“I love you too, Daddy,” he said, as I put him down and smiled at Quinn.
I watched them walk across the lawn and towards Quinn’s car. Soon he was buckled in, and they pulled away, disappearing around the corner. I took a deep breath and sulked back to my truck, climbing inside and turning on the engine. My mind immediately went to Quinn, and I thought of how she was seeming like the perfect choice for the job of replacement wife. She had all the qualities I was looking for, but I still knew I should take my time deciding. This was a really important decision and would be the basis of my court battle to get my son back. I couldn’t act on a whim like I had grown accustomed to doing lately. I needed more information. I pulled the truck out of the parking space and headed toward my place, a million different things blurring through my mind.
When I got inside my house, I slipped off my shoes and grabbed a beer from the fridge, popping the cap off and sitting down in front of my computer. I put in the information that I had on her and started to look at different sites that came up. She had a Facebook profile, but it was really basic and mostly had pictures of her with what looked like cousins or siblings. She didn’t post political stuff or spam, but it did give me her birthday. I opened up the server that I used to do background checks on past employees and put all of her information in, paying to get a background check done on her. As it was processing, I skimmed through different news articles, but the names weren’t matching up, so I figured they didn’t have anything to do with her. When the background check came up, it showed that she was divorced, which surprised me. It also showed that she had quit a very lucrative career in the energy field to start babysitting children. It seemed a bit odd, but I knew that the energy business could be stressful.
There was definitely a story behind why she stopped working in her once chosen field, but I didn’t think it would be anything that would mess up my plans. She had never been arrested, and her driving record was crystal clear, so she really was looking just as perfect as she seemed. On paper, she was the perfect fit, and in person, I couldn’t imagine a better woman to be around Jake. The whole situation seemed like an excellent fit for Quinn, but the hard part was going to be convincing her to do it. It wasn’t like I was asking her to come babysit; I was asking her to pretend to be my girlfriend, and eventually my wife. She would have to marry a man she didn’t even know, and though it seemed far-fetched, I knew that if she knew it would help Jake, she would at least consider it.
In reality, Quinn was my only hope, and I was dead set on making her understand that.
Chapter Ten
Quinn
A couple days had passed since Jake got to see his dad and he was already whispering to me about seeing him again. I wanted to do whatever I could for him, but I also wanted to be certain that I wasn’t making a mistake. There was a reason Sarah was so adamant, and it was either soaked in truth or a complete lie. I was leaning toward the latter, but I couldn’t be too careful. As I prepped the vegetables for dinner, Jake was sitting at the kitchen table playing a game on his tablet. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and I put the knife down and wiped my hands on my apron.
“Stay there,” I said to Jake. “Just keep playing your game; I’ll be back in a couple.”
He nodded his head as if he wasn’t actually listening to me and I laughed to myself as I walked through the living room to the front door. I opened the door and smiled, completely surprised to see Luke standing there. Immediately, I pulled the door back shut, so just my face was poking out, not wanting Jake to see his father there. I had been given very strict orders, and Luke showing up like that was going to put both of us in jeopardy.
“Luke,” I whispered. “What are you doing here? You can’t just show up like this. What if Sarah were here? She would lose her mind and probably fire me on the spot. I don’t want to lose this job; I really care about Jake.”
“Look, I know exactly where Sarah is,” he said, laughing. “She is at her bi-weekly mani-pedi. It’s like clockwork with her, no surprises. Besides, I haven’t contacted her at all, so she wouldn’t be expecting me to come to the house. I knew when I looked at the calendar this morning that she would be at her appointment; she goes every other Tuesday. It’s been a long-standing appointment of hers, and she started it about five years before we got a divorce. Rain or shine, apocalypse or not, she will be at that appointment.”
“It would be weird that you knew that if you hadn’t been married for so long,” I whispered. “Nonetheless, it is still dangerous for you to just show up like this out of the blue. It was one thing at the park, but not the house. I half expect her to have one of those nanny cams up in the house to catch you, not me.”
