Page 97 of Follow My Heart

“No. That’s what you said I should do.”

I curled my hand into a fist. “What did you do?”

“It was the perfect opportunity to move our things while Faith wasn’t here.”

A chill ran down my spine. “You thought it would be a good idea to move Faith without telling her, and then what? When she shows up tonight, I have to be the one to break the news to her. I have to drop her off at Phil’s house?”

“You just don’t want me to move on with Phil. You haven’t liked him from the beginning.”

“Stacy, be reasonable. You can’t just move our daughter because you want to.”

“I have custody of her.”

“We have joint custody. We have to agree on any decisions.”

“I’m talking to my lawyer about that. Remember?”

“I remember you threatening all kinds of things. But we’re talking about today and where Faith will be living. Does she even have a room in that house?”

“We don’t have the boys moved around yet, but she can sleep in a sleeping bag in one of their rooms.”

“Do you hear yourself? I asked you to slow down, and you sped everything up. Faith is moving from her childhood home into someone else’s, and she doesn’t even have a room by herself. She’s a girl, and Phil has all boys.”

“She can sleep with a boy. They’re kids.”

“She’s twelve. She’s close to the age where she’ll hit puberty and need her privacy.” I’d been increasingly worried about this as a single dad. Stacy tended to be so self-involved; I worried I’d be left having these conversations with Faith.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to be the one that Faith could rely on. Even if I wasn’t her same-gender parent, I vowed to research whatever I needed to, to be informed.

“She’s going to get her own room. That’s the plan.”

“I called my lawyer.”

“On a Sunday?” Stacy asked, knowing I usually waited until the weekday to avoid the exorbitant after-hour fees.

Had she planned this on purpose? Move her in while Faith was out of town. Then do it on the weekend so I wouldn’t call my attorney. “I need to know what my options are.”

“The custody agreement states that you bring her home on Sunday evening.”

“Yeah, home. We agreed you’d stay in the family home for the foreseeable future.”

“Well, plans change.”

Did people change too? Or had Stacy always been like this, and I didn’t see how selfish she could be. Right now, she wasn’t thinking about Faith; she was only thinking about herself.

“I have to go.” I needed to call my attorney again, but I knew there was nothing we could do about this tonight. Stacy had won this round.

Faith would be forced to go to Phil’s house, and I’d have to deal with the fallout. I hated this for her.

I left a message with my attorney’s after-hours answering service. When Boone called, he asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Stacy moved into her boyfriend’s house over the weekend without telling anyone. We agreed she’d stay in the family home. Faith doesn’t even have a room in that house. She’ll be sleeping on the floor. Not to mention that there are three boys there, and she’ll be rooming with one of them.”

Boone cleared his throat. “That’s not ideal.”

“I don’t like any of this. It’s not the best thing for Faith. She’s going to be upset. But I’m wondering whether I have any choice here?”

“You are supposed to agree on living arrangements. You have joint custody. Now, you can’t prevent her from moving in with a boyfriend. It’s kind of a gray area. But I think we can demand that this be done a bit more slowly, and that Faith have her own room. I can file an emergency motion tomorrow morning with the court.”

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