CHAPTER FIVE
PIPER
“I told you, Trent, you're welcome to see your daughter at any time, but the visits – as outlined by the courts – must be supervised at all times,” I grumbled.
I sat in my car, the phone pressed to my ear, the anger inside of me rising like a dark tide. I didn't want to go inside yet because I didn't want to risk Olivia overhearing the conversation I was having with her father. That would just be a mess.
Trent was a drug addict. He tried to tell me he was off the drugs and was back on the straight and narrow. Yeah, he could sometimes pass a drug test to prove it – but only by using someone else's piss or some method I had yet to figure out. Trent was a master at working all of the loopholes and finding crackes in the system.
Because I knew that about him, I knew there was no way that man was clean. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I knew him well enough to know when he was clean and when he wasn't, and the last few phone calls had made it obvious that he was using again. More than obvious.
Whether the courts would believe me or not, well, I wasn't sure. That made me nervous. He had a damn good lawyer because drug dealers sure as hell make more money than convenience store clerks do and he could afford one who would work the system every bit as hard as Trent did. The son of a bitch.
“You know I'd never hurt her, doll,” he said.
I cringed hearing him use his pet name for me. It was like goddamn nailes on a chalk board. We'd been separated for over a year now, yet he still talked like we were together. Like any day now, we'd make amends, and be a happy family.
It was never going to happen. Never. Not while I was alive and drawing breath. My daughter was not going to grow up with a father like him.
I didn't bother to argue with him. Would he have hurt Olivia? Not intentionally, no. Trent was an asshole, mentally abusive to me at times, but I knew he'd never intentionally harm his daughter. His carelessness and neglect, on the other hand, very well could.
It wasn't hard for me to envision a scenario where he got too high and passed out, allowing our four-year old to wander around his house, completey unsupervised. That could end up horribly for my daughter. Trent never thought about anyone but himself.
He still wasn't. He didn't want to take Olivia from me because he cared about her and wanted to give her a better life. He wanted to get custody of her because he knew I'd never leave my daughter. Nothing in the world could make me give her up.
Olivia was nothing but a tool for him to utilize to get to me, I feared – and I wasn't about to let that happen.
I sighed, rubbing my temples. “Goodbye, Trent,” I said. “I'm tired.”
We had a court date coming up soon. It was something that was stressing me out so much, I could barely think. My head was hurting, and dealing with my ex was the last thing I needed right now.
He started to argue with me, but I hung up. We weren't together anymore, it didn't matter if I pissed him off or not. During our relationship, pulling that kind of crap would have led to a horrific fight. Everything led to a fight when I was with him.
Now, I didn't care if he was pissed at me. He couldn't hurt me, and he couldn't hurt my daughter as long as everything went fine with the custody hearing. I really had no reason to fear Trent winning. Even with a hotshot lawyer, there was no way he would be able to convince the courts that I was an unfit mother. Or that he was a superior father. Even if I was living with my own mom, at least we had round-the-clock care for Olivia, along with a stable enough home environment. Plus, I was both working and going to school to better myself.
Trent could offer none of that. He sold drugs for a living. Even if he pretended to be working elsewhere, for the benefit of the court, there was no way he could prove his income. No way he could provide a stable home enviroment. There was no way he'd take my daughter away from me. Even knowing all that, however, there was a yawning chasm filled with an icy cold dread in my stomach that I couldn't handle.
Taking a deep breath, I tucked my phone into my purse and got out of the car. I tried to change my train of thought, tried to focus on something happier. I didn't want to walk in and have Olivia see her mother stressed out when she tucked her into bed. My mind flashed to seeing Shane again and how he'd asked me to dinner. That brought a smile to my face quickly enough.
As I opened the front door to our small home, I was smiling again. All thoughts of my ex and the custody hearing went out the door, and I was happy to be home with my daughter once more. Shane was back in town, and he wanted to get together. I honestly had so many good things going for me right now, it felt nice.
There was no reason to not be happy. My life was officially starting to get better.
***
My phone rang just after I'd put Olivia to bed. My eyes were hardly open, and I stared down at the phone wearily. Shane's name and number popped up on the caller ID. Instantly, I was awake again, butterfly wings battering at my insides.
Sitting up in my bed, I answered right away.
“Hey there,” I said, my voice sounding tired.
“I didn't wake you, did I?”
“No, not at all,” I said.
I didn't want to come off sounding like some old or pathetic person who fell asleep at nine in the evening. No, not me. That wasn't me at all.
“You sure about that?” His voice held a hint of teasing like he knew I was lying.
“I'm positive,” I said, suppressing a yawn. “What's going on?”
“Just wanted to set up a time for dinner,” he said. “I was thinking maybe I could make you something at my place?”
“A little intimate for just a friendly date, don't you think?” I teased.
“Well, considering we'll have both Emily and Nolan with us, I wouldn't exactly call it intimate.”
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It reminded me that I wasn't the only one with kids depending on me. A lot had changed in the years since I'd last seen him.
“Well, in that case, yeah,” I said. “Sounds good. But, when were you thinking?”
“When are you off work next?”
“Tomorrow actually,” I said with a small grin.
“Perfect. I'll text you the address and see you around six?”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
I couldn't contain my excitement, even though I knew it was too soon to think of this as anything more than two old friends reconnecting after several years apart. It was probably stupid to allow myself to think it would ever evolve into anything but that. Still, I'd missed Shane so much over the years, that having him back in my life was nice, and I was looking forward to spending more time with him. Even if we did end up just being friends.
“See you then,” he said before hanging up.
My heart was racing as I put my phone back down on the end table. Slow down, Piper. You can't rush into this, I thought. Even though I told myself that, it was hard not to get worked up. Shane and I had something special back in the day.
Or, I thought we had, at least.
I knew that back in the day, he'd felt the same way. But, our lives just took two dramatically different turns, that being together was no longer an option. Knowing that, I kind of figured we'd never find our way back to each other again.
Maybe we wouldn't. Hell, I had a daughter he didn't know about, plus baggage with my ex to deal with. He had his own baggage now too. Maybe we wouldn't end up happily ever after, but at least this time, I'd know it wasn't merely because we chose different colleges.
At least I'd finally have some closure.