Page 78 of Anything To Be With You

"Okay, Bubba. Keep Axe out of my room."

Mason doesn’t look at Josh as he shuts the door.

"Goodbye, Josh." I say, reaching for the door handle.

"I want to see him again."

"He doesn’t want to see you."

Josh runs a hand through his thinning hair. "He is my son, Dani. I want him in my life."

I grip the door handle. "Here’s the thing though," I open the door, "he doesn’t want to be in yours."

I slam the door in his face.

Do I Have To?

Dani

"I don’t want to see him again or be in his life!" Mason yells as he wanders around the kitchen.

"I know, Bubba, but I don’t need a shit-storm raining down on us because Helen didn’t get her way."

And Helen always gets her way.

I had explained the whole situation to Mason after Josh left and he went mental. Mason was pissed that I kept this from him and I don’t blame him.

"I don’t give two shits Ma!" Mason yells.

"I know you’re mad, Bubba. I should have told you about this after it happened, but I didn’t think Josh would show up."

My phone starts ringing next to my elbow. Luke again. He has been calling for the past three hours. I shut the damn thing off. I am not doing any work for him tonight. I’ve got enough on my plate at the moment.

Mason drops into a chair. "Do I have to?"

I’m not going to push Mason into doing something he does not want to do. He’s seventeen, he has a say in some aspects of his life.

"If you don’t want to, I’m not going to force you."

Mason pushes his huge body off the chair. "Thanks, Ma," he kisses my cheek on his way out of the kitchen.

I scrub my face. I grab my cell and head outside. Turning it on and clearing all the notifications from Luke, I call Mark from the office. If anyone can help, it’ll be him. Child custody and child support is his forte. As I listen to it ring, I pace my small front yard.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mark, it’s Dani. Sorry for calling so late."

"No worries. I’m just catching up on some work. What’s up?"

I explain what has been going on with Josh and the court threat.

"Mason is over twelve, he has say in who he lives with." Mark informs me.

I start biting on the side of my thumb. "And you're positive about that? I've read articles about children over the age of twelve not being able to choose."

"In some cases, if the judge thinks that the parent they currently live with is not a good fit, they will give custody to the other parent. What I would be worried about is the amount of judges the Whitlock’s have on payroll." He says, the sound of rustling papers his background noise.

"Is there anything I can do?" I ask.

---