It’s been three weeks since shit hit the fan and my life imploded. Twenty-one days since a malicious lie ripped out my heart out and destroyed my chance at happiness. I can’t even count the hours, because there are too many. All I know is that I hate the emptiness I feel each day when I wake up, and the loneliness that threatens to consume me at night. There hasn’t been a moment that I haven’t thought about revenge. I’ve waited for Alicia to call or show up, but she hasn’t, and today I’ll see her in court. I really want to ask her why. Why go through the trouble of destroying my life if she wasn’t planning on showing up like she told Katelyn and Josie she was?
Liam is determined to beat Sam at her own game. He wants her far away from him before the wedding. I don’t blame him. She’s dangerous. We should’ve seen the signs a long time ago, but we were young and stupid, and she made being in a band easy. Liam hired a private investigator and turned over all the evidence he uncovered himself. Within a week, we had enough to go to a judge and ask for help. So now we’re sitting here, waiting.
Waiting is the hard part. It makes me anxious. I stare down each woman that walks into the courthouse, wondering if it’s Alicia. Aside from the doctored images she produced with her face, I haven’t seen her in eight years. The way Josie described her doesn’t fit the picture I have of her from that fateful night. I’ve hidden the photos of us in my room for when Quinn asks about her. I want to be able to show him that yes, we were smiling at one time in our lives. I’m not sure how, or even if I’ll ever tell him about that night. I’d like him to make his own decisions about his mother, and not be forced by what she did to me. I wouldn’t be able to tell him anyway, other than what she told me. Remembering that night is like staring off into space – nothing’s there.
I’ll be asking a family judge to issue a no contact order against Alicia. She hasn’t done any physical harm to Quinn or me, so a restraining order is out of the question, but as his primary legal guardian, I can ask that she’s not allowed to contact him until he turns eighteen. My lawyer seems to think that we shouldn’t have any problems obtaining this. She’s hasn’t shown any interest in Quinn, just me as of late, so there’s no need for her to be near him until he’s old enough to make that decision on his own.
Liam is next to me, his leg bouncing up and down. He’s nervous, I know. We’ve underestimated Sam and it’s done a lot of damage to the band and our personal lives. We’ve filed a restraining order against Sam and Moreno Entertainment. It’s a long shot, we know, but our private investigator uncovered a lot that we didn’t know, and this is our only recourse. We talked about filing a lawsuit, but our attorney advised us to try this avenue first in the hope that Mr. Moreno would put a leash on his daughter.
My name gets called, as does Alicia’s. I look around, but don’t see anyone walking toward the clerk standing at the door.
“I’ll be waiting here,” Liam says before I step away. How we ended up with hearing times an hour apart is mind blowing. I thought for sure it would be months before I’d get in front of a judge, not weeks.
I walk into the judge’s chamber, followed by my lawyer. He hasn’t changed much over the years; he’s still pudgy and just as bald. We sit on one side of the table and wait.
“Is she going to show up?”
“She was served and if she doesn’t, he’ll sign the order.”
“I want to see her,” I say abruptly. I have no idea why I said that, but it’s true. I want to look at her and try to figure out what makes her tick.
We stand when the judge comes into his chamber. The bailiff tells us that we can sit.
“Where’s Ms. Tucker?”
“Not here, Your Honor,” my lawyer says.
The judge looks at his watch and writes something down.
“Are you the father of Quinn James?”
“I am,” I say proudly.
“It says here, Mr. James, that you’re seeking a no contact order against Ms. Tucker.”
“That’s correct.”
“And Ms. Tucker isn’t here to dispute this?”
“No, Your Honor, she was served and awarded a public defender, according to my records,” my lawyer adds.
“Very well,” he says as he scribbles on his paper. “Motion granted. Ms. Tucker is to have no contact with the child in question until he reaches the age of eighteen.” The judge gets up and leaves; and like that, we’re done.
I walk out of the office with my lawyer and shake his hand. I tell him that I hope I never see him again and he laughs. I can’t imagine ever needing him, unless Alicia requests the order be lifted. I would hope that if that was to ever happen, the judge would see through her bullshit.
I nod at Liam from across the room and he motions for me to look to my left. There stands Sam with her dad and their lawyer. Her father is prattling on about something, but she’s not interested, she’s glaring at Liam. I shake my head and walk into her line of sight and stand so she can’t see him anymore.
“Alicia didn’t show. One ho down another to go.”
Liam laughs, but tries to hide it. I know the bitch is standing behind me throwing daggers, but I don’t give a shit. Honestly, I’m surprised she even showed up, considering her clone didn’t.
“Are you happy?” Liam asks. I nod. I am, even though I wanted to see her, to speak to her, I’m happy that for the next ten years, she can’t do anything to Quinn. She can come after me all she wants, but not my boy.
JD walks in just as our lawyer tells us we can enter the courtroom. We pass by Mr. Moreno, who doesn’t smile at us. Not that I’d expect him to, but it would be nice for him to show some recognition. We made him a lot of money, and he thought he’d reward us by pawning us off on his daughter because she had a serious hard-on for Liam. Sam was the beginning of what could’ve been a huge downfall for us.
The three of us sit down, with our lawyer on the edge. We don’t watch as the Morenos enter and take their seats. We can hear Sam and her exaggerated huffing and puffing to know enough.
We stand as instructed by the bailiff and wait for the judge to sit. We have a woman judge, and I wonder if this will play into our favor.