“She isn’t that smart,” he chuckled. “Trust me. But I didn’t come to see Jake, though I really miss him. I know if he sees me he won’t be able to go to bed tonight and I can’t ask him to lie again.”
“So, why are you here?”
“I came to talk to you,” he whispered. “It’s important.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, can I come in? I promise to get in and out before Jake realizes I’m here,” he asked.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I explained. “Sarah has forbidden you from stepping foot inside this house. The last thing we need is the cops coming and arresting you in front of Jake. That would mess him up for a long time. I don’t know why Sarah hates you so much, but she has made it impossible for me to have you here at the house to visit with Jake, even when she’s gone. It sucks because I know he would really love it.”
“That sounds like her,” I said, nodding, half expecting that. “She doesn’t have anything against me besides what she made up in her mind. She can control me through Jake, and that is exactly what she is trying to do. She thinks she has the upper hand, but she is sorely mistaken.”
“Well, right now she does have control, over Jake and over my paycheck,” I pointed out. “Her finding you here would affect both of them.”
“I understand,” he said quietly. “I really need to talk to you though. Can you step out on the porch, just for a minute, and let me explain? I want to ask you something, but I can’t do it through the crack in the door. When I’m done, I’ll let you get back to your dinner; I know Jake is waiting to eat. Please, it’s for him.”
I stood there for a moment thinking about it, not knowing whether I should take the chance or not. I looked over my shoulder and could see Jake still sitting at the table, not paying any attention to anything but his tablet. I was curious, and though I knew it was dangerous to be curious, he said it was for Jake. I had grown very fond of him since I had come to work for Sarah and I knew that I would do just about anything for the little guy. I took in a deep breath and slid through the door, knowing I needed to be careful. I looked up at Luke, who seemed different, almost frantic to talk to me. I was used to his charming and nonchalant demeanor, so I knew there was definitely something important going on. I looked through the crack, nervous that Jake was going to find out what we were doing. At the same time, I was no one but the babysitter and couldn’t even imagine what was so important that he had to talk to his son’s nanny about it.
I stood there and took in a deep breath, my mind swirling. I cleared my throat and looked up at Luke who seemed to be running his own words through his mind before speaking them. I shifted my stance nervously, incredibly curious about what he was about to tell me. I had a million different ideas, but none of them could have prepared me for the bombshell that he was about to drop on me. He said it was about Jake, and that was the truth, but it was nowhere near what I thought he was going to say. However, before he had even started, his body language was that of a man desperate for something. I was pretty sure
that desperation had to do with Jake, and how much time he got to spend with him. At first, I figured he was going to ask me to help him see his son more. Maybe call him when we were going on outings so that he could join, or have him over when I knew Sarah was going to be out late. However, as he began to talk, my nerves immediately went on high alert, and I realized I was caught up in something I couldn’t even have imagined.
“When Sarah and I first started going through our divorce proceedings, she was sweet to my face, talking about split custody, co-parenting, and doing what was best for Jake,” he started to explain. “I was happy that she had changed her demeanor and was more than ready to have Jake in my life. Everything changed when we got to court, though, and she played me big time. She started out with all of these false allegations of abuse and then, out of the blue, sprung the whole full custody thing on me. I wasn’t prepared, I’ll be honest. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I lost physical custody of Jake.”
“Okay,” I said, listening intently now.
“I should have fought harder, but that is neither here nor there at this point,” he said. “I love my son so much, and I would do anything in the world to have him in my life again. I took care of him when he was a baby, I nurtured him, taught him things, and we had become best buddies. I think that was where all this came from: Sarah was jealous thinking he loved me more than her, but I knew that wasn’t true; he is just a child and loved us both equally.”
“So, what are you doing now?”
“I’m trying to get custody, at least half,” he said. “I know that Sarah is going to fight me every step of the way. My attorney suggested that I find a strong female influence for Jake. The county and state look down on single fathers, thinking they cannot give a child the nurturing that a mother can, but obviously Sarah missed that memo. I need a woman who will look good in court and help to sway the judge in my favor. It’s really simple: stupid, unfair, but simple, and it’s really my only hope since she has accused me of so much bullshit.”