Everything & More (Book 1 in the E.C.N Series)

Chapter 77 - Martha

This is a long one (over 3500 words) but I'm making up for lost time.. enjoy! Also things are getting hot and heavy it will be marked with ~XXXXXX~ when it starts and ends for anyone that wants to skip that portion of the story.
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Winter break... this was the first time in 7 years that I was resenting it.  It was coming around the corner and I knew I needed to coordinate Paige's visitation with Jonathan. However with the raging war of lawyers it was becoming increasingly difficult to co parent. Jonathan was being dodgy and talking through lawyers was taking too long to actually schedule anything.

This is why I didn't want to do this. The slight throbbing in my head was starting again.

I didn't want to go through the system to deal with how we parent Paige. I wanted to get divorced as civil as possible and agree that we knew how to handle Paige among ourselves. Though the more I say it the more I realize that it was just a fantasy living in my head.

I didn't break up my family... I have to keep reminding myself of that, every time a wave of guilt comes over me as I look at my daughters face and how much she misses her dad.

I told him I would never try to replace him in Paige's life. He's her father and for a long time he was a good one too. Now he's being petty and the good father award is about to be chucked out the fucking window.

I'm in the middle of emailing Ms. Freeman, food from the cafeteria untouched below my hands as I type away pressing the back button for the umpteenth time trying to avoid typos.

"Damn keyboards... can't even write a cohesive email," I mutter under my breath.

"Well don't you look like you're in a good mood." If the sarcastic tone wasn't enough, the fact I know my face is scrunched in frustration was a dead give away, that was meant to be a joke.

A tray of food lands on the other side in front of me with the chair being pulled out. Mason plants himself down greeting me with a kind smile.

"Is it that obvious?" I groaned.

His smile stayed as he truly looked at me, I saw sincerity not pity, "How's your day treating you?"

"It could be better, just trying to email my lawyer."

"Why are you using your phone?"

"Because I didn't want to do this on a work computer. God forbid an emergency happens and I accidentally leave myself logged in. Then everyone in the hospital is going to know my damn business."

"Fair... How is that going? The whole divorce lawyer thing."

"I wish I could say I don't have an ounce of regret." I skimmed over the last few words before hitting send, finally being able to place my phone down.

"If she isn't the right fit we can find someone else."

"No-no she's great! I just-It's hard not to feel regret about this whole situation when I have a daughter at home that's confused. On top of that a husband that is a dog with a bone and won't move the divorce proceedings along."

"I get that. Not the whole kid thing but my divorce wasn't smooth sailing by any means. My ex-wife was a force to be reckoned with when it came to wanting alimony and shit."

"Yikes." I grimaced.

"Yea.""I didn't know this was my future. Struggling to schedule my husband to spend time with his daughter. All because..." I trailed off not knowing how to explain. Was I hoping Mason would just come to his own conclusion sure. But he isn't like that.

"Because of what?"I push the lasagna around my plastic fork becoming red from the sauce before stuffing my face with a quick bite, "Nothing.""Nope, not doing that. Because of what?" God I hate that I have a terrible poker face around people I'm comfortable with.