It was hard to find time for us all together that week. Melody was back to her dance class on Monday nights and karate on Wednesdays. Her arm was still in a cast but she could still do some of the activities. Then Will had soccer on Tuesdays. I had to work late on Thursday and Reid had an event on Friday. Reid took care of the kids Thursday and I had them Friday. We knew that he was going to get home after bedtime so Will had a bag packed to spend the night in the guest bedroom.
He texted me well after ten that he was at the door. I slipped out of bed and threw on my robe before I let him in. He silently followed me in, looking handsome as hell in his suit, and we went right to bed. He stripped down to his boxers and slid into bed beside me. He pulled me close placing a sweet kiss on my lips. "I missed you this week." He whispered.
"Me too. Life with kids is hectic."
"What do you think about going to the park tomorrow? Have a nice little picnic and enjoy the sunshine."
I groaned. I wished that I could, but no, I had to spend the day with my asshole ex. "That sounds so much better than what I have to do tomorrow."
"What do you have to do?" He asked.
"It's Brian's Saturday. We have to go hang out in Brian's bachelor pad. I have to be there."
"Right, I forgot."
"I just want to stay in bed with you all day."
He chuckled as he pulled me closer. I breathed in his comforting sandalwood scent. His lips pressed to the top of my head as he began playing with my hair. "How about after, we all go out for dinner? Then we can all come back here, watch a movie, and forget your visit ever happened."
"I like the sound of that."
He gave me a kiss and we fell asleep together. No sex, just cuddling. We were too exhausted to do anything more.
*****
The next morning, Reid and Will left for swimming while I got Melody ready for her dad's. I put her in a cute dress and did her hair so we could go right to dinner afterwards. I put on a summer dress too. I wanted to show off my legs. I knew Reid would appreciate it. I threw on a denim jacket over top since I am literally always cold.
"Okay Mama. Let's get this over with." Melody said with a determined look on her face.
I laughed as I dug through my purse looking for my keys. "Shit. Where did I put them?"
"Language! If I can't say it neither can you! Remember?"
"Sorry Monkey. Have you seen my keys?"
She sighed, walking off to look for my keys. She was probably just as likely to hide them instead of finding them right now. I did promise that if she was good she could have ice cream for dessert so that could be in my favour. She came around the corner and handed me my keys with her signature eye roll. "There you go."
I locked the door and we started towards the car. "So where were they?" I asked.
"Doll house."
"Well, that's stranger than usual."
"I think we should warn Reid before you lose his keys too."
I laughed as I helped her into her car seat. We put on the radio and jammed out. Melody was singing along to some Metallica. It had to be the cutest thing ever. Her little girl voice contrasting with the heavy song. I was just proud she had good music taste. When we pulled up to Brian's place I managed to record some of Melody's singing and playing air guitar to send to Reid. I figured he'd enjoy it.
Melody and I walked up to Brian's house and knocked on the door. When the door opened, a young blonde opened the door. "Hi! You must be Olive and Melody! Oh, you are so cute!"
The girl, who was eighteen at best, knelt down and tried to pinch Melody's cheeks. Melody swatted her hand away and gave her a death glare. "Hey! No one pinches my cheeks lady!"
"Where's Brian?" I asked. I wasn't going to tell Melody off for being rude. If that's her reaction to a stranger trying to touch her without permission, I approve.
"Oh, he's just in the living room. You know him, just loves his baseball!"
Who the fuck is this blondie? She led us into Brian's place as if we'd never been here before. Melody and I shared a WTF look as we followed her into the living room where Brian was sitting on the couch with a beer. "Who was it babe?"
That's it! I stormed into the living room and stood in front of the tv. The only sure way to get his attention. "Did you forget it was your afternoon with your daughter? I don't want your randoms around our daughter!" Melody came and stood next to me with her arms crossed to emphasize my point.
"Oh, my name is Anna and I'm not a random! We're getting married!" She held out her hand where an impressive diamond ring on her finger. I tried to reign back my temper, but I was still pissed.
"Come on Melody, we can watch the game together," Brian said patting the cushion beside him. Melody looked up at me as she rolled her eyes before she went to go sit next to him. She crossed her arms, clearly not happy that she had to watch baseball. I sighed and went to sit down at his dining room table. Anna came and sat next to me.
"We should get to know each other since we're going to be spending time together!"
I looked at her with my eyebrow raised. Did she not know Brian's track record? She was not going to be around long. Ring or no ring. Brian is a man whore and that is never going to change. "I'm just here to watch Melody as she visits her dad. We don't need to know each other."
"Well, if you were nicer maybe Brian and Melody would have a better relationship. He told me how mean you were while you were together." She was actually trying to look down her nose at me. Like, I know I haven't been the nicest to her, but can you blame me?
"Really? Did he also mention all the other women he was sleeping with while I was pregnant? Or did he leave that bit out?"
She just rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out. The room was silent except for the sound of the tv. I pulled my book out of my bag and began to read. We made it about twenty minutes before Melody let out a loud groan. "This is boring! Can't we watch something fun?"
"Melody this is a very important game," Brian said and tried to explain why but Melody was having none of it.
"I don't care! It's boring." Melody got off the couch and came over to me, plopping herself on the chair beside me, across the table from Anna.
"Here Melody, you can play a game on my phone." I handed her my phone. Unfortunately, we were very used to this turn of events.
"We could play a card game?" Anna offered putting on a condescending baby voice that Melody hated, "Like go fish. Do you know how to play go fish?"
