Chapter 18 #2
“Hi. You two have fun. Text me when you’re done, and I’ll come pick him up.”
“It’s okay. I can drive him to the apartment,” he offers. Only we don’t live there anymore, and I want to honor Eli’s wishes not to have Jerrod anywhere near the house.
“We live with Eli now,” Aiden explains. Leave it to him, my innocent little one, not to realize what a box he just opened, one I hadn’t hoped to deal with this early in Jerrod’s visit.
A heavy dark cloud comes over us, even though we’re inside. I almost hear thunder rolling in, but really it’s Jerrod’s nostrils flaring, his jaw clicking, brow arched.
“Is that so? You failed to tell me you had a change of address.” His eyes narrow on me.
“Only temporary. The apartment is being remodeled, including an entirely new stairwell because of wood rot, so we had to move out. Eli has an empty house here and offered it as a solution,” I blurt in a rush.
“Oh, here. I think I have some tokens in my wallet left over from our previous visit. Should be enough to get you started on the games, Aiden.”
I pull them out and drop them into his waiting hands. He runs off to play the basketball game, his favorite, where he tries to shoot as many balls through the hoop as he can in three minutes.
“See you later,” I call after him.
Jerrod steps menacingly in front of me. “I told you I don’t want Eli anywhere near my son. What about that don’t you understand?”
I look him straight in the eye, not backing down. “Unless you get a court order keeping him away, then you have no say, no right, to dictate our lives.”
“We’ll see about that,” he hisses, and stalks away.
I release a shaky breath. Not a great start to his visit.
The day of the party, after the shop closes, Mom and I set everything up. We push the big craft worktables together to make brick stations. Each one has sorted Lego bins.
The cake sits on the counter, frosted thick with blue icing because Aiden likes it that way. I pipe his name twice; the first one looked crooked. We tape blue and green balloons to the main window and door, streamers hang everywhere, and we quickly cut out a hand-lettered banner that reads:
Happy birthday, Aiden!
We hang it above the cake and gift table from the ceiling. The entire time, I avoid Mom’s eyes. She’s worried after I told her last night about my run-in with Jerrod at the fun center, which I kept from Eli.
“Everything will be fine, Mom. Let’s just get through the day,” I assure her.
Aiden runs into the shop, gasping and happy with the results. He zooms around, touching everything, so excited, especially when he sees there are a few presents for him already on the table.
“I love it, Mom. Thanks.” I get a hug from him, relishing every second.
“Go hug Grandma; she helped too,” I tell him, right as his friends start to arrive. Brenna’s son, Brady, is one of them. I haven’t let her in too much on the details of our life, but she’s nice and seems to think of me as her friend.
“I’m going shopping, if that’s okay, unless you need help?” She kindly asks.
“Go on and enjoy the time,” I assure her. We get so little time to ourselves as moms as it is.
“Great, I’ll be back early to pick him up.”
I wave at her and the parents as they drive off.
The boys are all a bundle of chatter and giggles.
They drop to the floor immediately, playing with a random large-size set of bricks I had set there.
Their voices overlap in happy chaos. They use their imaginations to build spaceships and monsters, and other things.
It’s a cheerful sight. Until Jerrod arrives ten minutes late. My breathing becomes a little more labored under the stress of his presence. He’s too loud from the moment he steps inside.
“Where’s my boy? There he is!” He plucks Aiden from the group and bear-hugs him. I can tell my son’s a little embarrassed in front of his friends.
Last night when I picked him up from the fun center, on the way home, I asked how it went with his dad. He said little. Not compared to every hockey class with Eli, where afterward he’s abuzz with conversation, filling us in on every detail.
“Hello, Jerrod,” Mom greets him coldly with a steely gaze.
He simply nods at her. Like me, she once welcomed his involvement in our lives.
But when she saw him kissing a woman at a restaurant and told me about his cheating, she turned against him.
If not for her, I might never have known the extent of his extramarital affair.
“Okay, let’s get the party underway, shall we?” I start, focusing on what’s most important today—giving Aiden a party to remember. I explain about the car-building stations, about the ramps and testing cars, and finally about the competition and prizes.
They all select a station and set about to work. Mom takes the table on the right; I’m on the left. Jerrod joins Aiden and immediately starts hovering, criticizing, and trying to take over.
“No, buddy, build it like this.”
“Careful, don’t mix the sets.”
“Hey—look at me when I’m talking to you.”
He laughs too hard at jokes that aren’t funny.
Takes pictures nonstop. Posts a video with his arm slung around Aiden’s shoulders, narrating it like he’s auditioning for Father of the Year.
Every touch of Aiden’s shoulder or ruffle of his hair feels calculated, every laugh of his feels forced and grates on my ears.
Jerrod’s charm snaps on like a light switch, bright and blinding to the person he really is. I hate that some piece of me still remembers the man I thought he was, back when he was my friend, helping me get through a tough time.
My stomach churns watching him. Thank God Eli isn’t here; who knows how long he would have held out before decking him. I wonder what the younger me ever saw in Jerrod in the first place.
Aiden drifts away from him every chance he gets, gravitating back to his friends, to me, to the floor where he can just be. But Jerrod clings to him, and negatively assesses the car Aiden built for the competition. He corrects him, suggesting he build it another way. Our son’s shoulders hunch.
“But I like it this way,” he states quietly.
“Sure, sure. Just trying to help. You wanna win, don’t you?”
Mom can hardly stand to watch it all, and conveniently leaves to smoke somewhere, and doesn’t come back. I remind myself to breathe. This party isn’t about us. It’s about Aiden. Mostly, despite Jerrod, it works.
