Chapter 26
Mommy, is Mirabelle back yet?” Lucy asked over a breakfast of toaster waffles.
“One more week, remember, Jellybean? Today you’re going to Frannie’s for a couple of hours.”
“That sounds boring because she’ll be working the whole time,” Lucy said.
I’d also sent off emails to eight different day camps in search of a childcare solution that did not involve tennis.
As of last night I’d heard back from exactly one.
So much for options. Ballet camp had an opening, but the catch was it didn’t start until tomorrow, which had left me in a pickle for today. Once again, thank goodness for Frannie.
“Can we get ice cream?” Lucy asked hopefully.
“Sure—”
“Thee, I know this is seriously bad timing,” Frannie said as she burst through the door, “but I have a major work emergency this morning. I have to go in. You know I wouldn’t bail on you if my job wasn’t, like, literally on the line, right?”
“Oh noooooo. My meeting is in forty-five minutes!” I was momentarily thrown by the news before recovering my manners. “It’s fine, I’ll bring some coloring books and Lucy can sit in the reception area. It’ll be fine.”
Grumpily, Lucy looked up from her puddle of maple syrup. “I don’t want to do that.”
Frannie looked at Lucy, then back at me. “There is one other possibility . . .”
Warily, I said, “Tell me.”
“I texted Dr. Karlen on the way downstairs, and it turns out he’s off work today and hanging out with his kids.” Frannie waited for me to process this piece of information.
My eyes popped. “Is Dr. Karlen . . . ?”
“The one and only.” Frannie nodded back.
Hot ER Doc. What a way for us to finally meet in the flesh.
“I’m told he makes a mean pillow fort,” Frannie said.
“Oh really? By whom?” I snarked.
“By him. His kids are six and four. It’s perfect.”
“I love pillow forts!” Lucy shouted. “Can I play with other kids today? Please, Mommy?”
“He promised to keep them happily occupied in the apartment until you retrieve her.”
“I’ve never even met him,” I whispered. “You’re sure he’s OK?”
“We’ve been doing the smiles-and-chitchat thing for almost two years. He’s really sweet. And he’s a freaking ER doc. Safest sitter in the world.”
Ten minutes later, Dr. Karlen swung open his door to receive us.
“Hey, Frannie. And you must be Thea and Lucy. I’m Noah. It’s very nice to meet you both.” With a jocular grin, he gestured to his daughter and son peeking out eagerly from behind his legs. “We’ve all been looking forward to meeting the new kids on the block.”
Noah was maybe six feet tall, with a lanky build and very dark brown hair.
He wore glasses that were simultaneously supernerdy and hip, which served to emphasize his striking green eyes and the slightly crooked bridge of his nose.
He was cute, but in that sort of “handsome with character” way.
And he bore an eerie resemblance to Teddy McAdams, the most serious boyfriend Frannie had ever had.
Unfortunately, the relationship had ended when she discovered he’d been cheating on her during most of our senior year of college.
Frannie had been destroyed, and it was my belief that her now yearslong preference for dum-dums to whom she was unable to form any kind of emotional attachment was a direct result of that painful experience.
Of course, she claimed her allergy to relationships was so she could focus on her career.
If I hadn’t been in the throes of being ghosted by the first guy I’d cared about in years, I might have given him a second look, mostly due to Frannie’s persistent pestering, but I doubted I’d ever be able to see past his physical similarities to Teddy.
That’s when it dawned on me that maybe this was why Frannie wouldn’t go out with him herself.
But alas, I now had roughly thirty minutes to make it to my meeting, so once these fascinating first impressions had passed, all I could see was a babysitter who could perform the Heimlich maneuver in case of emergency.
“I can’t thank you enough for this last-minute bailout,” I said, keeping my voice formal and businesslike. “I hope I’ll be able to return the favor sometime.”
“It’s no problem at all,” he said. “Frannie tells me you’re a single parent as well. We have to help each other out, right?” He knelt down to address Lucy. “Lucy, these are my children. This is Penelope. She’s six. And this is Pax; he’s four.”
“I’m five,” Lucy said.
“Well then, you’ll fit right in here. Pen, Pax, why don’t you show Lucy the castle?”
Lucy’s face lit up. “You have a castle?”
Pen said, “Yeah, come on. It’s made of pillows and blankets!”
“And it has a moat with cwocodiles,” Pax added.
“Any food allergies I should know about?” Noah asked.
