Served
It took three months for me to become bored with sitting at home all day. When she could, Avery babysat Layla so that I could go back to work, but some days I couldn’t get around taking her to the store with me. Even though Joey claimed not to like kids, I could tell that he didn’t mind having her around. It wasn’t an ideal situation to have her strapped to my chest or laying around on a blanket behind the counter while I worked, but I didn’t like the idea of wasting money on day care. Layla was a smart and laidback baby; everyone from the store’s employees to most of the regular customers loved her.
“So, have you decided what you’re going to dress the little lady up as for Halloween?” Tobias asked from his spot on the floor, where he was currently mimicking Layla’s belly down position.
“No,” I replied. “I don’t know, aren’t all babies pumpkins for their first Halloween?”
Tobias mock gasped. “I know you’re not implying your daughter is a conformist.”
“Never!” I replied, laughing. “How about a little baby zombie? That would be cute, right?”
Tobias agreed wholeheartedly. Before we could ponder any more costume possibilities, the bell above the door rang to announce a new customer. He was a little more buttoned-up and stuffy looking than our usual clientele, but I didn’t think much of that. After all, Avery had stuck out like a sore thumb the first time I saw her, but she had turned out to be a great friend, minus that one little rough patch that was entirely my fault.
I called out to the guy and asked if he needed any help, but he assured me he was just looking. He took his sweet time wandering up and down the aisles, and by the time he made it to the register, he only had two vintage albums in his hands. They weren’t anything special, so I didn’t know why it had taken him so long to pick them out.
“Can I help you with anything else?” I asked as I rang up his purchases.
“Oh, just one thing, Colby,” he said, reading my nametag. He smiled and held out a large, legal size envelope. “You can take this.”
I blinked at him but accepted the envelope anyway. After Asher’s attempt at flirting via slipping his phone number in between albums, I wouldn’t really put any strangeness past Sit and Spin’s customers. The guy was still all smiles as he paid for his vinyl and left.
Once he was gone, I flipped the envelope over and felt sick when I saw a governmental seal on it. Surely there wasn’t some legal crap going on with my parents’ estate? I thought all of that had been settled years ago. I tore into the envelope, dreading what it might hold.
One name on the page immediately stuck out like an awful, shining beacon.
Zachary Walker Hanson.
The rest of the document’s words swirled around on the page and didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but eventually I got the gist of it. He was suing me. Suing me to have his name added to Layla’s birth certificate and be on record as her legal father.
“That bastard,” I gasped out, staring down at the papers in disbelief.
“Not in front of the baby!” Tobias scolded.
“The bastard’s her father,” I replied. “She’ll find out for herself soon enough.”
Tobias stood up and walked over to look over my shoulder at what had me so upset. He rested his head against my shoulder, mumbling softly to himself as he read a few lines. After a moment, he gave a low whistle. “Well… damn. I didn’t think he would do that.”
“What is he even trying to do?” I asked. “I mean, is he going to take her from me? Is that what this is all about? And I wonder what his wife has to say about this. Knowing him, it’s probably all her idea anyway.”
“Why would it be her idea?”
“I don’t know!” I yelled. “I just know he’s a fucking bastard who hasn’t even seen her for three months. He wants his name on record as Layla’s father, but he wouldn’t even recognize her if he saw her now. She’ll be walking and talking by the next time he bothers to come see her!”
Tobias shook the papers I held. “Not according to this. He’ll be here in just a few weeks to take you to court.”
“Yeah, to take me to court,” I said. “But I’ll be damned if he’s going to see her until they order me to let him.”
Tobias knew better than to argue with me further when I was that angry. I remained absolutely fuming for the rest of the day, and even after I finally made it back to my apartment, I still found myself pacing angrily, reading the papers over and over. Once I’d fed Layla and put her down for a nap, I called Avery.
“Hello?”
“Your fucking brother,” I growled.
“Which one and what did he do now?” Avery replied.
“The one who’s suing me. And, did I mention, he’s fucking suing me.”
“He’s what?!” Avery screeched. “He’s only been back in Tulsa for like two weeks.”
“I’m sure he’s got a damn good lawyer,” I replied. “And yes, he’s taking me to court. Wants me to put his name on Layla’s birth certificate, have himself legally recognized as her father and god knows what else.”
