He nodded again.
“Now, I gotta finish gettin’ ready, honey. You good to go to your gram’s?” I asked.
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Right, let’s get to that part of our day.”
He grinned at me and got out of the doorway.
I took in another breath and headed to my bedroom.
* * * * *
Monday Night
Whether it was intentionally good timing or not, Trent phoned at the perfect moment, right before I was about to slide out of my car and hit work for the night shift.
He’d texted twice more since the first two.
I’d been blowing him off.
I needed to stop doing that so he’d leave me alone. He also needed to think on things and I needed to give him the things he needed to think about.
So I took the call with a “Hey, Trent.”
“Texted you a million times, Cheryl,” he exaggerated.
“I know. I’m sorry. Things were busy,” I semi-lied.
“Ethan told me he’s not comin’ to see me and Peg this weekend,” he shared irately.
I beat back a sigh.
“As you know, Trent, this gig is Ethan’s,” I replied. “He gets to decide when he wants to see you. He’s back at school now so it’s sleepover time, and the good stuff happens with his buds on weekends.”
“He needs to spend time with his father.”
Trent said the words, but they came right out of Peggy’s mouth.
“All right, I gotta get to work in a minute, but you should know, Ethan and I had a talk about you and Peg wantin’ to spend more time with him and he doesn’t like that idea. He digs you. Your wife. Your kids. But he’s feelin’ the need to take things with you slow and that’s his call. So if he needs space, you’re gonna give it to him.”
“He’s a kid, Cheryl. He doesn’t get to make those calls.”
More Peggy.
“He’s a kid, Trent, you’re right. But he isn’t five. He’s nearly eleven. He knows his own mind, what he wants, what feels good to him. He’s at a time where he’s gotta explore makin’ his own decisions and how that plays out. We gotta let him.”
“He’s too young to start that kind of thing. He needs guidance,” father of the century Trent Schott educated me.
I sought patience (not my strong suit) and returned, “I’m not sayin’ he doesn’t need guidance. I’m just sayin’ he needs some freedom and space.”
“He can have all the freedom and space he wants when he’s thirty. Now, bein’ a kid, he needs his old man helpin’ him learn to be a man.”
And more Peggy.
But it would be Peggy teaching him to be a man.
The thought turned my stomach and I clenched my teeth to beat back my response to that.
This, unfortunately, allowed Trent to carry on.
“You need to tell him he’s gotta come and stay with Peg and me. This weekend. We’ll pick him up from your place at five thirty on Friday.”
“That’s not gonna happen, Trent.”
“Then I’ll tell him, and if he’s not there, just sayin’, Cheryl, that’s a mistake you don’t wanna make.”
“Okay,” I snapped, having had enough. “This is the deal—you got no rights in this situation, Trent. Not until a judge says what rights you got. You wanna drag my son through that, I can guaran-damn-tee you that you’re gonna drive him further away from you than you already are, pushin’ me with this shit. Now, we can avoid that and do right by Ethan if we calm down, sit down, talk somethin’ through that’ll work for all of us, and by ‘all of us,’ I mean it works for Ethan. But he’s tellin’ you right now he needs a break. That gives us a golden opportunity to sort shit out so when he’s ready for more, we got it set up with an understanding between us how that’s gonna go.”
“Pushin’ you with this?” he asked. “You tell him we pushed?”
We.
She wasn’t even there when he pushed.
God, there was no Trent.
It was only Trent and Peggy.
Which meant there was only Peggy.
“I don’t lie to my kid,” I shared. “So yeah, I told him the good news that his dad likes hangin’ with him, but that came with the bad news that his dad did not respect me by communicatin’ that right. That is not my issue. You fucked that up.”
“You’re tryin’ to turn my son from me. From me and Peg.”
Me and Peg.
Barf.
“No, Trent, you don’t see what’s happenin’ here. I’m tryin’ to tell you that you are fuckin’ this up, and I’m also givin’ you advice on how not to do that. You decide not to take it, you bear the consequences.”
“Peg and me show at your place Friday, Cheryl, my son isn’t there, you’ll hear from our attorney,” he warned.
Like he had an attorney.
“Whatever, Trent. It isn’t like you haven’t put me through the wringer before. Not like he’s a stupid kid and doesn’t know the life he’s led, I led, part of that bein’ because of the choices you made. Do it again. You’re such a dumb fuck you don’t see I’m a scrapper, especially when it comes to my kid, and I always come out standing, your mistake. But to save you some time and gas money, my kid is not gonna be at my house on Friday at five thirty for you to pick him up. Ethan’ll let you know when he’s ready. Until then, last advice I give, wait for him to come around. You do, you’ll be golden. You don’t, you risk losin’ him forever.”