Chapter 34
Libby
“She’s trying to take my girls,” Dax chokes out through the phone, and my heart cracks open in my chest.
I feel like I am going to pass out, and I flip on the stockroom lights before finding a stack of books to sit down on.
“Can she do that?” I ask.
“The papers in my hand suggest she can.”
“But you’re their dad. She’s just their aunt,” I argue.
“And from her point of view they’re better off with her,” he says.
“That’s bullshit,” I snap. “Sorry, but it is.”
“From the looks of it, she got a lawyer,” he says, and I can hear the papers flipping in the background.
“So, lawyer up too! Dax you have money,”
“This isn’t going to be about just money, though Libby. It’s about the interest of the girls. And her arguing point is going to be that she’s been there for them more than I have since their mother died.”
“And I still vote that it’s in their best interest to be with their father. They’ve already lost enough, losing their home isn’t going to make anything better.”
I might be overstepping but I am heated. Enough so that I am not filtering my mouth. I also don’t plan to. I do soften a little for his sake though. I can tell just from his voice that Dax is really distraught, and he doesn’t need my panic right now. We can save that for the courtroom.
“Dax, we aren’t going to let her do anything.
Just don’t agree to anything or talk to anyone, including Jenna until you have a lawyer,” I tell him.
I’m sure he already knows all of this, but I know his brain is spinning around in circles right now.
“Do you want to call off tonight so you can be with the girls? I can even come over and–”
“No, I want to go out. That way we can talk things through. I also don’t want to go postal and make the girls worry that something is wrong.”
“Good call,” I agree. “And Dax? We got this. No one is going to take your girls from you.”
After we get off the phone, I tell Summer and Tom that I have an errand to run.
I don’t want anyone knowing anything because I don’t want anyone talking.
Boston is a large city, but each neighborhood has its own clique, and it doesn’t take long for news to travel. Especially with a big name like Dax’s.
Knowing that Joni is working, she isn’t going to answer her phone. But if I can catch her on a recess break, maybe she can give me some advice.
“Make sure you have your visitor sticker on,” she tells me as we walk down the hall towards her classroom together. “They’re getting more and more strict about these things it seems.”
We walk through the door, and she closes it. Then she pulls up two chairs that are too small (her kids are little) and we sit down facing each other.
“Now. What is so urgent that you couldn’t even text to talk about it?”
“Dax’s sister-in-law is trying to take the girls from him,” I tell her, emotion rising in my voice. With Dax, I stayed as calm as possible. But with Joni, I can’t hold that inside anymore.
“Oh, I know. Jenna is a high-strung bitch who has been acting like their self-proclaimed mother for years. I think it’s because her kids are older and no longer want to have anything to do with her so she’s preying on her sister's kids. I wouldn’t worry about it though, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. ”
Joni crosses her legs, leaning back on the small chair while munching on a bag of animal crackers. She isn’t getting it.
“She’s suing him for custody,” I say.
Joni narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Suing him? No way. How?”
“She got a lawyer,” I say, wringing my hands in my lap.
Joni sits up. “You’re serious. She served him papers? When?”
I nod. “After we got back from Costa Rica. He’s freaking out,”
“Well, no shit,” she says rather loudly for being in an elementary school. “What is he going to do?”
“That’s why I’m here. You work with kids, you must see things like this all the time.”
“I mean I see a lot of divorce induced custody battles but not a lot of this. Not unless there is abuse involved, and the family is stepping in. Surely the wicked witch isn’t claiming he’s abusive.”
“I don’t think so. But if I had to guess she is going to claim that he’s neglectful.”
“It’s 2025! We’re full-time job working parents! We’re all a little neglectful. But those girls are loved and taken care of. I’ve seen it over the years, both before and since his wife’s death.”
“So, you can help us?” I ask, perking up at the possibility of hope.
“I can testify in his favor if that’s what you’re asking.
Absolutely. I’ll also look into the other options, things he should keep in mind.
Sadly enough, us teachers work pretty closely with social services.
And in the meantime, tell him to get a lawyer.
The best he can afford. Also, you being in the picture is going to work in his favor. ”
“How so?” I ask.
“If the court sees him in a serious, steady relationship it will make him look more stable as a parent.”
I hadn’t thought about that. If anything, I was worried that Dax having a girlfriend might make it more complicated.
I hug my friend and make my way back out. The fact Dax even needs a lawyer to keep his own kids is sickening. But I’m with Joni. We are going to testify and fight for this family. They belong together…and I belong with them.
Later that evening I snag a table for two at Mulligan’s Irish Pub.
It’s downtown, right in the heart of everything and it is slammed.
People are circled around the bar, and every table is taken.
I’m lucky to have gotten a table at all.
I almost text Dax to ask if he wants to go somewhere else, somewhere quieter, but I realize noisy might be better.
If either of us is going to get upset, which is likely to happen considering the circumstances, it’s better if it isn’t in some haughty, quiet, white tablecloth kind of place.
The waitress appears with a smile, and I do my best to smile back. She sets a water and a gin and tonic down in front of me. I blink and look back up at her. “Oh. That isn’t mine. Though I do want to order one.”
