INSIDE THEIR MINDS

One More Thing

PHIL
"I'll get it." I say standing from the couch, needing to stretch out my legs.

I see Kate breath a sigh of relief and then take a seat on the sofa near Trevor.

I coo at Nora in my arms on the way to the door and as I peek through the peep hole.

It's Erica and she's early,hours early.

Before I even open the door I could hear her murmuring to herself.

I open it reluctantly and almost immediatly Nora begins crying in my arms.

"Hold on." I say to Erica as I try to make silly faces at Nora which thankfully brought back her smile.

"I don't have time to wait." she says already tapping her shoes against the wooden deck of the porch.

"Well you're going to have to. You're, what, four hours early. I still have the whole night left with my son.

"It seems that you're already a little preoccupied." She says scowling at Nora.

"Look we agreed to 50/50 custody and that is what you will get." I say in an almost too stern voice. Then I flash Nora a fake cheesy smile and all is forgiven.

"Which reminds me. I signed you're damn papers." She says her arms now crossed over her shoulders. "But I am not happy about it."

You, not happy, what a shock.

"I could have my lawyers rewrite them." I say with a smirk.

"Right, so you can get even more out of the deal, I don't think so." She says now reaching into her bag and handing me a crumpled manilla folder.

I move Nora to one arm and take the letter with my free hand.

"I will be back to pick up Trevor in four hours but not a minute later." She says harshly.

Then I see her scowl at something behind me. I look back to see my mother trying playing a game with Trevor while Kate helps.

Envy sets deep into her eyes. Hatred oozed out of her every pore.

"Not a minute later!" She yelled at me then she snobbisly turned away and walked angrily back to her car.

"Shh Nora it's ok. It's ok." I whisper to her trying to stop her crying.

"Everything ok?" Kate asks looking up from the sofa.

She then sees that my arms are full and walks quickly over to me.

"Which one... should I..." she asks looking to the envelope and then to Nora.

I gently hand her Nora and immediatly open the envelope careful not to tear anything inside.

"Whats that?" She asks as Nora immediatly fell asleep on her shoulder, as always.

"Divorce papers, finally. She said she signed them." I say to her as I scan over the five pages of information hoping all of the information is accurate.

"Everything look okay?" She whispers.

"Yeah. Everything looks good." I whisper back and then peck her cheek. "There's just one more thing I need to do."