Like Father, Like Son ✔

Chapter 9 - Tag Team

CHAPTER 9

CAT

"James sent me a text this morning—actually, it was around midnight but I didn't get it until morning," Cat said in a hushed voice on the phone, since Luke was in his bedroom playing and she didn't want him to overhear.

"Baby daddy James sent you a text? That's a new one. What did he want?" Hannah asked. She was at her mom's and step-dad's in Milwaukee and she was making a habit of calling Cat every single day as spring break progressed, like she suspected Cat to be waiting around for her to call, doing absolutely nothing productive with her day.

To be honest, besides work, Cat couldn't say she'd done much else... so maybe Hannah wasn't entirely wrong.

It was Thursday now, the day before the Easter weekend.

"He wants to take Luke for Easter," Cat said.

"But don't you have that thing with Nick tomorrow?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, I called him and told James that Luke and I had plans. He totally flipped his lid, like I'm always keeping him from seeing Luke or something," Cat sighed, settling into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and glaring pointedly at the wall in front of her. "He said I bitch at him all the time to take Luke, and then when he finally has the time to do so, I go and fuck things up by having plans!" she hissed angrily.

"Shit, what did you tell him?" Hannah asked.

"He's gonna pick Luke up on Saturday morning instead so it'll work itself out. I did have half a mind to tell him to just fuck off," Cat murmured.

"I don't blame you," Hannah huffed, unimpressed.

"Yeah... I'm just so mad that he'd go and say that I'm a bitch for wanting my son to have a semblance of a relationship with his dad... Do you know what Luke said to me the other night? He said James wasn't a real dad because he didn't spend any time with him," she went on, her cheeks flushed and unshed tears stinging behind her eyelids.

"Well, he's not entirely wrong," Hannah said carefully.

"I know, but what am I supposed to do about it? I can't just force James to grow up," Cat said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Anyway, Luke's coming in the room so I'll talk to you again this weekend or something," she added as Luke came rushing into the kitchen, aiming right for Cat's lap.

"Alright hon, talk to you then and you better tell me all about your day with Nick and his family!" Hannah said a lot more cheerfully.

"I will, bye," Cat said and pressed the button to end the call.

"Who was that, mama?" Luke asked, struggling to climb up. She adjusted her chair to give him a little more wiggle room and took him under the shoulders, lifting him up so that he was properly seated in her lap.

"That was Aunt Hannah," Cat told him, fixing his wayward hair.

"Did she want us to go over and play?" Luke asked.

"No, not today," Cat smiled, putting him down so that she could get up and grab a water bottle from the refrigerator. She also grabbed a juice box, poked the straw in and handed it to Luke. "Aunt Hannah is in Milwaukee visiting her mom and dad," she explained.

"Is Mil—Milwaukee far away?" Luke asked, struggling a little with the name of the city so that it came out rather mispronounced.

"Milwaukee," Cat said the word again, a little slower this time. "It's not too far away, just far enough for you to watch one of your shows on my iPad," she explained.