"I'm sorry, you what?" Lucas asked, forcing his tone to stay even and not raise his voice. He didn't want Catie to be alarmed by his anger.
"I want to see Catie."
"Do you even know how old she is, Randi? What she looks like? What her favorite food is?"
"Lucas, she's my daughter."
"Since when? I think you gave up the right to call her that when you left us for Greg. Goodbye."
"Lucas, things are different now. She's still my daughter because I gave birth to her. You have no right to keep her from me."
"I have plenty of right, Randi. I am her father and I have raised her from when she was a year old. She doesn't know you."
He hung up on her, hating that she knew his phone number. He should have changed it a long time ago.
"Dad?" Catie said, walking in the room and climbing up on his lap.
"Hi, baby. Can I have a hug?"
"Yep! You have lines again," she said, smoothing the lines around his eyes and on his forehead.
He just held her. It was amazing to feel the unconditional love of his child…yet, something…or more correctly, someone was missing. The someone that popped in his head was Elizabeth, as much as that scared him. He wanted to maybe hold her hand, put his arm around her.
He picked up his phone when Catie wiggled down and started playing. "Will you have coffee with me tomorrow?" he texted and sent, ignoring the feeling in his stomach and his racing heart.
"Just you and me?" she texted back.
"Yes. I just need…I need a friend and that's you."
Elizabeth smiled and agreed to meet him for coffee around lunchtime when he would have an hour break from work, and she would be off on her lunch break too.
"See you then."
"See you."
She picked up her phone and immediately dialed Faith.
"Beth?"
"He asked me out for coffee!" she told her.
"No way."
"Yes! Now, he didn't say it was a date but he actually said we are friends so his wall is starting to crack!" That darned wall.
"That's great, Beth. I have news too."
"What?"
"I'm going to have a baby!"
After their mutual squealing ended, Elizabeth just laid down and sighed. "I'm so happy for you, Faith."
"Me too! I hope its twins!" Elizabeth laughed.
Carson yelled in the background, "Bite your tongue!" making them all laugh.
Elizabeth spent the rest of the evening trying not to read too much into Lucas' invitation. She kept telling herself that they were only friends, but her heart was in this. Not just because of him but Catie Ann Bouchard made her want to be a mother so badly.
At the coffee shop down at the end of Main St., she waited the next day. It was chilly out but not so cold that they couldn't walk around or head to the park or something. He showed up a few minutes late.
"Sorry…"
"It's fine, Lucas."
"Thank you for meeting me."
"What are friends for?"
He nodded, giving her a small smile. Once they both ordered, she asked if he wanted to walk to the park. He agreed.
"So what's going on, Lucas?"
"I called Randi."
The ex-wife. Elizabeth felt jealousy creep up but she pushed it down. "Oh yeah? How did that go?"
"She wants to see Catie. She says I have no right to keep her from her. But I do! She left us four years ago and she's never been in contact before!"
Elizabeth put her hand in the crook of his arm, hoping to calm him. He looked at her, his chocolate eyes showing fear. "It's alright, Lucas. I'm listening."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you so nice to me? I've been so….not nice to you."
"I can take it," she said with a shrug and a smile.
"I don't know what to do."
"About Randi?" And Elizabeth, but he kept that to himself.
"Yeah. What do you think?"
"I think that you don't really know what her situation is. Does she have a lot of money? Is she married? Why does she suddenly want to see Catie? Where does she live?"
"You're right. I don't know any of those things."
"Could you find out?"
"Only if I call her and…She just brings out my anger."
"You? You don't have a temper," she teased, wanting to see his smile again.
"Funny."
"I think its worth finding out, don't you? Let's say she's in a good place, maybe married and she lives close. Maybe you could at least let Catie meet her."
"What if she tries to take her away? I can't lose her. She's everything to me."
Elizabeth squeezed his arm and stopped their walk. "I know she is. Maybe it's the closure you need, Lucas. Maybe it would help Catie to know what her mom is like, who she is."
"Closure," he mumbled. "I do need that."
"Yes, if only so you can be happy again."
They continued walking, turning and heading back toward town. "I'm scared, Elizabeth."
She squeezed his arm and he loved that feeling. She cared about him and it was something new that he hadn't felt in a long time. The touch of an adult, a woman, that didn't see him as a failure. They walked up to the coffee shop, and she let go of his arm. He immediately missed it.
He must have lost his mind because his hand found hers and she looked up into his eyes. "Luke?"
"I'm scared."
"You said that. What are you afraid of?"
"Losing someone I care about. Failing again."
She nodded, immediately thinking of Jack. "I understand. Losing Jack…it was the hardest thing I've ever lived through. But, Luke, you didn't fail her. She failed you. She chose to break your vows."
"Randi didn't pass away but she broke me, in so many ways. Its so hard for me to trust again."
She wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a side hug. It wasn't enough, he needed a full hug, needed to feel the comfort of her arms so he turned and wrapped both arms around her. He loved the feeling when her arms wrapped around his back.
"Is this okay?" he asked.
"Mmhm." She just let him hang on to her as long as he needed to. No pressure.
"Thank you, Beth." She kissed his cheek and squeezed his hand, stepping back when he did.
"I'm here if you need me." He nodded and smiled.
"I'm glad.""So what happened?" Julie asked, dying to know when Elizabeth went into Abigail's for dinner.
"We talked."
"And…."
