Page 96 of Together Again

We’d been on hold, waiting to hear from his lawyer friend, and the call had come a few days ago. Max was going to apply for custody of Lucy until she was eighteen and could decide for herself where she wanted to live.

“How about I cook us a nice dinner tonight?” I suggested.

“Sounds good. Do we need to go to the market?”

“Yes, I can pop to that one close to the apartment.” We were nearly home, so I told Max to carry on home while I grabbed the stuff I needed for dinner.

As I walked the aisles of the local supermarket, I tried to work out in my head what I was going to cook for Max. I was still adjusting to the size of American supermarkets and where everything was.

The chocolate and caramel sauce at the end of an aisle caught my eye, and my mouth watered at how I could use them both tonight.

I had all intention of doing my best to keep Max’s mind off Lucy’s date, and now I had a plan, too.

When I arrived at the apartment, the door was wide open. I walked in and saw two police officers standing in the middle of the living room. Max still had his coat on and he looked shaken up.

“Oh god, Lucy.” I tried to get to Maxbut the officer stopped me.

“Please step away or we will have to arrest you, too.”

“Arrest me, too? What… what do you mean? Max?”

“Isaac,” Max said with a voice that was all too calm, “can you please call Peter? I’m being taken to the police station to answer questions about Lucy.”

And with that, he was taken away. The officers gave me the details of the precinct he was going to be held in and left.

I stood there in the middle of the living room, paralyzed, wondering how the day had started so well and was ending like this. How was I going to give Lucy the news?

There was only one thing I wanted to do, and that was to call my brother for some comfort, but considering the situation, I called the lawyer, Peter, first, and then Joel.