Chapter 3
Maya was waiting on my porch when I got home.
She took one look at the unopened model kit in my arms and stepped aside so I could go in. She didn’t ask what happened until I had put it on the kitchen table.
“He ran to me,” I said.
For a second, I could only see Eli on the porch, holding one shoe.
“Rochelle still wouldn’t let him come.”
Maya sat across from me. “Did he hear you arguing?”
“Some of it. I tried to stop.”
I showed her the notes I had written at the gas station. She read them slowly.
Maya and I had been together a little over a year. She cared about Eli, but she never tried to decide what I should feel about Rochelle. That night, I needed her to tell me I had done everything right.
She didn’t.
“You came when you said you would,” she told me. “Now you need a better way for Eli to see you without standing in that doorway again.”
I called my lawyer the next morning.
Her name was Priya Shah. She had helped us put our parenting schedule in writing after the divorce. When I told her how many visits had been canceled, she asked me to send the dates.
I opened my calendar. Four weekends in ten weeks. Before that, two more visits had been cut short.
I had kept the messages but hadn’t put them together.
Priya listened to my account of Saturday, then asked whether Rochelle had agreed in writing to the move two hours away.
“I agreed she could move after she got the job,” I said. “We wrote down where exchanges would happen. I was supposed to pick Eli up at noon on my weekends.”
“Send me that agreement and the messages,” Priya said. “We can ask the court to enforce the schedule and set a neutral exchange place.”
“Will that make things worse for Eli?”
“The missed visits are already affecting him. We’ll make a request that focuses on getting him predictable time with both of you.”
I sent the documents that afternoon. Then I called Eli at our usual time.
He answered on the second ring.
“Dad, I found the picture I drew of the bridge.”
“Can you show me?”
The screen filled with blue lines and orange cars. A small figure stood at one end.
“That’s you,” Eli said.
“Where are you?”
“On the other side. We meet in the middle.”
I had to look away from the screen.
Rochelle’s voice sounded in the background. Eli lowered the phone.
“I have to finish homework.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“Love you.”
The call ended before I could ask about his day.
That week, Priya filed a request to enforce our parenting schedule. She also asked for a temporary exchange plan while the court reviewed what had happened. I told Rochelle by message that the filing was coming so she wouldn’t hear it from someone else.
Her reply arrived an hour later.
You chose court instead of talking to me.
I typed, I tried to talk on Saturday. Eli needs to know when he will see me.
She wrote back, This is because of Maya.
I set down my phone. Priya had told me to keep our messages focused on Eli, so I waited until I could answer calmly.
Maya and I are separate from our parenting schedule. I’m willing to discuss your concerns with a counselor. I’ll be there for the visit next Saturday.
Rochelle didn’t respond.
On Wednesday, Eli’s teacher called me about a field trip form. My name was still on the school contact list, but the form had come home without my signature.
“We can send it to you electronically,” Ms. Bennett said.
“Please do.”
She hesitated.
“Eli asks about Fridays a lot,” she added.
“What does he ask?”
“Whether you’re coming the next day.”
I pressed the phone closer to my ear.
“What do you tell him?”
“That I don’t know. I tell him his parents will let him know the plan.”
“Thank you. I’m trying to make the plan certain.”
After we hung up, I found three photographs Ms. Bennett had sent over the past month. In each one, Eli stood at the edge of a class activity, smiling faintly. I wondered how much time he spent waiting for adults to tell him what would happen next.
That evening, Maya found me looking at the photographs.
“Have you told Eli about the court request?” she asked.
“No. I don’t want him thinking he has to do anything.”
“Then tell him what you can promise.”
The next time we spoke, I asked Eli if we could make a calendar together. We marked the days we planned to talk and the weekends I was supposed to see him.
“If something changes,” I said, “I’ll tell you myself. I won’t let you sit there wondering.”
He touched the screen.
“Can you put the bridge on Saturday?”
“I can.”
On Friday night, Rochelle sent a message.
Don’t drive up tomorrow. He says he doesn’t want to go.
May you like
I looked at the calendar on my wall.
Then I picked up my keys.