"And he squeezed my hand and we hugged."
Julie squealed. "It's about time."
"Julie."
"What? Its taking forever!"
"Its taking as long as it needs to."
"You have the patience of a saint, sister."
"Good things come to those who wait." Elizabeth absolutely believed that Catie and her Cutie Pie father were good things and she would wait for them.Later...
Lucas took a breath and called Randi. He wanted closure and if Beth thought talking to her would bring him closure and heal his heart, he would do it.
"Luke."
"Randi, I need to know why you want to see her."
"She's my daughter. I carried her for nine months."
"And you left her a year later. So she's biologically yours, but that's all."
"I couldn't do it then, Lucas. I was young."
"You were twenty-nine, Randi. It's not like you were seventeen." He sighed. "How's Greg?"
"We haven't been together for a while, Lucas."
"That right? How long?" He felt a bit vindicated that it hadn't worked out for them.
"We broke up a month after we got together."
"Are you serious? You left me, cheated on me with my best friend, left your daughter and then broke up with him too? What have you been doing since then?"
"Lucas, why are you asking all these questions?"
"Because we are talking about a human being. Catie needs stability and nothing about what you have told me shows me that that has anything to do with you."
"You think you've given her stability? You've moved four times in four years."
"How do you know that?"
"It doesn't matter. You are a single dad who can't keep a job, keeps moving around. I'm her mother. I'll win in court."
"Court? Randi, what is going on?"
"I want a second chance."
"With what?"
"Everything."
"You better not mean me. You cheated and now you're threatening to take me to court. Trust me, that will not earn you a second chance."
"Lucas…"
"No, Randi. Its your choice to take me to court but trust me, I will fight you on this. 1000% percent."
He hung up and immediately texted Elizabeth.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Are you busy?"
"Nope."
"Do you maybe want to come over?"
Elizabeth stared at her phone for a quick minute, hardly believing that this Lucas that was texting her was the same Lucas that had spent the last month or two pushing her away.
"Yes. I'll bring dessert."
Lucas walked into Catie's room and just stared at her, watching her sleep. He used to do that a lot more when she was smaller. There was no way he was going to lose her to her so-called mother. No way.
After a few minutes, Lucas went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He didn't have wine, which would be good with whatever dessert Elizabeth was bringing. He had beer. Two bottles. Perfect.
He rarely drank but he kept it in the fridge for when the mood struck him.
He heard the knock on the door and his heart and stomach did this weird little jump. He smiled to himself and then walked to the door.
"Hi, Luke. I have eclairs." She held up the bag, giving him a beautiful smile that he wished he didn't dream about. But it was there. She was there.
He shut the door behind her and tried to ignore the mixture of sugary sweets and her coconut lotion.
"Lucas Bouchard, did you just sniff me?" she teased, bumping into his hip with hers.
Had he? His face turned red. Apparently his brain was making him do things before he could tell himself not to do it.
"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, noticing his serious face was back.
"Randi is threatening to take me to court."
"What? That is crazy!"
"Shhh," he whispered. "Catie is asleep."
"I'm sorry. Let's eat these eclairs."
"Want a beer?"
"Yeah. I walked here so I'll take one." She would only allow herself to drink half though because alcohol made her sleepy.
"You walked?"
"Got to keep my girlish figure," she said, laughing.
"You don't have a problem there," he muttered, his eyes taking her in.
"Lucas, are you flirting with me?" she asked in mock horror.
"Of course not." He took a huge bite of éclair, dropping a glob of cream on his shirt. "Shoot."
She giggled. "I'm good with you flirting, just to let you know."
"Do friends flirt?" he asked after swallowing.
"Sometimes." She pulled her legs up on the couch under her and took a much smaller bite than he had. "Mmm. So good."
"So I don't know what I will do if Randi gets custody. Even partial. I don't even know where she lives!"
"Sounds like you might need to get a lawyer."
"I can't afford one. I can barely afford this place." He regretted saying that the moment it left his mouth. Too bad he couldn't stuff the words back in like he had the éclair.
"Things are bad?"
"We are making it. But yeah." He was pretty good at stretching a dollar for things they needed.
"I can help with the lawyer part…"
"No," he snapped, again regretting his words. "I'm sorry, but…"
"You can do it yourself? You don't need help?"
"Right."
"You are so stubborn."
"So are you!"
"Shhhh…Catie is sleeping."
"You know what…I don't know why I asked…"
"Because I'm your friend."
"I don't understand why. I'm so messed up."
She nudged him with her foot and sipped her beer. "I know you don't but I'm not going anywhere."
"I can't lose Catie, Elizabeth. I can't."
"You won't." She told him with so much conviction that he almost believed that she could make that happen. "Trust me."
"I do."
"I'm glad."
They finished their eclairs and beer and sat in silence for a bit. The next thing Elizabeth knew, she was waking up to Catie snuggling into her chest and sun coming in the window across the room.
"Catie?"
"Hi, Elizabeth. Can I snuggle with you?"
"Of course you can." Elizabeth pulled the blanket over them that had miraculously appeared overnight.
"You spent the night here?" she asked.
"Yeah. I guess I was sleepy."
"I'm glad you're here. You make Daddy happy."
"I do?"
"Yeah. You make me happy too."
"Thank you, angel. You and your daddy make me happy too."
It was 100% true. After their talk the night before, it felt like they were finally making headway in their friendship.