“No, but thanks for checking.” I was feeling more relaxed already. “I’ll be back to get her in maybe two hours if that works?”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “I promised the kids a pajama day, so we’re around all day. Take your time.”
“Thank you,” I said, breathing a major sigh of relief.
I drove to Century City for my appointment with Tim Kelley, attorney-at-law.
As I entered his office, Tim stood up and walked around his desk.
He was about five feet ten, and I guessed he was forty-five—young enough to be energetic, old enough to be experienced.
As we shook hands, he smiled warmly. “Thea, I’m Tim. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“I really appreciate you seeing me on short notice,” I said.
“Gordon is a personal friend. I’m happy to help,” he said. “Have a seat. And don’t worry, the first half hour is gratis.”
This was no small gift, as I had learned in the engagement papers his office emailed over this morning that his hourly rate was $940.
“So tell me more about the situation with your in-laws,” Tim said.
I felt like I was in high school English and being asked to discuss the dominant themes in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in one paragraph.
I shared with him a brief overview of my life, from Sam’s death to the events of the past few weeks and the exact words in Rebecca’s email.
I’d read it so many times I’d committed it to memory.
“This is all completely nuts,” I said. “I’m an excellent, loving, attentive mom. And I swear I have a fairly solid grip on reality.”
“Fairly, huh?” He raised one eyebrow.
“Extremely, supremely, incontrovertibly,” I amended. “Could my in-laws really challenge my parental rights? Or is this just an empty threat?”
“Well, it’s highly uncommon for nonparents to sue for guardianship in California. Normally this is the sort of thing you would only see when there’s a significant substance abuse issue or a single parent is heading off to prison. I presume there are no substance abuse issues in your life?”
I shook my head. “Not unless you count my daughter’s L’il Critters gummy vitamins, which I confess to enjoying more than I should.”
He chuckled.
“As for prison, we just escaped my in-laws’ compound, and I believe it’s the retribution of our befuddled prison guards that landed me here in your office.”
“In-laws, right?” he kidded before continuing.
“But let me answer your main question. Though it would be unusual, there’s nothing preventing your in-laws from filing a petition for guardianship.
If they went that route, then the court would set a hearing date and appoint an investigator, who would be authorized to dig into every aspect of your life.
You and Lucy would also need to submit to sessions with a court-appointed psychiatrist.”
“That sounds so intrusive.” Suddenly warm, I peeled off my blue cotton cardigan.
“It is. I have to be honest with you: I wouldn’t wish that process on my worst enemy. Also, there would be no guarantees regarding who would have guardianship during the proceedings if the court deemed the situation an emergency.”
I gulped. “If they did try to petition for guardianship, wouldn’t I have a great chance of winning?”
“Thea, you need to understand that this isn’t the type of situation where there are winners at the end of it. Everyone loses.”
“I get that. But why would a judge take my child away? My apartment is safe and clean. I have a full-time job with health insurance. I’m a bestselling author.
Lucy is already reading short chapter books and she hasn’t even started kindergarten yet.
I make her eat vegetables and she bathes every day. We even have a dog.”
“I love dogs,” Tim said, gesturing to a picture of a golden retriever on his desk. “Judges tend to look favorably on dog ownership. What’s your dog’s name?”
“Sam The Dog,” I mumbled.
Tim’s eyes widened. “You named your dog after your deceased husband?”
“Lucy named him,” I quickly added. “She was only three at the time.”
The look on his face told me those facts didn’t exactly improve my case.
“But terrible dog name aside, what judge could possibly examine all the facts and decide Lucy’s better off with my in-laws?” My voice rose an octave as I spoke.
“Let’s back up a bit before we talk about the strength of your case,” Tim said. “Let’s start with the astronaut. It sounds like your in-laws haven’t met him?”
“There was supposed to be a family dinner, but Max canceled at the last minute. He told me he had to leave on an urgent mission. He was supposed to be back about ten days ago. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to reach him.
” I dropped my forehead into my hands before confessing, “Actually, at this point, I’m pretty sure he’s ghosting me. ”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tim said, then cleared his throat. “Regardless, the easiest path to discredit your in-laws’ concerns would be to find him and see if he’d sign an affidavit vouching for his identity. If you give me his number, I’m sure we can track him down.”
Frannie was the only person in my life who knew about the burner app, and now I was going to have to admit it to a total stranger. I took a deep breath. “To be perfectly transparent, I just learned he’d been texting and calling using a burner app.”