Free Jay Walking by Tracy Krimmer Page A

dumb. I only wanted to listen and decide if I want him in James' life, if it came down to that. "Dad, please."
    "Please, what? You made a really asinine move. You're moving along in life just fine without him."
    "And I will continue to do so."
    "Will you?" My dad starts to pace the room. "What does that even mean?"
    "What does that mean, Dad? It means I'll go on with my life. I'll go to work, I'll take care of James. Nothing changes."
    My dad stands. "Nothing changes? How can you possibly think that? Everything changes! Daniel is going to fight for custody. Your happy life living here with us and James' life is about to be flipped upside down. You aren't going to know what hit you. Pretty soon James will be gone on weekends because he'll be spending time with Daniel. Court-appointed time. Now James is going to be dragged through the system because of what? Because you were curious ?"
    "Honey, stop." My mom puts her hand in the air. My lip quivers and a tear falls from each eye. I didn't think about how it all will affect James other than him having a father. I only tried to focus on the positive side. "I don't think yelling at Chelsea is the answer. Getting upset and calling her names won't resolve anything."
    Thank God my mom is a voice of reason. I understand my father is mad, but at this point there is nothing I can do to make things better. I can't turn back time and ignore Daniel's message. Part of me is glad I went because, yes, I was curious. "Dad, don't you think if I had ignored him he would've tried to pursue custody anyway? If this is something he truly wants, ignoring him won't change a thing. But, quite honestly, I don't think he is going to do anything."
    My dad begins nodding, which makes me happy because then I figure he somewhat agrees with me and I make a little bit of sense. "Okay, yes, you're right. At least now that you heard him out, we can prepare ourselves for what is going to happen."
    "Like I said, I don't think there's anything to worry about. I think Daniel's proven time and time again what a coward he is. He claims he's going to divorce Lauren, which also means he'll be dealing with her and their twins. Considering he's been around for them their entire lives, I think he'll try and battle things out with her before even attempting to with me."
    My dad walks over to the entryway and leans against the wall. "I don't think we can be too careful. I think I should call our lawyer just in case."
    "Do you think that's necessary?" My mother hates confrontation and lawyering up means nothing more to her than confirmation shit's about to go down. "It seems a bit extreme."  
    "I agree with Mom. I think we're jumping the gun a little if we hire somebody."
    "Look," my dad says, "I'm not saying we're going to beat him to the punch and sue him or anything. I only think it's best we contact our lawyer for advice and keep him in our back pocket in case things start to escalate and you're served with papers."
    This is all happening so fast. I only planned to talk with Daniel. How dumb of me not to realize this is what he wanted! Then he thought he could swoop in and make things better after he used me. He didn't need to get nasty with me for refusing. I may be walking into a trap, but he'll catch up with me anyway if having time with James is what he's after.
    "Maybe what we need to do then is let him and James meet."
    My dad's eyes almost pop out of his head when I mention it. "Excuse me? You didn't really suggest that."
    "Yes, I did, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. I may be able to come to some sort of a compromise with him that doesn't involve a lawyer. Wouldn't you much rather do that?"
    My dad wipes at his eyes, exhausted from the conversation. "I can't discuss this anymore. I need to get to bed. That is, if I can even sleep. We'll talk about this another time. I hope before Daniel contacts his own lawyer."
    I don't want to spend the next week or month or however long it takes with my dad on my