Lita was driving to Adam's house late afternoon the following Saturday so she could pick up Ethan. Ethan asked her earlier that day before they would have headed out for an errands filled day if he could spend sometime with Adam instead. That upset her because it felt like he wanted to spend all of his time with his dad instead of her. She called Adam and asked him if it was okay if she dropped Ethan off because he wanted to spend some time with him. Adam said he had a couple of errands to run, but Ethan was more than welcome to join him. Lita then told Ethan who said he still wanted to go with Adam who then picked up Ethan since he was already out the house.
She heard her phone ring and she glanced at it to see who it was. Dawn. She answered the phone and put it on speaker before she placed the phone on her lap. "Hey."
"Hey missy," Dawn replied. "Why can't I hear you the right way?"
"Because I'm driving. So what's up?" Lita asked as she continued to drive. There was still about ten minutes left before she would get to Adam's house. It was weird for her to go to his house, but she never went inside the two times she actually went, instead calling Adam when she was outside his house to tell him to come out and bring Ethan to the car. There was only one time she actually went inside his house which was two weeks ago, but that was involuntary since Adam was the one who took her and Dawn there and she had no recollection of it until the next morning when she asked Dawn where they were.
"Where are you going?" Dawn asked from the other end of the line.
"Adam's house."
The brunette smirked. "Oooh, for what? A secret hot rendezvous?" She could sense the redhead glaring on the other end of the phone which caused her to smirk even more.
"You're an idiot. For many reasons. If it were a secret, then why would I tell you? Hold on." Lita paused for a moment so she could take a turn at a busy intersection. She always hated taking a turn there. "I'm picking up Ethan."
"He's there again?"
Lita sighed. "Yea, he is. He actually asked me if he could spend some time with Adam. The both of us promised him that he could see Adam when he wanted to so I just couldn't say 'no' to him even though I wanted to. But then I thought that he'll be bored with me dragging him around all day, so I'll let him go to Adam. But the thing is that Adam told me he had stuff to do today as well. So it's like he rather be bored with his father than me."
Dawn could sense the dejection in her friends voice and that upset her. "Li, he's just trying to get to know his dad. Is that such a bad thing?"
"No, but it seems he wants to spend all his free time with Adam. It's like he doesn't want to be around me anymore."
"You know that's not the truth. Like I said, he's just trying to get to know his father. That doesn't mean he's forgetting about you or that he loves you less."
"I know. I've tried telling myself that multiple times, but I just can't help it. It's like I'm waiting for him to tell me he wants to move in with Adam."
"Li, that's not going to happen."
"But I can't help but think it will. I don't want to lose him. He's my life."
"I know sweetie, but you won't lose him."
"I know Adam is his dad so they both deserve to have time together, but this is hard for me. I feel like I am losing him." It was quiet for a moment because the brunette didn't know what to say and the redhead just didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Anyways, why did you call in the first place?"
"Yea, how was your appointment yesterday? You didn't really tell me, you just said that you went. You know I need more details than that if you want me to leave you alone."
Lita rolled her eyes because she knew that was the truth. "Yea, it was fine. She gave me a prescription, which I went to pick up today and these idiots at the pharmacy told me yesterday that I could pick it up at three today but it wasn't even ready at that time. Then they told me to come back at four, and nope, wasn't ready then either. So I sat there for thirty minutes while they got their shit together. Why are people so stupid?"
Dawn chuckled at her friends obvious frustration. "So that's all? She just gave you a prescription?"
Lita bit her lip out of nervousness when she thought what the doctor told her. She was just happy that Dawn couldn't see her right now. "Yup," she lied hoping Dawn couldn't sense it in her voice. The doctor actually told her to do something else as well as take medication, but she didn't want to. She said it would be a waste of time and money because the medicine would work and that's all she needed. The doctor was being persistent, but so was she. So she decided to humor the doctor and said she would, even though both knew she she wasn't going to.
"Okay. Well, what did she say the problem is?" Dawn kept pressing the issue.
"Nothing, just stress related like I told you."
"Okay. That's good that it's nothing horrible." She was glad Dawn brought it.
"Okay look, I'll talk to you later. I'm at Adam's place now. Bye." With that, she hung up the phone only to call someone else. "Hi," Lita responded when Adam picked up the phone. "I'm outside, could you bring Ethan to the car?"
"Actually, I was wondering if you could come inside," Adam replied, "I actually want to talk to you about something."
"We can do that when you bring Ethan. I have to get home, so if you wouldn't mind, please hurry up."
"It would be better if you would actually come inside and talk. It might take a while and I don't really want Ethan to hear."
"Well, then it's okay if you leave him inside the house. You don't have anything dangerous lying around, do you?'
"Um, no."
"Great, then come out and we'll talk on the porch."
Adam raised a brow on the other end. "Why do you always avoid coming inside?"
"Because I want to." She unbuckled her seat-belt and opened the door and started to head towards the porch. "Just come out now." She hung up the phone before he could say anything. He knew how stubborn she was so if she said she wasn't going to come inside, then she wasn't going to, so he too made his way to the porch after he told Ethan to stay put in the living room and get ready because Lita was here to pick him up and he would be back after he talked to her first.
"Hey," Adam said when he got on the porch and saw Lita standing there waiting for him.
"What do you want?" She responded impatiently when she turned around to face him.
He wasn't surprised at all by her tone. He couldn't remember the last time she talked to him without sounding like she was irritated all the time. And he knew that would continue throughout the conversation because she wouldn't like what he was going to say at all.
"You want to sit down first?" He motioned to the chairs on the side.
"Not really. I don't have all day, so could you hurry this up?"
