Pride

26

"Dad?"
"Charlie, I–"
"Please... I just want to meet her. After that, we never even have to mention her again. I just wanna know..."
"You've already met her..."
"Dad," she sighed. "Please..."
"Yeah, fine, sure," I lied.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too."

***

"Hello, handsome," Carrie smiled.
"Hey," I mumbled.
"You okay?"
"No, but I'll be fine."
"What's wrong?"
"It's too complicated to get into now. I'll tell you tomorrow, alright?"
"Okay," she nodded, "Do you guys want your usual?"
"Yes, please."
"Charlie, what kind of cake do you want?"
"Lemon, please," she said. "Dad, I'm gonna go find a place to sit."
"Okay, sweetheart," I said.
"So what's wrong?" Carrie asked as Charlotte walked away.
"She's meeting her mum today..."
"Oh," Carrie said. "I can imagine that your nervous."
"You're quite the detective, Fletcher," I teased.
"Hush," she giggled. "Here's your stuff. Everything's on me today... try not to stress, alright?"
"Okay..."
"I'll call you later."
"Yeah," I whispered.

I joined Charlotte at our table and looked around for Cassidy. Charlotte contently sipped her milk and ate her cake as she waited.

"Here, dad." She handed me the frosted edge. "I know you like this part."
"No, honey, just eat. Thank you though."
"Just take it, dad."
"Fine," I huffed.
"Dan?" I heard the familiar voice say.
"Hey, Cassie," I choked out.
"Thank you for letting me do this."
"Mhmm," I mumbled.
"You must be, Charlotte..." Cassidy said.
"Hi," she waved.
"You look just like your father." She teared up. "So pretty..."
"What do you say, Charlie?"
"Thank you," she beamed.
"So, um, is there anything you want to ask me?" Cassidy asked.
"Why'd you leave me at my dad's door?"
"You know about that, huh?" She pursed her lips. "Well, I was young and stupid and I thought I was doing the right thing."
"Were you?"
"I don't know," Cassidy cried. "At the time, I wanted nothing to do with you... I was too young to have a child–"
"And my dad was old enough?"
"Well, no, but I was being petty and idiotic. If I was given the chance to do it all over again, I would keep you. I really would."
"No, you wouldn't," I mumbled.
"Why wouldn't I?" she scoffed.
"Because I know you and sixteen year old Cassie couldn't face a conflict if she was given a million pounds to do so."
"What's the supposed to mean?"
"When you got pregnant, you just ran away from me and I had to be the one that said it wasn't working anymore. If you weren't such a scardy-cat, we could have worked out the whole baby situation together. But no, you had other plans."
"You're making it seem like she was a burden on you," Cassidy snapped.
"All children are burdens," I said. "No matter the age, their attitude or what have you. They disrupt your life and burden you..." I looked to Charlotte and smiled. "My burden just happened to change my life for the better." I pinched her cheek and she smiled back. "We're done here, Cassie."

I grabbed Charlotte's hand and started walking her towards the door. Cassidy stood up in complete rage and huffed.

"I still have legal rights to her, Howell!" she screamed.

I stopped in my tracks and let out a sigh. She was right—there was never a legal discussion that gave me full custody of Charlotte.

"Then you owe me six years in child support, Jones," I said.
"Over my dead body," she gasped.
"Fine... then I guess I'll see you in court. C'mon, Charlotte."

She stood in the crowded Starbucks completely dumbfounded as we walked out.

I can't believe I just fucking did that.

***

"How do I look?" I asked.
"Very handsome, why?" Phil raised a brow.
"Just making sure I look court presentable."
"You do, stop stressing."
"I can't! This is a big deal."
"No, not really."
"It's an all or nothing situation, Phil! If it doesn't go right I could lose my daughter!"
"But you're not going to. You've taken care of her by yourself for half a decade. The court will see how she couldn't even handle her for a week and give you full custody. Stop stressing, it'll only make everything worse."
"Fair enough. Charlie! We gotta go!"
"Wait," Phil said.
"Yeah?"
"C'mere."