"Go fish is for babies." Melody rolled her eyes at Anna. I tried not to snicker at her attitude. It was nice to see her attitude directed at someone other than me.
"Melody. Be nice to Anna. She's trying her best." Brian called over from the couch. He didn't even bother moving his head to make it look like he was paying attention. Melody gave me her 'are they kidding' look which made me smile. My perfect sassy little girl.
"Maybe we could play a game all together so Melody isn't bored, Brian." I was at least going to try to make him spend some time with his daughter. Brian sighed, hitting record on the tv before shutting it off. He grabbed a deck of cards before coming over to us.
"Anna, get us drinks," Brian demanded as he sat down. He didn't even look at her. Fucking dick. Anna took our drink orders and soon we were all sitting there with our drinks and cards. "So how's school going Melody?" Brian asked.
"It's a bit hard with a broken arm. Everyone signed it. See?" She put her cast on the table. It was covered in signatures from her friends.
"That's nice," Brian said without even looking.
"Do you think your dad and I can sign it?" Anna asked.
"No! That will ruin it. Look who signed it." She pointed to Rebecca's signature. She loves showing people that one. That did get Brian's attention.
"Whose signature is that?" He asked.
"Rebecca! We're friends. Mama show them the picture!" She had a smug look on her face as I took out my phone. I scrolled to the picture I took of her with Rebecca, Dean, Adam and Lincoln before handing them the phone.
"That's Disaster's Calling!" Anna squealed, "How did you meet Disaster's Calling?"
"Mama is dating Rebecca's brother Reid. He's awesome. He signed my cast."
Brian's face contorted in anger and jealousy. "So you let your mother and her boy toy sign your cast and not your dad?"
"He was there when I broke my arm! He made this thingy for my arm so it wouldn't get hurt more then he got us to the hospital and stayed with me all day! He bought me Bob and took me for ice cream! You didn't even show up!" Melody gave him her best glare to go with the reaming she just gave him. He at least had the decency to look guilty.
"I was busy." He said as if that fixed anything.
"Doesn't matter. She's your daughter. You are supposed to show up no matter what." I snapped. We sat in silence for a few minutes. Melody had her arms crossed, Brian was a combination of angry and guilty while Anna just looked awkward. Eventually, she grabbed the deck of cards to deal out a new hand.
"Maybe we should all get together sometime. Us and Reid. So, we can all work on co-parenting together." Anna suggested.
"Not going to happen." I was quick to shut that down, "We have our system and Reid has his own son to look after. He doesn't need to be involved in this."
"So how is he supposed to be a good father figure to Melody if he has his own kid to worry about?" Brian accused. I was about to fire back that it isn't Reid's job to be a good father figure since that was literally Brian's only job, but Melody had me covered.
"He's doing a better job than you!" She sniped.
I tried to disguise my laughter with a cough. Fuck, she makes it hard to be the mature grown-up sometimes. "Melody, what did we talk about?" I scolded but not as harshly as I usually would. I was proud of her for sticking up for herself.
"Sorry Mama." Melody apologized.
"I still think I should meet the man spending so much time around my daughter. I should have met him before you ever introduced him to Melody."
"We met because his son is friends with Melody. She met him before we even started dating. Should I have run all her friend's parents by you in the off chance I might date one? Also, you are a hypocrite you do realize that right? You didn't even mention you were dating someone let alone fucking engaged!" I fired back.
"Watch your language around our daughter! I hope you don't use that language around her all the time."
"When you spend more than an afternoon with her every two weeks, which you don't even do half the time, then you can criticize my parenting."
"Well, maybe I want more time with my daughter without you there! Maybe it's time I call the judge and get joint custody."
"No! I don't want to!" Melody yelled.
"We don't always get what we want! Sometimes the grown-ups have to step in and do what's right. Your mother's judgement has obviously been impaired lately. Hanging out with musicians. I hope you're not thinking of starting your ridiculous singing 'career' again." He used air quotes around career to belittle my dream like he always did. I wasn't even thinking of picking it up again, but the second those words left his mouth, I wanted to cry.
"You're an awful person!" Melody stood up and grabbed my arm, "Mama, come on. Let's go."
"You don't get to choose Melody! It's up to the grown-ups to decide when this visit is over and I say it isn't. So sit. Back. Down." He yelled at her and that was it. He does not get to yell at my daughter. No one does.
"No, she's right. This is over. See you in two weeks." I grabbed my stuff and took Melody's hand.
We started walking to the door when Brian captured my free arm in a crushing grip, jerking me back to him. "You don't leave until I say you can."
"Get your hand off me or I'll break it. You know I can." I threatened. The claws were out now and this Mama bear was gonna fight.
He had the sense to let me go. I turned again and opened the door when Brian called out to me. "I'm calling my lawyer! I'm getting custody of Melody!"
"Then I'll see you in court!" I got Melody in her car seat and got in the front. She asked to play a game on my phone, so I handed it to her. I was just trying to hold back tears the entire way home. What if his lawyer won? I can't afford a good lawyer. How am I supposed to keep Melody?
I pulled up to my house to see Reid and Will playing catch on my front lawn. Melody jumped out of the car to play with Will while Reid came to the car and pulled me into a big hug. I let go of the tears that had been threatening to fall the entire ride over. "Why-Why are you here? I said I'd text you when I got back." I asked.
"Melody texted me from your phone. She said her dad was being mean and I should come over."
I pulled away from his chest so I could look him in eye. "And you just came?"
"Of course." He lifted his hand to wipe away my tears, "I'd do anything for you Olive."
*****
Author's note:
So I think we can all agree that Melody was right about Brian.