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Callan stands up from his place beside me. “I’ll help, Dad.”
I’m not wild about him helping and you’ll see why in a minute, but I’m more caught up in the fact that he's calling me Dad all the time now and not ignoring me after the other night.
Callan’s idea of doing the dishes is washing one dish, drying it, putting it away and then starting on the next. It goes to show you how different our personalities are in that aspect. I usually always break at least one dish while I'm doing them.
I laugh when he reaches for a bowl.
He looks at me. “What?”
I nudge his shoulder with mine. “I love your thought process.”
He glances behind us when we hear a noise in the living room. It’s Noah, naked from his bath Madison must have given him. He’s also peeing on a plant next to the window.
“Should we tell Mom?”
“Nah. I think that plant likes urine because he’s been doing it for the last six months and it hasn’t died yet.”
Callan smiles, reaching for another plate.
We finish the dishes and Callan goes upstairs to get ready for bed. That’s when Madison finds me in the Kitchen. “Thanks for coming tonight. I know the boys enjoyed having you here.”
I nod and lean into the counter. “Have you talked to Callan about the other school?”
Madison shakes her head. “I didn’t, but I’ve given it a lot of thought and I don’t think we should put him in a different school. He’s already upset he’s different from the other kids his age. I just think uprooting him to a new school will make it harder on him.” She motions with a flick of her wrist between us. “All this is going to be hard enough.”
When my parents divorced, my mom and I moved to Phoenix where her sister lived. My dad moved to Vegas. I remember being so upset with both my parents for making me change schools during the middle of the year and not only that, forcing me to start a whole new life somewhere else because they couldn’t get their shit together.
I didn’t talk to my dad for two years after that.
I couldn’t let that happen to Callan and Noah. I wouldn’t.
I stand there and wait for Madison to look at me, devastation in both our eyes. “I want to be able to see them whenever I want. You can have the house, cars, whatever you want from me, but don’t take them away too.”
She nods. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Ridley.”
Wouldn’t she? I never thought she’d file for a divorce without coming and talking to me first, but she did that.
I give a tip of my head upstairs. “I’m gonna say goodnight to the boys.”
Noah’s already asleep. You can literally put him in bed and he’s asleep in two minutes. And if he doesn’t fall asleep right away, sing gangster rap.
Callan’s another story. He likes to read before bed so I know he’ll be up. Knocking lightly on his door, I enter quietly. “Hey, bud, I’m gonna head out. Just wanted to tuck you in.”
He smiles and sets his book aside when I sit on the edge of his bed. “I’ve been thinking….” And the look on his face tells me he has. “Since you won’t be around, will you take me to Ukraine? It'd make me feel better about all this.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. He’s playing me and you know what, I’m kinda proud he’s pulling this card out. I laugh. “Are you trying to bribe me?
He shrugs. “Maybe a little.”
I pull his blankets up. “How about this, how about I check into it?” I have checked into it a little. Remember? Gamma radiation and $1300 air fare.
He lies back on his bed. “Good enough for me.”
I glance at the book I got him for his birthday, the one he’s been reading. “What's with you and nuclear bombs?”
“You mean power plants? Because that's what Chernobyl was.”
“Yes, sorry.”