He had to bite his tongue from asking why she was acting like a bitch again. But he didn't want to start that again. He just wanted to have a civil conversation with her. "Okay, just hear me out before you react."
"Oh God," Lita groaned, finally deciding to take a seat on one of the chairs with Adam following suit. "So obviously this is going to piss me off. What is it?"
"As you know, Ethan was fine staying over here last weekend." She nodded, so he continued. "And it seems like he actually likes being around here."
"And? What's your point? Stop beating around the bush and get to it."
"Well, I was thinking that we should probably come up with a better arrangement for Ethan."
"I like this arrangement just fine," Lita interrupted before Adam, who yet again had to bite his tongue from saying something she wouldn't appreciate, could say anything else.
"He has only stayed here once and that too because you had to work overnight. I don't get to see him as much as I want to. Don't you think I should be able to see him more often. Wouldn't you like to have some time to yourself?"
"It's been three weeks Adam. Three weeks that he's known about you. I think you've spent enough time with him for three weeks. And as far as him staying with you more, are you stupid or something? Like I said, he's only known you for three weeks! Do you really think he'll want to stay here with you more?"
"I'm not saying this should happen right away. But either way, I think he's ready for it."
"Well I'm not!" She had enough of this as she got up from where she was seated. She wanted to leave as soon as she could. "I know you stopped thinking about me a long time ago, but this isn't easy for me either!" She calmed down and sighed sitting back on the chair when she realized this wasn't easy for Adam either. He wanted to spend more time with his son and get to know him better. "Okay, that sounded really selfish, but I think I'm allowed that. But, I know this isn't easy for any of us. You want to know Ethan more and you want him to get to know you more. I get it. Ethan probably is ready, but I'm not. This is just as hard for me as it is for you."
"I know. I wasn't expecting you to agree right away. I do want to make sure Ethan is okay with this first, but I want to make sure you're okay with it too. I just want to be a part of his life. I actually want to be able to act like I'm his father."
"You are."
He shook his head in disagreement. "No. It feels like I'm just helping you out. I don't want that. I want equal amount of responsibility. I don't want him just when you're busy. I want him even when you're not. I want this to be an equal thing. I want to set a proper custody agreement. Not something that happens randomly."
"You're going to take me to court?" Lita asked in shock looking up at him.
"No," he answered before she could jump to another conclusion. "We can do come up with an agreement just me and you. We don't need a third party for this. I just think it'll be easier on all of us if we come up with something proper."
"Okay. I see where you're coming from, but you're going to have to be a little more patient with me. I know that's asking a lot, but please bear with me here."
He nodded. "Okay, as long as you do think about this and we can talk about it later and come up with something better."
"Yea. It's only fair to Ethan."
"Thanks." She simply nodded. It was quiet for a moment until she got up from the chair and faced Adam who too was now standing up.
"Could you get Ethan now? We should get going."
"You know you could some inside."
"Just get him." She ignored his statement and he was about to go inside to get Ethan to tell him it was time to go, but he decided to say something else.
"Torrie meant nothing to me. She was just a really great friend and... she was just a great friend in Idaho."
Lita took a deep breath before she answered. Why was he even bringing this up? "I don't care. That's none of my business."
"Then why are you pissed off at me?" Yup, he was going to press that issue. "You were pretty much okay with me until you found out about her."
"My life does not revolve around you and what you did when you were gone. What you did back then, or what you even do now is none of my business. If it doesn't involve Ethan, I really don't care." He was about to say something else until she interrupted him. "Just go get Ethan. Please." He just left it at that and went to do as he was asked. He could tell she was getting angry again but he felt like it was important for him to tell her that Torrie meant nothing more to him other than a friend no matter what his relationship was with her.
"Hey buddy. It's time to go. Your mommy is waiting for you outside. Let's go." Ethan heard him, but didn't get up. "Ethan, she is waiting for you."
"I don't wanna go," Ethan said not looking up from the ground. "I want to stay here with you."
Adam was confused and surprised. He knew this wasn't going to go well if Lita found out what was going on inside. "You can come again another day."
Ethan looked up at his father with sad eyes. "You promise?"
"Of course buddy," Adam said taking a seat next to the little boy. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?" Ethan nodded. "Then why don't you want to go home with mommy?"
"I want to stay with you."
"You don't want to go with her?"
"I want to stay with her too."
"Then what's wrong?" He had a bad feeling he knew where this was going.
"Why can't you live with me and mommy?" Yup, he was right. "Jacob's daddy lives with him and his mommy."
"I know, but... I promise you will understand when you're older." Adam hated the fact that he had to say that to Ethan because he could see he was very upset about this and he deserved a real answer, but there was no way he would be able to understand any of this right now. Ethan didn't say anything after that. "Are you ready to go now?"
"You promise I can come again?"
"Promise."
"You won't ever leave me?"
"No."
"But you weren't here before."
"I know. I'm sorry. But I promise I will never leave you. I love you. Okay?" Ethan nodded. Adam hugged his son before they went off to Lita before the mother-son duo could leave. He grinned when he heard the next words leaving Ethan's mouth. It was the first time he heard those words from his son.
"I love you daddy."
Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to mca, justkimmy, Totaldramfan123, kay, alliewash13, and Pinayprincesa.
Ugh. I have mixed feelings about this chapter, but it was needed before some other stuff happens so yea. Hope you liked it.
I was just wondering, would y'all like to see more flashbacks before Adam left? I know I have only written one after he left, one is coming up in the next chapter and more will follow. But I just wanted to know if y'all would like to see more before he left because I feel like I may be overdoing those and not having enough of those after he left, but I don't want to stop writing them if some actually like them. There is definitely going to be one that leads up to why he left but now's not the time for that. Anyways, if you have a preference, tell me, if not, that's cool. Thanks.