I leaned forward. “You want to fight dirty? I’ll give you dirty. I’ll start with how you missed Maisie’s birthday. Something tells me that will tarnish your image. You have much more to lose than I do where reputations are concerned. There’s nothing uglier than a woman who abandons her child.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” the mediator said. I was sure it was clear to her as it was to me that this wasn’t going to work.
“You’re a bastard, Dylan,” Veronica spat.
“You’re the one that said you wanted to take this to the media. Of course, you probably didn’t consider that Maisie would see and hear all of it. That you’d hurt her by attacking me.”
Veronica leaned forward and pointed her finger. “You were ready to attack me too.”
“What I said was the truth. The truth Maisie knows, because she’s lived it. She knows you haven’t visited. That you missed her birthday.”
In the end, it was clear we’d be back in court. Now more than ever, I didn’t want Maisie going to Veronica’s. While Maisie hadn’t said anything to indicate Veronica was trying to poison her against me, the issue was escalating, and I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t. I also wasn’t sure she wouldn’t try to abscond with Maisie.
But my lawyer said to continue visits as usual so as not to look like an asshole. I was beginning to miss my inner asshole.
I suppose it was Leo’s connections that had our next court date set fairly quickly after our failed mediation. It was clear that the intention for this appearance was that Veronica wanted more visitation. Because we were back to showing off stable two-parent families, Leo was with Veronica and Tessa was with me.
“Has Mr. Hyatt denied any visits?” the judge asked Veronica’s attorney.
“No, your honor, but she’d like something more official. As you know, custody cases can get contentious, and she doesn’t want to lose visits.”
“My client has never denied or threatened to deny visits,” my lawyer said. That wasn’t true. I just hadn’t threatened Veronica with denying visits.
“I don’t see any reason why Mrs. Baskin shouldn’t have established visitation.”
Fuck.
“She’d like to take Maisie for longer than weekends. It’s summer, and she’d like to have Maisie for a month,” her lawyer said.
“No,” I said under my breath.
“Maisie has never been away from her father for more than three days,” my lawyer said, putting his hand on my arm to quiet me. “Perhaps we can start with a week.”
“Mrs. Baskin is Maisie’s mother—” the other lawyer started.
“This isn’t about Mrs. Baskin or Mr. Hyatt,” my lawyer interjected. “It’s about Maisie. She’s a five-year-old girl who has only lived with her father. Give her time to adjust.”
I liked the little swipe by saying Maisie only knew me, but I didn’t like giving in to longer visits.
“I agree,” the judge said. “Mrs. Baskin will have a week-long visit, and if that goes well, we’ll look at extending it.” Then she looked at her docket for setting the next hearing. Why was this taking so fucking long?
On the way home, I seethed to Tessa. “Why does Veronica get a second chance? Why doesn’t anyone give a shit that I was the one who stuck around while Veronica selfishly flitted around the world?”
“I know it seems unfair—”
“It is unfair. Fuck.” I hit the steering wheel.
Tessa was quiet. I looked at her and could tell she was having a thought I wouldn’t like.
“What?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
“No. I want to know. Do you think I’m being an asshole?”
“No. I just think …” She didn’t finish.
“Think what?” I prodded.