Drew wasn’t a heavy drinker. He had the occasional glass of whiskey or a beer or two, but slamming them back wasn’t something I’d seen him do.
Until tonight.
Even though he’d assured me that none of it was my fault, I still felt guilty as the catalyst for making him look like an unfit parent.
We sat in Drew’s apartment; both of us had cleared our afternoon schedules. I’d promised Roman that Drew would be at the airport for their flight tomorrow morning. The two of them were flying down to Atlanta to attempt to talk to Alexa, and I was really glad Drew wasn’t going alone. He couldn’t even say his ex-wife’s name without growling.
Closing the door behind Roman, I locked the top lock, picked up Drew’s drink from the kitchen counter and dumped the rest down the drain. Then I went to the couch where he lay wi
th one arm covering his eyes. His legs were longer than the couch, and his feet dangled over the end. I unlaced his shoes and began to take them off.
“You trying to get me naked?” Drew slurred. “Fuck the shoes. Take off my pants.”
I smiled. Even loaded, the man was still himself. “It’s almost eleven o’clock. Your flight is in ten hours. I figure you need to get some sleep. The morning may not be too kind to your head.”
His large shoes clomped to the floor as I slipped them off, followed by his socks.
“I can’t lose my son.”
My heart broke, hearing the anguish in his cracked voice.
“You won’t. If you can’t buy her off, you’ll convince a judge that your son needs you and belongs with you.”
“There’s not much justice in our justice system. People like me twist it into a game every day.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. I just wanted to do whatever I could to make him feel better. So I slipped off my own shoes, crawled up on the couch, and wrapped my arms around him, snuggling against his chest.
“I’m sorry this is happening. It’s so clear how much you love that little boy. A judge has to see that.”
He squeezed me in response, and a few minutes later, after I thought he’d drifted off to sleep, he spoke again, his words barely a whisper.
“You want kids, Oklahoma?”
“I do. I’d love to have a few and maybe adopt, too.”
“You’re going to be a good mom someday.”
“We couldn’t find her. The address she left for forwarding was her brother’s place. Guy’s a loser. Got to his place at two o’clock, and he was still sleeping,” Drew’s chuckle rumbled over the phone line. “Well, he was until he was suddenly dangling in the air from Roman’s hands.”
“You broke in?”
“Didn’t have to. Front door wasn’t even locked. Trust me, he doesn’t need to. Roaches don’t even want to go inside that place.”
“Did he tell you where Alexa was?”
“He didn’t know.”
“He’s lying for his sister?”
“Don’t think so. He would have given her up. His skinny little junky ass was so afraid of Roman, he pissed himself. Plus, I know the guy. He would have tried to sell me where she was for enough to buy his next fix if he’d had any clue. Guy would sell his mother for twenty bucks.”
“So what do you do now?”
“I got to the courthouse before they closed and filed an emergency restraining order asking the judge to force her to go back to New York. Our custody agreement doesn’t allow either one of us to take Beck out of state without permission from the other. They’ll add the motion to the calendar with her change of custody demand for the day after tomorrow. If we can’t find her by Thursday, she’ll have to at least show up for court then.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Nah. Thanks, babe. Just hearing your voice is good for me.”