Page 56 of Living for Truth
“I’m here to get Aly.” I fold my arms across my chest.
“It’s my day with her. You don’t get to just take her back whenever you want,” Whitney hisses, appearing at Liam’s side.
“I had every intention of letting you have the day with her, but she called me and said she was being ignored and didn’t want to be here anymore. I willalwaysrescue her when she needs it.”
Whitney’s jaw drops, and she turns to our daughter, who is holding her shoes in one hand. Her bottom lip wobbles, and tears are welling in her eyes.
“You called yourdad?Why couldn’t you just stick it out until I took you home?” Whitney snaps at Aly.
“I—you told me to just sit on the couch and not do anything while you guys were in the other room. I wanted to spend the day with you, not your boyfriend. You seemed like you didn’t want me here, so I called Dad so you guys could have your space,” Aly says, her voice breaking.
Whitney scowls and turns back to me. “So you get to introduce her to your girlfriend, but I can’t introduce her to my boyfriend? Seems like a double standard, Morgan.”
“I asked Aly before I introduced her to Hannah. And if Aly was uncomfortable around herat allI would have fixed that issue immediately,” I state matter-of-factly.
“To be fair, I thought Whit should have just taken her home after lunch,” Liam pipes up, and it makes me want to punch him even more.
“Aly, put on your shoes and let's go,” I say gently to my daughter. “You,” I point to Liam, “you’re a shitty person. Hannah told me about how you treated her, and Hank told me about all the women you bring around. I don’t want a slimy fucker like you around my daughter.”
Liam sputters, trying to make up excuses, but I hold up a hand to stop him.
I turn to Whitney. “I think we need to redo the custody agreement. Until you can prioritize Aly, I think supervised visits are the only thing I want to allow. If Aly even wants to see you at all. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
“You can’t dictate my love life! I can date whoever I want, and you can’t take my daughter from me! I’ll fight you for full custody!” Whitney shouts, and I hear an apartment door open down the hall at all the ruckus.
“You’re right, Whitney. I can’t dictate your love life. Like I said, you’ll hear from my lawyers. Let’s go, Bub.”
Aly grips my hand as we make our way to the elevator. I hear Liam and Whitney shouting. They’re probably arguing about the other women I mentioned, but we don’t stick around long enough to hear.
I hope they end up breaking up. I don’t hate Whitney, and no one deserves to be lied to and cheated on.
Aly and I don’t speak as I get her settled in the back of the truck and pull away from the building. The only sound on the way to my parents’ house is the sound of Aly’s sniffles from the back seat.
When we pull up in front of my parents’ I let the engine die and get out, opening Aly’s door. She looks up at me, her blue eyes are a bright contrast to the red around them, and I can still see some unshed tears.
She unbuckles, and I pull her into a tight embrace. “Do you want to talk about it right now?” I feel her shake her head, so I nod, plant a kiss on her head, and pull back slightly. “Do you want to wait in the RAV while I go give the keys to Gigi and Papa?” She shakes her head again, so I help her out of the truck and hold her hand while we walk inside.
My mom is bustling around the kitchen making dinner when we walk in. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite—” she pauses when she sees Aly’s face. “What happened? Are you okay, sweetie?”
Aly has always felt comfortable letting her emotions out with my mom, so she runs right to her Gigi’s open arms and sobs, telling her all about what happened.
Apparently, Whitney tried to take Aly to abarfor a fancy lunch, but since she’s a child, they had to go to a different place. Liam wasn’t happy about it, and he spent the whole time ignoring Aly and only asking Whitney questions about some business deal.
“I tried to talk to him like I talked to Hannah, but he didn’t answer my questions and told me to just play a game on my phone while the adults talked,” Aly says, and my mom’s lips thin, probably holding back a nasty retort about Aly’s mom and her new boyfriend.
“I’m sorry I ruined your day again.” Aly looks at me sheepishly. “Mom said you were probably glad to have a break from me, that’s why she didn’t want me to call you.”
I bite back the urge to call Whitney and tell her off. It won’t help the situation right now, and Aly needs me to be calm for her.
I kneel in front of her on the floor so she can see my eyes. “Youneverruin my day. I was helping Hannah move today, and we were just finishing up when you called. Last week when Aunt Alice called, it only changed the plans for the day. It didn’t ruin it. Did you have fun with Hannah last weekend?” I ask, and my mom’s face softens.
Aly nods.
“Then it definitely wasn’t ruined because Hannah had a lot of fun, too.”
“Really? She isn’t mad that I made you change plans with her two weeks in a row?” Aly looks down at her feet as she asks, and my heart breaks.
She’s so worried about people being mad at her, and I don’t know how to get her to believe that I’d do anything for her. She’s the most important person in my life.
