Lucas

We get to the school and I'm feeling somewhere between nervous and excited. It's cute to see all the little kids with backpacks on. I'm not sure why they have them on, since it's not actually a school, but they're adorable nonetheless.

We park to the side and get Jadon out, and Allie takes his hand while they walk up to the front door. She signs him in with the digital check-in counter and we walk with him to where the other little ones go.

Here's the thing about the mother of my child. He's a beautiful child and gets that from her. But she has him dressed like a nerd. He's in penny loafers and khaki shorts. He's somewhere between middle-aged dad and dressed his Sunday best with the sweater vest over his short-sleeved collared shirt. Kids aren't old enough to make fun of him just yet, but they will. They're bound to do it soon, so she needs to learn how to dress this kid for school in a way that will set him up to not be bullied. She needs to realize what he wears on the field is perfectly fine, minus the tucked-in t-shirts.

Immediately, Jadon took off running to the other kids getting caught up in the toys they were playing with. I look over at Allie and notice she's got tears in her eyes she trying to wipe off. I guess it makes sense. I mean, he's her world and she's probably never had to actually let him go like this. He just took off running without even a word. I decide to walk over to Jadon and kneel down to his level. "Hey buddy, you wanna go say bye to mommy before she leaves?"

"Oh!" he says and starts running to her with his arms open. Allie sees him and immediately drops down to hug him. I see her blink her eyes shut, trying to fight more tears from spilling out. She tells him she loves him and then lets him go after she adjusts his collar. We watch him go back to playing with the same kids and then slowly walk out after she turned a few times to catch one last glimpse at him.

When we finally got to the car, things were silent. I heard her sniffle a few times until she was okay. She checked her phone again after it pinged for a new text and I saw her smile. Must be Ted. I wonder where he's taking her and if they've gone on trips alone before.

I'm not jealous, I am just curious how she's doing with some guy that she probably doesn't treat like the devil.

"So Ted..." I say, trying to start some kind of conversation with this girl. I know only a handful of things about her and even less about him.

"What about him?" she asks, not even looking at me.

"Jadon seems to like him, are they...close?" Jadon wouldn't shut up about the guy yesterday when Tom left us alone in his office "to bond." Mostly just how he's "awesome." I doubt it. Allie is straight and narrow. She would date a pencil-pusher. I know about fun, so Jadon is in for a reality check, here, real soon.

"Jadon loves Ted and yeah, they're close. Ted is kind of like this big brother to him. He plays with him a lot and helps calm Jadon down if he has a bad dream or thinks there's something in his closet watching him."

"How often does he have bad dreams?" I ask. Also... Ted sleeps over? In her room?

She sighs, "Umm, not too often, but when he does, it's usually on the nights when Ted is over, so sometimes I think it's more to get attention from him."

"Why would he want Ted over you? I mean, you're his mother."

"I spoke to a counselor that thinks it's possibly a coping mechanism for Jadon because, no offense, it's his way of developing a paternal relationship with someone who takes an interest in him as a father would. I think it's because Ted brings him cookies and reads him extra stories to fall back asleep."

That hurts. Jadon is looking for Ted to be his father, as in, actively trying to make Ted fill that void. Jadon doesn't exactly hate me, but really, how am I supposed to compete with the guy who has already been in his life?

Oh, right. Be the fun, caring dad.

"Does your girlfriend know about Jadon yet?" she asks, interrupting my string of uncomfortable thoughts. "My dad mentioned you were in a relationship."

"Umm, no. She doesn't do well with a lot of change in her life and likes things the way she likes them. She's kind of going through something at the moment and I am waiting for the right time to tell her." Like which color interior she wants on this season's car and which shade of whatever she wants in her hair. Oh, and she's supposed to be looking for a job, too.

She rolls her eyes and looks out the window. "Well, I'd say he can come over to your house after you've told her and she's fine with it."

"Well, she doesn't technically live with me so it's not like I need her permission to bring my son home."

"Yeah, but you'll need mine and I'm not going to have him be caught up in your girlfriend not wanting him around if she wants to be the center of attention. Jadon doesn't compete for it in our home, and won't compete for it in yours. If he senses something is wrong, he will shut down. And I'm not saying this to be a jerk, Lucas, it's a warning that comes from experience."

"Okay, I get it, but he's my son, too, and Katrina is an adult too, she won't stoop so low as to compete with a four-year-old."

"Katrina, as in Katrina Vanderburg?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah? You know her?" I wouldn't be surprised since we met at Kat's house.

"Not personally, but I know of her and her family. If you didn't tell my dad, you should wait because he hates that family."

"Noted." Hard to imagine Tome hating someone, but okay. I'll work him up to it. "She and I got together a few times in high school and then reconnected about two years ago." Reconnected makes it sound formal. Like we weren't both crowned at prom together and shipped in the yearbook as the cutest couple or whatever.

