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Mollie was walking away, and I turned to her.
“What? No ‘I told you so’?”
“That feels like kicking a man when he’s down,” she said, grabbing her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Just shut up for a second.”
I blinked, about to tell her off, but she put the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Dad. Remember that thing I said I might need? I really need it now.” She listened and then sighed. “No, Dad, I’m not coming back. This is unrelated.” She paused. “This is that family lawyer thing. I know you said you would look into it, but I need itnow.”She paused again. “Okay, thank you. No, I haven’t talked to Trevor. I’m sure he’s fine. Love you, bye.” When she put her phone down, she finally looked at me. “Give me your number.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m sending you some information that should be here any second.” Her phone jingled. “There it is.”
Wordlessly, I did what she asked, and she put her number in mine. “There are the lawyers I promised you.”
“I thought you’d forgotten.”
“No, I just don’t love calling my dad right now.”
I stared at the message on my phone. She’d included three lawyers. I should thank her, or saysomething.But seeing it on my phone made it all the more real.
It had been a long time since I’d feltfear.Most of the time, I was able to push it away. But Eric wasmine.He was everything to me, and I couldn’t imagine my future without him.
“Cain?” Mollie asked. “You okay?”
I wasn’t. Not in the slightest. I could have lied and said I was, but there was no pretending at that moment. There was onlyfear.Would I see him finish kindergarten? Would I be able to see him go to middle school? Teach him to drive?
My chest burned. My entire body was tight. This was my worst nightmare.
But then firm hands landed on my shoulders.
“Hey. You need tobreathe.”
“I-I can’t.”
Her hands tightened. “Yes, you can. Come on. Do it with me.”
I didn’t want to listen, but then Mollie’s face appeared in front of mine. Even in my worst moment, it pulled me out of my thoughts, making me focus only on her.
Taking one breath and then two, I did what I was told.
“Good,” she said. “You’re gonna be able to fight this. You just need to call them.”
“What if I lose?”
“You won’t. Because I have a feeling you’ll do whatever it takes to keep Eric.”
She was right. Once again.
I nodded, but then caught on to how close she was. There were mere inches between us, and the only time we’d been this close was when we were fighting.
She must have picked up on it right when I had, because her eyes widened and she took a healthy step back.
“Good,” she said. “I’ll let you go call them.”