Page 86 of Knocked Up in Alaska

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Jack and I talked about it and agree that if this is what Mia wants, we’re not going to fight you on it.”

Ford let out a long breath and glanced around the wood-and-steel interior of his brewhouse as he absorbed Jen’s words. Late afternoon sunlight streaming through the raised garage doors warmed him. The scents of yeast and hops filled his nose. The surroundings seemed too mundane for such a momentous conversation, but then again, this was about Mia’s life and his life. Everyday life.

He put the phone on speaker and connected the sanitized hose to the tap on his fermenter. “It’s what she wants.” Obviously, he mentally added but held the sarcasm back because the battle he’d psyched himself up for wasn’t going to happen after all. Hallelujah. He just needed to psych himself back down now. “It’s what we both want.”

“I know.” Jen made the admission with quiet resignation. “I checked with her, of course. Barry and I are disappointed—he thinks she’s a great kid, and he’s right—but she’s old enough to think with her feet, as this summer so clearly demonstrated. Under the circumstances, forcing her to move here, or to Jack and Amanda’s place, would have to include basically putting her under house arrest while simultaneously trying to convince her it’s where she wants to be. I don’t see how either of us pulls that off, and I didn’t get the impression from Jack that Mandy harbored much enthusiasm to take on a surly teen who didn’t want to be there in the first place. Not with a baby on the way.”

New baby. Wow. He checked the seal on the keg end of the hose. “Good to know everybody’s getting right on with their lives.”

Jen’s laugh sounded slightly snide, but only slightly, as if she enjoyed the stone he’d thrown but also recognized the glass house she lived in. “Well, he always wanted another kid.”

A kid of his own, came through pretty clearly, as did the fact that Jen apparently hadn’t. Quite a revealing little observation on the breakdown of a marriage. “Barry doesn’t?”

“Barry’s kids are in college. Mia is about to start high school. Neither of us feel any need for a baby.”

“That simplifies things, I guess.”

Jen laughed. “I feel like my ‘things’ are complicated enough just as they are. With Mia, for example… Jack and I do have a few requests attached to this new arrangement. I’m going to run them past you first before I lay them out for Mia. We’re hoping you’ll do what you can to convince her to go along with these.”

That depended on the “these,” but he held his tongue and opened the tap on the fermenter to release 661 ounces of Spruce Goose into the commercial-grade sixth barrel. “Let’s hear ’em.” He straightened, then turned to gaze out the doors to the cloudless sky that stretched forever, the pine tops swaying in the breeze. Far in the distance, a small red plane appeared in a landing approach. Not Bridget’s plane. She and Lilah wouldn’t be back from Anchorage until late.

“Jack and I have some repairing to do when it comes to our relationships with Mia,” Jen continued. “We know that. We also need a chance to do it. In person. Especially Jack. Texts and FaceTime just aren’t going to work for him. He’s a guy. Those tools are for relaying information—I’ll be home at X time, pick up Y from the store. You know? He doesn’t pour out his feelings over a device. He’s going to try to get better about reaching out just for the sake of letting her know he’s thinking about her, but long, casual conversations about day-to-day stuff are never going to be his strong suit. He needs something to do. An experience to share. To get that with Mia, he wants to fly up over the Thanksgiving week and take her on a cruise around the Inner Passage, or skiing, or something like that. Whatever she wants. It’s a grand gesture, I know, especially considering the baby on the way, but Mia deserves a grand gesture from him.”

Damn right, she did. Thanksgiving traditions hadn’t really factored into his life in a long time, but still, something panged in his chest at the thought of relinquishing celebrating the holiday with her. But they could do something special before or after her trip with her…with Jack. “I can live with that, as long as Mia wants to go with him.” And this, he realized, was what split custody felt like. With a sinking certainty, he forecasted what Jen’s next request would be.

“I want Christmas,” she said. “Here in Florida. I want the whole Christmas break. Barry and I will both take time off. We’ll hit all the theme parks, maybe head down to The Keys for a bit. We’ll make it fun for her.”

He swallowed the knee-jerk refusal. He actually had pictured Mia’s and his first Christmas together. Again, another set of traditions he hadn’t observed in forever, but it had been easy to imagine decorating a tree with her, putting wrapped gifts beneath it over the weeks leading up to the big day and teasing her about the fuzzy, brown Chewbacca-looking sweater in this one, or the awesome solar calculator watch in that one. It had put a smile on his face envisioning them opening presents Christmas morning and laughing at her relief when his presents turned out to be not lame. Or at least not intentionally lame. Lilah would help him make sure they weren’t. Because, yes, Lilah and Shayla had snuck into his Christmas fantasies as well, become essential parts of those fantasies, but he couldn’t hold too tightly to that. Things for Lilah would be much different by Christmas. The rest of it, though? He could still have it with Mia. They’d just do it early, before he put her on a plane to Florida. “I’ll do it…this year,” he added, because he didn’t want to set a precedent, “as long as Mia agrees.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Anything else?”

“Just some acknowledgment that we’ll revisit everything before next summer. If you and Mia are happy with the status quo, I’ll probably just ask her to visit us over the summer. It will kill me to give up another year, but I’ll do it if she’s happy. I can’t speak for Jack, but I will note he’ll have a new baby by then, so…”

“I understand. We’ll deal with next summer when the time comes.” He could leave it open for now. He wanted to hold onto her, but not against her wishes. That would be the very definition of holding too tightly, and he knew better.

“Great.”

“Great. Thanks for the call.” Although he wanted to end it now, he mustered up some graciousness. “And thanks for agreeing to this. I know it isn’t easy for you—either of you.”

“It wasn’t easy.” She sighed. “And I know you understand. Where I am now makes me realize how unfair we were to ask what we asked of you back when she was just a baby. If I’d known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it. I’m grateful you’re not turning the tables.”

“It’s a completely different situation.” He didn’t know what else to say, but her acknowledgment of his sacrifice eased some of the old wounds inside him. “And who knows? Could be the whole thing worked out exactly the way it was meant to. Moving forward, maybe it’s all just going to work out?”

“Are you getting fatalistic on me, Ford?”

He felt his lips lift. “Maybe.”

“Does Lilah like fatalistic men?” He heard amusement in her voice.

“Lilah who?”

“Ha. Nice try. Mia tells me everything.”

He winced at that. Hopefully not everything.

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