Free All the Waters of the Earth (Giving You ... #3) by Leslie McAdam Page B

homework? Get everything taken care of? Carlos doesn’t do that. He’ll probably make his mother take care of Rob. My poor son. This is all about Carlos, this is not about Rob.”  I sniffled.
    “Well, you are touching on something very important,” said Amelia, handing me another Kleenex from the tissue box. “The legal standard in California is the best interest of the child.  That is, the court looks at what is in the child’s best interest to do, not either parent’s. So it is our job to show that it is in Rob’s best interest to stay with you, his mother, and to keep the custody arrangement as it is. It’s very stable for him. He goes to school regularly. And he sees his father every other weekend. We can argue that there is no reason to change it.”
    I nodded.
    Amelia continued, letting out a breath. “Now you know, this could get ugly. Mr. Castro could try to argue that there is something that you’re doing that is not in Rob’s best interest and he’s going to try to dig up dirt on you.  He’s going to argue that he should get even more time with Rob or even that you should pay him to care for Rob.”
    “That’s crazy! I’m his mother. I’ve cared for him his entire life.”
    “I know, Lucy, I know.”  She looked at me seriously, analytically.  “I’m sorry, but I have to ask, as your attorney. Don’t keep anything from me because I can’t protect you if I don’t know about it. Is there anything that he could use against you? Anything that wouldn’t look good to a judge?”
    God, I hated this. The lack of privacy. The fact that some person who didn’t know me, the judge, had the right to look at my life and determine what would happen with my child. It wasn’t fair. And the thing was, if I took a look at my life objectively, I did have some things to worry about. I didn’t have a steady job with a steady paycheck. Royalties came in when they came in, and on an uneven basis. I modeled nude for money and I’m sure that would look bad.
    And Jake. I didn’t know what to do about Jake.
    I sighed and told Amelia about my work situation and the modeling. Her eyes got a little wide, but she didn’t say anything.
    “Are you seeing anyone right now?”
    I stared at her. At this moment, I didn’t know how to answer that. A half hour ago, I would have said, “Yes.” But what had happened with Jake? Why was he so cold and distant and demanding? Why had he rejected me?  What had happened to my generous, artistic lover?
    I wanted to lie to her. I wanted to tell her no. But I needed to tell her, because I was not going to do anything to jeopardize Rob.
    “I’m kind of seeing Jake. I think. I don’t know.”
    Amelia looked surprised.  “Really?”  Then she recovered.  “He’s a nice guy, but he works way too much. I’ve never seen his personality except for being totally and utterly a lawyer. Around here, he lives and breathes the law. I don’t know anything about him other than he’s here, all the time, working.”
    But then she continued. “Courts pry. It would look bad to a judge if anyone, including Jake, for example, comes over all the time and is around your son. We need to show that your son’s living situation is stable.  I don’t want to tell you what to do in your private life, but a new relationship doesn’t scream stability to a court.”
    I nodded. “Okay.” I didn’t know what to do with this.  I felt like a wrung-out washcloth.
    We discussed the next steps that she was going to take and I gave her information for my declaration. But I was not looking forward to having to testify in court. Ugh.
    I was also curious about what she said about Jake. Why were his public and private selves so different? Why was he so kind to me at home, but treated me like total shit here? He said that he was a workaholic, but that was no reason to pretend that you weren’t who you really were. I couldn’t figure it out and it totally pissed me off. I was already upset from him