“Actually, it was ordered for you,” she says.
I turn in my chair looking for Dax but I’m pretty sure if he was already here he would have texted me. “I didn’t think he was here yet,” I say.
The waitress just continues to smile, then leans in a little and whispers, “It’s from the gentleman at the end of the bar. The one looking over here.”
I glance over and it takes me a second, but I recognize him. He’s the guy I saw when I was with Joni, the one who kept looking over at me. The one Joni said I should ask out.
“Oh,” I say, unsure what else I’m supposed to do. Before I can tell her I can’t accept the drink, she hands me a menu.
“I’ll let you look this over and come check on you in a few.”
I watch her walk away, then look back over at the man who is still staring.
I’m not sure why he’s so interested but he is.
I’m wearing a navy-blue cotton dress with coral flowers on it.
I’ve had it for years and it’s nothing special.
My hair is down and curly from the humidity and not styled.
Yet here I am, very much not single and very much being hit on.
Finally, I decide to take the drink back to him.
I get up, flatten my dress, pick up the drink before even taking a first sip and head over to the tall, blonde man at the end of the bar who is sipping on an Old Fashioned.
“Hi,” I say, standing next to him. I don’t take a seat but I’m also not going to be rude.
“Hi,” he says back with a warm smile and it’s funny because he almost looks familiar, even outside of the night Joni and I saw him. Though I can’t pinpoint why.
“Listen. I know you’re trying to start a conversation, and it was sweet of you to buy me a drink, but I can’t accept.”
“Oh. Did I get the drink wrong?” he asks.
I smile. “No, actually you hit the nail on the head. And considering the day I’ve had, I considered guzzling it down the second it hit the table.”
“Well pull up a stool and you still can. I’ll even order you a second one if it makes the day better.”
He is sweet. But obviously, I can’t. “I’m not alone,” I tell him.
The man glances around my shoulder over at my empty table. “No?” he asks.
“He’s not here yet. He’s late.”
“But he is coming.”
My smile wavers a little at that. “Of course he’s coming. Which is why I can’t accept the drink.” I slide it towards him with the tips of two fingers and I’m ready to walk back to my table before they give it to someone else, but he keeps talking.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be pushy. I just saw you and I wanted to apologize.”
I turn back around, suddenly feeling a little off.
“What do you have to apologize for? I don’t even know you.”
The man runs his hand through his hair nervously. “I’m Jax.”
“Jax?” I ask.
“From…the dating app.”
I shake my head and lean my elbow on the bar. “I’m sorry. What are you talking about? You’re not Jax.”
“I am…actually. Here, I’ll prove it.”
Before I can say anything else or wrap my brain around whatever the hell is going on, Jax pulls his phone out and then taps on the dating app. It’s the same one I connected with Dax on…back when I thought his name was Jax.
“This is me,” he says, showing me the profile. The photo is the same as the one I remember, black and white a shot from the back, side profile only.
“That can’t be you,” I say.
“Unfortunately, it is. I only had one photo at the time because I was just looking for a hook up. But then I saw you and I realized what a nice girl you seemed to be, and I realized I couldn’t do it.
Because even though you said that’s what you were looking for too, when I saw you through the window of the cantina, I knew you weren’t that type of girl.
So, I chickened out, and I ghosted. I’m sorry. ”
I study the phone for a moment before handing it back.
Dax and I– or Jax and I, should I say– unmatched right after the date.
Shortly after that, I deleted my profile altogether.
This man, who is using the same photo that I remember, has other photos posted, ones that are very much him and not Dax.
And I have to admit…he does look similar to Dax, especially that first black and white photo.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I tell the guy. “Who are you really?”
“My name is Jax. Jaxon Shaeffer. You can look me up if you want to. I swear to God I’m not a creep. Just a guy who made the mistake of standing you up. I really am sorry.”
“You have no reason to be sorry…” I say robotically. I walk back over to the table and grab my purse and then I walk out of the pub.
Once I am in my car, it fills with the sound of my rapid breaths, like I’m gulping for air, and the sound of my own heartbeat.
If Dax wasn’t Jax…then who is he? And what are the odds?
The names are similar. The photos are similar.
And yet, he’s right. The real Jax I mean.
I pull out my phone, noticing a text from Dax that he is going to be late.
I ignore it and go to my text stream with Joni, scrolling back to when I first started talking to her about going out on a date.
I sent her a screenshot of that black and white profile pic, and I need to see it again. Really see it.
I zoom in on the hands, the face, the jawline…and then it hits me.
The hands are wrong. I would know his hands anywhere because I have felt his hands everywhere.
Not only that but the nose is wrong. The hairline is wrong. The whole fucking photo is wrong.
It’s not Dax.
And as I sit in my car, my chin quivering, and my heart slamming into my ribcage, I realize something. Something Dax said.
This isn’t the first time Jenna has threatened to take custody of the kids.
“And having a girlfriend could work in his favor…” I cover my mouth as tears spill from my eyes.
I don’t want to believe it, but the truth is staring me in the eyes, fangs out.
Dax is using me to keep custody of his kids.