Kat and I saw one another off and on when she showed up at school and between her flings with guys on the various teams until she just stuck around one day.

Yeah, not the romantic story of the ages at all.

"You getting married anytime soon, or just waiting to toss her out of your car, too?" she asks in what I'm assuming is a joke, but considering how sensitive Allie is, I'm not going to joke about it.

"I guess. I mean, she wants to get married and we probably will eventually."

Allie doesn't say anything, so I decide to move away from the Katrina conversation. "You going to marry Ted if he asks you?"

"What?" she asks, turning from the window to look at me. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm just wondering if you'd marry the guy you're dating. He seems nice enough, from what Tom says." I have other opinions of the guy without meeting him, but she probably won't appreciate what I have to say.

I'll just say this. If I knew a girl like Allie from a young age, I wouldn't have left to go to school without locking things down with her. I would have staked my claim on this girl long before we knew what it even meant.

No, Ted waited, knowing she wouldn't dare see another guy with a small kid. Nothing against it, but it's not her character. Without meeting the guy, I'm ninety-nine percent sure he wanted to get his fill and have his fun before settling with the girl back home.

"Oh," she says, relaxing into her seat. Something probably caught her off guard in that question. Interesting. "Yeah, I mean, I don't know. He and I have always liked one another, and we have fun and he cares about me and about Jadon, so I guess if he asked I wouldn't say 'no,' exactly."

"That's not the confident answer of someone who is in love."

"Yeah, well, not my fault I don't trust so easily and don't want to wind up alone if a guy decides he's done with me."

Okay, I'm not saying she's not justified, but the same excuses are getting old, quick. I need to figure out how to better get on her good side so she sees me as the friend or whatever we can make this into. She is, by far, the most challenging person I've met.

I pull into the school parking lot, and we walk up the front steps together. She waves goodbye when she walks into the front office and then I head toward the coaching office for the morning meeting.

Tom greets me when I get in and asks how the drop-off went. "It was fine, he went straight for some kids and started playing with them right off the bat. He's gonna be fine there."

"That's good," he nods. "I'm sure Allie cried."

I don't really want to answer that, because I know she's sensitive sometimes when it comes to Jadon, so I just grimace and log in to my laptop.

"Yeah, I figured. She's always getting all worked up over everything with him. I don't blame her. When she was in the hospital, she was afraid he wasn't going to make it. They called me on the way in the ambulance, but I was two hours away for a game. I had to rush back and leave Barry in charge while I tried to get there without getting into an accident, myself."

"I had no idea, did you get there before the delivery?"

"No, by the time I got there, they had pulled the baby out and she was asleep. They had him in surgery while I was back and forth with nurses and doctors trying to make sure both of them were going to be okay. He was so small, but he made it, though. And she's been worried about him ever since."

I swear, every time someone talks about Allie and what she's had to go through because of me, I want to punch myself in the dick. She was a teenager, was hit by some asshole who drove off, and had to have her baby all by herself in the hospital. Fuck, this is awful.

"Did you ever find out who hit her?"

I don't miss how Tom's shoulders tense. "No, but I have an idea." He eyes me for a second before going back to his email. "Well, I guess it's time to get out there. You know how Barry likes to give them extra warm-ups in the morning."

We both laugh and head out to practice with the team.

When lunch rolls around, I decide to head to the office to see if Allie needs a ride to go get anything. I left early this morning, I forgot to grab some food to bring to work so I was going to go out anyway.

When I reach the office, I hear a conversation between Allie and some guy. It doesn't take a genius to figure out it's Ted, but she says his name at least once. I stand where they can't see me, just listening for a second before I head out to my car.

So. He visits her at work.

"So where are we going this weekend?" she asks him.

"I told you, it's a surprise," he says.

"Okay, but like, I need to know what to wear and how to dress."

"You can wear whatever you want, babe. I'm fine if you don't even wear anything at all," he tells her. I just roll my eyes at his bullshit line, then I hear her giggle like he's a fucking comedian. How can she stand his voice? It's like nails on a chalkboard if you ask me.

"No seriously, like are we going to any nice restaurants or going hiking or anything? It's a critical matter of whether or not I bring heels and a nice dress, or my waterproof shoes."

"Okay..." he's stalling, not wanting to tell her where he's taking her. Sounds like a serial killer, if you ask me. "Take a dress for Friday night, and something comfortable to wear, like jeans, and maybe take some sandals or something where you can take your shoes off easily."

The beach. Just tell her you're going to the beach, Mr. Smooth.

I walk away before I have to hear any more of their little chat. She just better be safe and not get pregnant again. Seems like Jadon is enough for her, and even if Ted acts like he has good intentions, I don't trust him.

I wonder if Tom has a tracker for her in her phone in case she goes missing. He's not a high-tech guy, but I can show him how to use it just in case of an emergency.