“Good afternoon,” she starts. “I’ve been over the files that were submitted at my request.” She folds her hands and looks at us. “I’ve asked for special consideration with this case because of the complexity. I’ve never seen a file so thick for something like a restraining order.” The judge shuffles a few papers around.
“Mr. Page, do you feel that you and your family are in danger from Ms. Moreno?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. James, I ask the same question to you.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Davis, and you?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Moreno, are you aware of what your daughter has been doing for the past ten years?”
I think we hold our breath waiting for his answer. All three of us lean forward and watch him as he settles in front of the microphone. “No. Surely, if I knew I would’ve put a stop to it.”
The judge doesn’t respond, but moves more papers around. “It says here in an email from yourself to Sam Moreno and I quote “it’s best to keep the clingy girlfriend away from Liam. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him” end quote. Do you remember writing this?”
“No, Your Honor.”
“Messrs. Page, James and Davis, you’ve instructed your lawyer to ask for a restraining order, but he took it one step further and attached what you’d call a civil suit. It says here that you’re looking for restitution from lost wages from your tour, is that correct?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” our lawyer answers. I wasn’t aware we were asking for money, and by the look of it, neither was Liam.
“Ms. Moreno, it saddens me that you would keep a child from his parent. That, to me, is probably the lowest thing you can do. The years of abuse these men have suffered at your hands, ending with their recent tour, is deplorable. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I have a feeling you’re not. I hereby grant a full restraining order, which means Ms. Moreno, you and your heirs are not allowed to communicate in any way, shape or form with the members of the band and their families and employees. You are also not allowed within one thousand feet of them. You are also ordered to pay two hundred thousand dollars in lost earnings.”
The judge slams down her gavel as we sit there stunned. We just wanted the restraining order so we can move on with our lives peacefully. We didn’t expect this at all. We stand as the judge exits. Liam shakes our lawyer’s hand, as do JD and I. We follow him out of the courtroom, elated with our victory.
“I’ve got to head off,” JD says. “See you guys in a couple of days.” I don’t bother telling him that Quinn and I will be moving back to L.A.
“What the fuck just happened?” Liam asks.
“That, my friend, was a judge who can’t stand the Morenos. When I found out we drew her, I modified my request. I took a gamble.”
“That was crazy,” I say, running my hand through my hair.
“Let’s get out here,” Liam says as he motions for the door. I couldn’t agree more. I want to get back to Beaumont and finalize everything. The movers are coming the day after the wedding, and I need to start packing. Quinn will go back to being homeschooled by my mom. There will be no more calls from the principal telling me he’s gotten into a fight.
There’s a commotion behind us. We turn in time to see the courtroom doors fly open and Sam storm out. She looks like Elvira on a rainy day. Her make-up is running down her face. She points at Liam and storms toward him. I grab his arm and pull him outside. We don’t need to listen to what she has to say.
“YOU!”
We both stop.
“Liam, why would you do this?”
“You don’t need to answer her,” I say.
She moves in front of us. Tears run down her face. If I had an ounce of respect for her, I’d care, but I don’t.
“You loved me once, Liam, why did you do this? I just lost everything in there.”
Liam sighs and moves away from her. “I never loved you, Sam. You were a plaything, something to pass my time. You were a mistake, and something that I regret every day of my life. You took my son away from me. You took Josie away from me, and for that, I hate you. I lost ten years with my family because of you and your father.”
I tap Liam on the shoulder and point to the car waiting for us. Sam grabs Liam’s arm and pulls him to her. He stumbles. I reach for his hand, keeping him upright.
“You’re mine, Liam.”
Liam rips his arm from her. “Go home Sam, you’re not wanted here.”
“You can’t leave me, Liam. You love me.”
“No I don’t,” he says through gritted teeth. “I never loved you, Sam. Listen to me. You’re nothing to me.”
“Take that back,” she says quietly.
“Hey, can we get a little help over here,” I holler for the police officer standing a few feet away from us. He comes over and Sam lets go of Liam. “We have a restraining order against her,” I add. We watch as he pulls out his handcuffs. Sam steps away, shaking her head. The officer steps forward, but isn’t fast enough for Sam. She runs down the steps and he chases her, yelling at her to stop.
Sam heads to our car and slips into the driver’s seat and pulls away from the curb. The driver is shouting, waving his arms back and forth. The police officer is screaming for back up. In a matter of minutes police cars are flying down the road, chasing Sam.
“I think this will make the evening news.” I laugh, although I don’t mean to, but it seems fitting that this would end up making the front pages.
Liam shakes his head. “What’s her problem?”
I put my arm around his shoulders. “I hate to tell you this, but she’s nuts and you just made it worse.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Anytime.” We don’t get very far before we have to give a statement. The officer who chased after Sam keeps scratching his head. It baffles me that he couldn’t detain her. Barney Fife could’ve done a better job.
“Come on, let’s go home.” Liam says, as he signals for a taxi.
He steps away and heads for the yellow and black-checkered car. The word home hits hard, but I know my decision is the right one. I can’t stand by and watch her fall in love with someone that isn’t me. It hurts that we aren’t together over something that was a lie.
We have a flight back to Beaumont tonight. When we land, the ball will start rolling. I have to finish up my project with the kids and help Liam find Josie a present. My Christmas shopping is done. All that’s left are goodbyes.