Page 97 of Accidental Blind Date

Chapter 34

Libby

“She’s trying to take my girls,” Dax chokes out through the phone, and my heart cracks open in my chest.

I feel like I am going to pass out, and I flip on the stockroom lights before finding a stack of books to sit down on.

“Can she do that?” I ask.

“The papers in my hand suggest she can.”

“But you’re their dad. She’s just their aunt,” I argue.

“And from her point of view they’re better off with her,” he says.

“That’s bullshit,” I snap. “Sorry, but it is.”

“From the looks of it, she got a lawyer,” he says, and I can hear the papers flipping in the background.

“So, lawyer up too! Dax you have money,”

“This isn’t going to be about just money, though Libby. It’s about the interest of the girls. And her arguing point is going to be that she’s been there for them more than I have since their mother died.”

“And I still vote that it’s in their best interest to be with their father. They’ve already lost enough, losing their home isn’t going to make anything better.”

I might be overstepping but I am heated. Enough so that I am not filtering my mouth. I also don’t plan to. I do soften a little for his sake though. I can tell just from his voice that Dax is really distraught, and he doesn’t need my panic right now. We can save that for the courtroom.

“Dax, we aren’t going to let her do anything. Just don’t agree to anything or talk to anyone, including Jenna until you have a lawyer,” I tell him. I’m sure he already knows all of this, but I know his brain is spinning around in circles right now. “Do you want to call off tonight so you can be with the girls? I can even come over and–”

“No, I want to go out. That way we can talk things through. I also don’t want to go postal and make the girls worry that something is wrong.”

“Good call,” I agree. “And Dax? We got this. No one is going to take your girls from you.”

After we get off the phone, I tell Summer and Tom that I have an errand to run. I don’t want anyone knowing anything because I don’t want anyone talking. Boston is a large city, but each neighborhood has its own clique, and it doesn’t take long for news to travel. Especially with a big name like Dax’s.

Knowing that Joni is working, she isn’t going to answer her phone. But if I can catch her on a recess break, maybe she can give me some advice.

“Make sure you have your visitor sticker on,” she tells me as we walk down the hall towards her classroom together. “They’re getting more and more strict about these things it seems.”

We walk through the door, and she closes it. Then she pulls up two chairs that are too small (her kids are little) and we sit down facing each other.

“Now. What is so urgent that you couldn’t even text to talk about it?”

“Dax’s sister-in-law is trying to take the girls from him,” I tell her, emotion rising in my voice. With Dax, I stayed as calm as possible. But with Joni, I can’t hold that inside anymore.

“Oh, I know. Jenna is a high-strung bitch who has been acting like their self-proclaimed mother for years. I think it’s because her kids are older and no longer want to have anything to do with her so she’s preying on her sister's kids. I wouldn’t worry about it though, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

Joni crosses her legs, leaning back on the small chair while munching on a bag of animal crackers. She isn’t getting it.

“She’s suing him for custody,” I say.

Joni narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Suing him? No way. How?”

“She got a lawyer,” I say, wringing my hands in my lap.

Joni sits up. “You’re serious. She served him papers? When?”

I nod. “After we got back from Costa Rica. He’s freaking out,”