Aiden eats too much cake and gets frosting on his nose. When he opens gifts, he’s excited about every single one, and thanks his friends with his typical sweetness. I count the minutes to when the party over, when Brenna is the first parent to arrive to pick up Brady.
“Oh, it looks like you had so much fun,” she beams, licking her thumb and swiping at remnants of blue icing from his cheek. I send Aiden over to him with a party favor bag to say goodbye.
“Thanks, Aiden. And Happy Birthday. Can we go skate now, Mom?” Brady asks.
“Are you going to the rink?” Aiden tilts his head.
“Yes. There’s an open skate. If we hurry, we just might make it for the last hour. Coach Eli even said the bounce house would be set up today even though it’s for the party tomorrow,” Brenna replies, bundling Brady up to leave.
Right in front of Jerrod, Aiden turns to me. “Mom? I wanna skate, too. Can I go see Coach Eli and the bounce house? Please?”
Jerrod’s jaw tightens enough that I see it. I’m probably the only one in the room who notices the air shifts.
“Coach Eli, huh?” he says lightly. Too lightly. “You see him plenty, though, don’t you?”
“I like skating with him.” Aiden shrugs.
“Have fun, Brady,” I shout and see them out, avoiding the questions in Brenna’s eyes. I keep busy getting the rest of the boys bundled and make sure they have everything, until one-by-one they leave, and it’s just us three.
The shop suddenly feels too small for us to be safe.
An icy wave passes over me. Not that he was ever physical with us; his bark was always loud, no bite.
Plenty of threats when he didn’t get his way.
Leaving us neglected for long periods when it suited him.
A life Aiden and I finally left behind when I found out about his cheating.
Jerrod gets up from the floor where Aiden was playing with one of his new toys. “Hey. Get your coat on.”
“Where are you taking him? The party is over. I thought you’d go back to your hotel now.” I fidget with my hands.
“I’m here for my son.” He steps closer, crowding the air right out of my lungs. “While I’m in town, I’m spending every minute with him. You can pick him up at the hotel later tonight.”
My heart drops. “Jerrod—”
“Mom? Is everything okay?”
With a shaky smile, for our son’s sake, I nod and zip him up. I know Jerrod won’t hurt him, and I hope to hell he doesn’t kidnap him, but no, he wouldn’t go that far. Jerrod’s a nuisance, not a bad man. I just don’t know what to do right now.
“It’s okay, sweetie. Your father wants to take you out for… a dinner or something. Wasn’t there a movie you’ve been wanting to see?”
“Yeah. Absolutely,” Jerrod chimes in, that charm on display again. “Let’s go get burgers and fries and milkshakes and find something to do in this town.”
“Okay. Mom hardly ever lets me get a shake.”
“While I’m here, you can have anything you want.” Jerrod’s eyes defy me.
Aiden glances up at me, uncertain.
“Enjoy your time with your father.” I force a smile.
Jerrod points his keys out the window, unlocking his car doors. “Aiden, be a good boy and go out to the car. I’ll be out in a minute after I have a talk with your mom.”
He turns on me once Aiden is out of earshot.
“I know you’re seeing Eli. My son can hardly look at me today.
That’s on you for making him like someone better than his father.
You break up with Eli, or I’ll call my lawyer and say you’re alienating me.
I’ll file for emergency custody,” he threatens.
“I’ll be damned if I let you replace me in Aiden’s life. ”
My eyes sharpen. “You should have thought of that before you cheated. That’s right.
You replaced me first, didn’t you? And Aiden too when you married a woman with children.
You haven’t kept up your end of the agreement with visitations.
He’s hardly seen you all year, and I’ve kept records of your every excuse.
If Aiden doesn’t respond to you today, that’s why.
You moved on. That’s all we’re trying to do, too. ”
“But with Eli? Why him? You got rid of him in college, why go backward?”
I put distance between us, my hands shaking as I gather discarded bricks into a bin.
“You don’t deserve to know why, and I don’t have to tell you.
Go ahead. Fight me in court. I’ll find the best lawyer and battle you no matter how long it takes because he’s my son and I won’t let you erase me from his life. ”
“He’s my son, too. This custody arrangement isn’t working. Damn right, I’m calling my lawyer in the morning.”
“You want more visitation or is it because you can’t afford to pay me what you owe me for child support? Your new wife and children take priority with what little you make?”
“Watch what you say, Stella,” he seethes, and marches out to his car.
I put on a brave face and stand there at the window and wave at Aiden as Jerrod peels out into the road. Then I sink onto one of the shop stools and openly cry, praying it’s not the last time I see my little boy.
Mom rushes in and demands to know what’s going on. I tell her through my tears as she scurries around cleaning up half-built Lego worlds and frosting-smudged plates.
“I don’t know, Mom. Eli coming back into my life was such a good thing. I think both Aiden and I fell for him. But now Jerrod’s threatened by him and wants to take me back to court. What do I do?”
She finishes and pulls me into a hug—the first one I’ve had from her in a long time. “I know all hope may seem lost. I’ve been there. We both have. But there’s one person in our lives now who I think you should grab onto and never let go.”
“Eli?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” she says softly. “He’s a good man. Don’t lose him. Let him in. Tell him how you feel, Stella. You two are stronger together than apart. You can face anything with him.”
I wipe my face and straighten my shoulders. “You’re right. Jerrod doesn’t get to decide who I love. I made that mistake in the past.”
Walking away from Eli would mean walking away from something real—and I won’t do that again. I’ll show Aiden what real love looks like, and all together we’ll win.