“I love it when no one in the family feels the need to tell me anything. Just because I’m here and most of them are in Oklahoma.”
I didn’t bother pointing out that that was really the least of my problems right then. “Yeah, and that’s another thing! What is he even going to do? What’s his plan? Is he going to try to get custody and take her back to Oklahoma?”
“Well, I doubt that,” Avery replied.
I stopped pacing. “What’s that mean?”
“Well, you… you know Taylor and Natalie closed on a house, right? I mean, it was still up in the air when they left for the Australian tour, but it’s a done deal now.”
“A house… in New York?”
“Yes…” Avery replied slowly.
“And let me guess, a certain pothead brother of yours will be crashing on their couch even after it’s relocated to the east coast?”
“It… seems that way.”
I collapsed onto the couch. “Oh, fuck me.”
“No offense, but Zac beat me to it, and we see how well that worked out,” Avery replied.
“Yeah, well, he’s fucking me over now,” I said. “Is he really going to try to take her away? What about Kate and their kids?”
Avery sighed. “For now, they’re staying in Oklahoma. They’re still not divorced, but…”
“So he’s going to abandon them but take Layla?” I asked.
“No one said he’s taking Layla,” Avery replied with what I could tell was forced calmness, her tone calculated to be as soothing as possible. “Does it say anywhere on the papers you got that he’s suing for custody? Even partial custody?”
“Well, no, but he can’t very well do that before he’s legally her father, can he? Surely that’s his next step. I don’t understand what else his endgame is here.”
“To be her father,” Avery answered softly. “I think he just wants to show you that he really does want to be there for her. What’s a better first step than putting it in writing and making it legal?”
I didn’t have an answer for that. It was too damn logical, and I hated her for it. Of course Avery could be objective and see things from both sides… or at least from Zac’s reasonable side, if he had one. I wasn’t so convinced.
“Is that really so bad?” She asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Coming from Zac, probably. Especially when he’s still married. I just don’t trust him, Ave. He’s never given me a reason to, and I’m not going to start now. This doesn’t feel like some gesture of goodwill to me. It feels like spite and malice.”
“Maybe you should wait and talk to him about it. See what he says.”
I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “Not without my lawyer present.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” she said. “He just wants to be sure he can see his daughter. That’s all.”
“You don’t know that! I’m sorry, Ave, but you don’t see the sides of him that I see.”
She sighed. “Maybe I don’t. But I just don’t see the harm in letting him see her. If it turns out there’s more behind this suit than that, it’ll come out in court. You’ll find out and you’ll deal with it then.”
“Look, I’m not saying I’m an expert just because my dad was a lawyer. And I hate playing both the lawyer card and the dead card, but it’s true that he was a lawyer. So I’m sure I can get one of the guys at his old firm to help me out with this, because I know Zac—and more importantly his wife—isn’t going to make this easy. Declaring himself the father could just be the first step toward god knows what.”
“But you don’t know that,” Avery insisted.
“Well, I’m not taking any chances,” I replied. “If I give Zac an inch, he takes a goddamn mile.”
Avery sighed. “You know, he’s not the only person not making this easy.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I replied. “Look, I’m going to go before Layla wakes up from her nap. I just… well, I guess I wanted to let you know what your brother was doing.”
“It’s funny how when he pisses you off he’s my brother. What’s he to you the rest of the time?”
“Mostly?” I asked. “Nothing.”
“Yeah,” Avery replied. “You mean aside from the father of your child?”
“Not on paper… yet.”
Although our words were a little biting, I knew my anger with her would pass soon. I was really just angry at Zac and taking it out on her. It wasn’t fair, but I didn’t know how to stop myself without just ending the conversation. As civilly as we could, we said goodbye to each other and hung up, and I let out a long, heavy sigh.
Why couldn’t I just be rid of Zac? Why did he have to keep coming back to haunt me?
As if to answer me, Layla began to cry. I pulled myself off the couch and rushed into my bedroom to see what she needed. It wasn’t a dirty diaper, and she had eaten not long before. I supposed she just wanted to commiserate. To remind me that as long as she was here, I could never really be rid of Zac… a point that would only be driven home once he was legally her father.