing that he hopes not.
I shake my head, and then realize he can’t see me. “No, nothing’s changed. Monday is fine. I thought we had to have Alex served first?” The words stutter out of me, all rushed together and tinged with the anxiety that rockets through my system.
“Alex was served on Friday afternoon. I had a service processor take it over to the sheriff’s station.”
“I thought it would take weeks to have our first hearing.”
This is fast. So fast.
“Normally it would, but we’re filing an emergency petition for custody so those can move a little faster. That’s good. Here’s what we can expect …”
He carefully outlines what should happen at the hearing and what he’s going to need from me to fully prepare over the weekend. After promising to get him the information he’s requesting—though it leaves a black hole in my soul—we end the call.
I stare at the device in my hand in shock. I thought that custody cases took forever, that this could take months, if not longer to get resolved, but we’re taking the first step in a matter of days.
Feelings clash and collide inside of me until I realize that my breath is coming faster and faster, a stuttering huff of air whistling in and out of my lungs. My hands shake around the phone.
“Hey, Andy, can I use your bath …” Maisie cracks the door to my bedroom open. After a quick glance at me, she quickly closes the door behind her.
“Here. Come sit down. There you go.” She gently ushers me to my bed where my legs give out and I crash down on the mattress.
“Hey. Look at me, hun.” She leans into my line of sight.
I lift my head.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Can you slow your breathing down? Here follow me. We’re going to inhale for four seconds.” She sucks in a breath of air, and I follow it, the tightness in my chest pinching until I want to cough.
“And now out.” She coaches me through the breathing until mine steadies.
“What happened?” she asks once my heart no longer feels like it’s going to punch its way out of my chest.
“Lawyer called. First hearing is Monday.”
“Ah. That’ll do it.”
“Do what?” I ask.
“Anxiety attack. Har’s had to coach me through enough of them it was easy to recognize.”
I nod, struck dumb at the thought.
Sure, I’ve had anxiety before, tell me what thirty-two-year-old woman who runs her own business and has a complicated family hasn’t. But it’s never been like that before. I’ve never lost the air in my lungs while my heart pounded in my chest and I felt hot and sweaty all over.
“It’s okay. You’re safe. Piper’s safe.” Maisie coos to me when my breathing starts to pick back up. “Just keep breathing slow and steady.” She disappears into the attached bathroom and wets a rag before coming back and placing it on the back of my neck.
“Nauseous?”
I shake my head, the cool cloth a welcome relief after whatever the fuck that just was.
“I think I’m good now.”
She turns her mom stare to me, and I have to fight the urge to hide behind hunched shoulders or a blindingly fake smile.
After a beat, she nods at me, her stare steady and direct. “I think you and Piper are going to be just fine.” Her tone is calm and soothing. The reassurance I didn’t know I needed, but it’s welcome all the same.
I have to be fine, and not just for me anymore. But Maisie’s reassurance and tone tell me that she’s not only talking about Piper, or the case, or any of the other fucked-up shit happening in my life.
And weirdly enough—though I haven’t known her long—I believe her.