Blended Family

Pippa

It was no longer surprising when Joey showed up at our house out of the blue when she was supposed to be at her mom's.  It was just a little heartbreaking that her mother was moving hundreds of miles away soon and they couldn't seem to be civil with each other.  When I came back from a recording session she was laying on the couch with Elliott as they watched a show.

"Separate," I told them as I put my bag down.  Elliott rolled his eyes but obeyed.  They both sat up and continued talking.  Lin was currently trying to wrangle Alex to the bathroom.  From the sounds of it she'd had an accident.  Jack was crying from his room.

I wandered down the hall to get Jack from his crib.  He'd just woken up from his nap so he was probably dirty and hungry.  I talked to him quietly as I took him to the changing table and cleaned him up.  Then we went to the kitchen for a little snack.

As Lin was finishing up he got a phone call, apparently from his ex.  He wandered out, talking about how he couldn't force her to go over there.  This caught Joey's attention and she watched her father as he multi-tasked.  He finally hung up, sighing.

"What did she want?" Joey asked him.

Lin tucked away his phone.  "She's upset you won't go over there when it's her time."

"She totally attacked me this morning!" Joey told him.  "She was being such a bitch."

"Josephine," Lin warned her on her language.

"She is!" Joey got up, looking upset.  "She said I always choose you and no matter what she does I don't think she's a good enough mom.  She's the one who's choosing to move to Chicago.  She could stay here and be with me but she's too selfish!"

"Josephine, she has her reasons," Lin explained.  "It's a hard situation.  But your mom's gonna be gone in two weeks and you won't see her for months probably."

"Thank God," she mumbled.  Lin sighed, obviously bothered by her answer.  It broke my heart that they weren't getting along, especially since they'd be separated soon.

____

A couple days later I was going through the mail when I found a letter from the New York City Family Court system.  It was addressed to Lin, so I took him over to it immediately.  He furrowed his eyebrows at the table and started to open it.  I watched his face as his eyes darted back and forth across the page.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said, rubbing his fingers over his temple.

"What is it?" I asked, anxious to hear.

"Clarita is claiming I'm in violation of our custody agreement," he said, standing up.  "Because Joey's not spending her time at her house.  I can't believe this."

I was shocked that Clarita was bringing the legal system into this.  Joey was fourteen years old.  She was old enough to make her own choices about where to spend her time.  Lin had nothing to do with her decision.

He immediately whipped out his phone and called up Clarita.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he growled over the phone.  "You're getting the courts involved?"

Lin was silent, his face screwed up in an exasperated expression as Clarita explained herself on the other end.

"Clarita, she's fourteen.  I cannot force her to go to your place," he explained.  "You know that."

More silence as Clarita talked.

"Have you tried to get her to do something she doesn't want to lately?" he posed as he began to pace.  He was getting more and more worked up as Clarita spoke on the other end.  I could hear her voice becoming agitated.