Seeds of Tomorrow

30

As promised, Fernando helped Victor obtain a family lawyer to help him with the custody issues. In mid-August the first hearing happened. The good news was that the judge agreed to issue a temporary custody order that allowed Victor to see his son. The bad news was that he was allowed one weekly two-hour visit that was to be supervised. Raquel had requested that it be supervised by a Social worker and not a family member.

Every Wednesday he was allowed to see his son from three to five which also meant he had to get off work one to two hours early every Wednesday to be able to make the visits. He was grateful for the understanding boss but hated that he had to be in that situation.

On top of that, he had been ordered to pay twelve hundred a month in child support, not that he hadn't expected to pay or planned on getting out of. But between the child support, mortgage, double car payments, and the lack of overtime, he felt like he was drowning. At least he was able to stay with
his pops and grandmother in her house. he'd be fucked if he had to find an apartment when a shit studio ran a grand in the area.

Victor had cried at his first visit and hadn't wanted to but it came out. Nearly two months without seeing his son, it was hard not to feel overcome with emotion. Raquel had been in the parking lot in the Suburban he paid for, her new dude in the driver's seat. If that wasn't a slap in the face, he didn't know what was.

The social worker was a bitch, telling him if he cried again, they would have to end the visit. He was also not
allowed to bring Sergio any gifts during the visit.

"When are you going to live back in our house?" Sergio asked innocently as they sat on a rug that looked like a city map and played with cars.

"Ah, Sergio..." Victor said searching for his words, "I don't think that will happen. I live with your grandpa now.

"Can I come over?"

"Sometime," he replied.

"When?"

Victor hesitated, holding back his tears, "Soon, ok?"

That had been a sufficient answer. Sergio merrily went back to playing with the cars, vrooming and mimicking the sound of squealing tires. Two hours was nowhere near long enough, the goodbye was the hardest.

"I'll see you in a week, I love you," Victor said hugging the little boy for what felt like an eternity, "Be good for momma, alright?"

Sergio nodded, "Ok, Daddy."

Victor did his best to avoid eye contact with Raquel and her fucking sancho as he walked out to his car but felt their stares on him. How could he hate someone so much that he'd once loved with his entire heart?

He stopped off at the tavern near his dad's on the way home for a beer and burger wanting to avoid the questions that would be coming from his family. He knew they cared but some days they were overwhelming.

The tavern was empty aside from a few construction workers fresh off work and the regulars. Victor took a seat at the bar, ordering a Corona.

"Rough day, hun?" The bartender, a woman who was perhaps a few years older than he asked.

Victor eyed her. She was pleasant-looking, maybe even cute. A short redhead, a natural one at that, with round green eyes and a gap between her front teeth.

"Rough doesn't even begin to describe it," he told her pitifully. She opened his beer and handed it to him, he slid her a ten-dollar bill, telling her to keep the change.

Six beers in, he had started talking, filling her in about everything from catching Raquel with that small ass fool to the custody battle and supervised visits. It felt good to talk. Sure he talked to Madison and Pops but to talk to someone else was a different story, especially being that it was a woman.

Victor knew it was the beer speaking but he liked talking to her. He'd never so much as looked in the direction of another woman his entire time with Raquel, faithful to a fault. Not that being faithful was a bad thing of course but it certainly felt like that when the person he'd given his everything to was so eager to hop on the first dick that came her way.

One woman. He'd been with one woman in his entire life. He'd only kissed one woman too. Damn, he was stupid for putting everything into that one scandalous woman. Had it not been for Sergio, he would have felt like it was a complete waste of time but his boy was worth it.

Tempted for one more beer, Victor decided six was enough. He'd eaten a fat burger and plate of fries and though he had a buzz going, he knew he could drive home in his current state. One more may have pushed the limit.

He said goodbye to the bartender and returned to his car, debating on returning to the tavern the following day. He wasn't trying to make a pass at her but the conversation had been nice.

Though Madison and Gladys had gone to play bingo, the house was chaotic. Pops was on the couch watching some stand-up comedian with the volume up, Rosie was FaceTiming one of her friends hella loud while Serafin ran laps around the house, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Victor sat down next to his father who was enthralled in his show, throwing his head back and laughing like a donkey.

"How it go with your visit?" Fernando asked during a commercial break.

Victor clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth, "Man, she fucking brought that dude along. Had him driving the Suburban and everything."

"Man, that's fucked up," Fernando told him, feeling himself becoming angry, "She bring him into the visit too?"

He shook his head, "No, she probably would have if they let her but it don't work that way. The social worker comes out to the car, gets Sergio and then I meet them inside. And then the lady sits and watches us the whole time like I'm gonna do something wrong."

"Fuck, so they acting like you're some kind of CPS parent or some shit?" Fernando asked. He'd never dealt with supervised visits or CPS but his wife had and what Victor was describing sounded just like the visits she'd had with Jade.

"That's how it feels," Victor admitted, "I would understand it if I was a risk to him. I'm not, I've never been. I've never even spanked him, yet I have to be babysat to watch my own damn kid."

Fernando clicked his tongue, "She just wanna make everything as difficult as possible for you it seems."

Victor nodded solemnly, "It's like she wants me to fuck up so she can just take him from me completely. And what gets me is that Marisol offered to supervise the visits, she was willing to drive clear out from Portland to here so she can do it and Raquel kept saying no because she doesn't trust my family."

"She just know she done wrong and don't want to face anybody because of it. Social worker don't know she a hoe and she can play it like you the one who dirty," Fernando told him.

"I have to pay to have the social worker supervise the visitation too. Fifty bucks each time. Not to mention, I'm leaving work early. It's worth it but fuck, man, how do people who don't have a decent income or boss who is flexible even do this shit?"

"I don't know, it's fucked up though," Fernando told him, "If you and her aint gonna work things out, you really ought to just sell the house. You paying her child support and paying that house payment for her to stay there. I ain't saying you shouldn't have to pay support but you also don't need to be supporting her ass when she got a new man."

Victor felt guilty about even considering selling the house. Sergio had lived there since he was born and to be honest, he wanted to keep the house.

"But where she gonna go? I don't want Sergio out on the street."

"He not gonna wind up on the street, nobody gonna let that happen. Her ass can either get a job or she can move in with her people, she's not gonna be getting no free rides off your dime."