Page 64 of Assigned

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Lucas

Irun the side of my thumb along a line of the fake woodgrain on the conference table where I sit across from Lisa. Jayla, the mediator, clears her throat and I snap back into the room.

“And both of you find this agreement acceptable?”

When Jayla first came in, I thought she was too nice. Her facial expression and tone were caring, almost like that of a kindergarten teacher. Figured she wasn’t going to understand what my life was like or how being a SEAL worked, and she wouldn’t see anything from my point of view. I was wrong. As soft as she appears, and as understated and calm as her voice is, Jayla rules the room with an iron first. Lisa and I both learned not to step out of line while she presided over the mediation. No name calling. No accusations. No assumptions.

All Jayla’s interested in is what’s best for Mason. In the end, it turns out that was all Lisa and I were interested in too. It just took us a while to see that from the other one’s perspective.

I nod and Lisa says, “Yes. It’s acceptable.”

Jayla smiles, revealing a small gap between her front teeth. She stands up. “I’ll get the paperwork for you to sign together. You should be hearing from me in a couple of days with the finalized agreement.” She pauses. “I want to thank you both for staying focused on your son throughout what can be a difficult and contentious process. Not everyone can do that, but you two did. It shows what a good team you can be as parents, even if you don’t want to be married to each other anymore.”

I look over at Lisa. Pink stains her cheeks. I mumble a thank you and the mediator leaves the conference room.

Lisa and I stand too. I hold the door open for her. As we walk out, she says, “Well, that was easier than I expected.”

“Sure was.” I’d anticipated a lot more push back from Lisa about how much time I wanted to spend with Mason and how I wanted to arrange it. She’d come in loaded for bear, but had gotten a lot less combative with Jayla continually bringing us back to what really mattered: Mason.

Lisa stops at the door that leads out to the parking lot. The glass has a slight mist on it from the humidity outside, but I can still see the magnolia tree dropping fat, pink leaves onto my truck. “I never wanted to keep you and Mason apart, you know.”

That was news to me. “Sure seemed that way at the time.” I step back and jam my hands into my jeans pockets, waiting for her to go on.

“I know you love Mason and he adores you. I don’t want to stand in the way of that.”

I fix her with a look and then gesture back at the mediation room behind us. “Then why did we have to go through all this?” I don’t say it with rancor in my voice or in my heart. I honestly want to know.

Lisa blows out a breath. “It was Riley. And the shock of the situation, of finding out you were married without you even telling me, that there was this woman I didn’t know personally who was suddenly going to be in our son’s life. A woman who you told me about, and not in a good way.”

Looking back, I should’ve handled the situation differently all around. Lisa might’ve still been guarded against the program at first, but I had Tony and Jim to explain the inner workings if needed. My lack of communication ended up causing a nearly catastrophic issue Though, not sure she would have felt at ease with the Riley match. And I can’t blame her. I did open up to my first ex-wife about my high school relationship during our marriage.

My chest tightens. First ex-wife. The paperwork ending our participation in the program was filed and according to what Redding relayed during our meeting it would take four to six weeks for the annulment to become official. Then again an annulment means the marriage never existed, so Riley wouldn’t legally be considered my ex-wife. Doesn’t change how it feels in my heart though.

I blow out an audible breath. “Should have let you know when I signed up. But you could’ve let me talk to you about Riley. Or we could have come up with a temporary solution if that was a point of contention.”

She traces a finger down the condensation on the inside of the door, drawing a snaking line in the mist and laughs, but it doesn’t sound like she really thinks anything is funny. “I want you to be happy, Lucas. I really do. Just a shame you ended up with Riley, who left at the first sign of trouble with no explanation, just like all those years ago. And now Mason is affected by her actions.”

I can understand her perspective, but I want Lisa to know she’s wrong about Riley. That I was wrong about Riley. The letter that arrived yesterday morning from her made it clear. “If it wasn’t for her, Mason might still be getting tormented by the kids at that school. They might still be telling him every day his dad didn’t love him and had walked away from him. He’d be growing up thinking his father didn’t care about him. Is that what you want for him? You know what a father’s love means to a boy.”

Lisa drops her hand from the door. “What are you saying?”

Now it’s my moment to be surprised. “You didn’t know? The teacher didn’t tell you about what happened at the parent-teacher conference Riley went to? Mason didn’t say anything?”

“Not a word from either of them.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or from you.”

I look down at my feet. “We weren’t exactly talking calmly to each other at the time.” In fact, every time we spoke back then, we fought.

She groans. “You’re right. I own some of that. Now tell me what happened at the parent-teacher conference.”

I fill her in on the way Mason had confided in Riley, but not in either of us, and how Riley had stood up for him with a teacher who had been hell-bent on blaming him for the cruelty of other children.

Lisa shuts her eyes for a moment and when she opens them, I see a glisten of tears on their surface. “I didn’t know. Poor Mason. No wonder he was getting in so many fights.”

“Riley is the one who cleared all that up.”

“What about when she was supposed to pick him up and didn’t show? And sent Inara instead without a word to me.” Lisa lifts her chin. She’s not ready to concede. “I can’t rely on someone who blows our kid off whenever it’s inconvenient for her to show up.”

---