To her relief, there was no sign of Tyler when she stepped back outside. Keeping her head down, Katy hurried to the bar, slipping inside with barely more than a wave and a fleeting smile at the staff. She shut herself away in the office although she knew there was no chance she'd get anything useful done.
"I don't like him."
"What?" Looking up sharply, Katy fixed Tyler with a disbelieving look. "Who?"
"That Alex."
"Oh my god! Why are you being like this, Tyler? Why are you here?"
"Because I love you and I know that you love me." He told her, his tone softening. "Please, Katy… don't throw everything we have away for some guy who–"
"Alex is my friend, Tyler. Nothing more." She told him slowly, as though spelling out something complicated to someone particularly stupid. "And even if he wasn't, it's none of your business, not anymore."
"I just think you should… look, you might not think there's anything between you but he clearly ain't got that memo. I think you should–"
"You can't tell me who I can and can't be friends with, Tyler." She snapped, scowling at him. "I don't belong to you. I ain't nothing to do with you anymore. It's my life and you ain't part of that now… your choice, not mine, remember."
"It was very much your choice. Everything is always your choice, Katy." He retorted, equally angrily. "It's your way or nothing. You can't see that someone, anyone, might have a different way of doing something or a different opinion that might not be wrong. You have to be in control of everything!"
"And what about you, eh? You're not in control of anything. What kind of man lets his girlfriend sleep with someone to pay off his debt?"
"That was your choice, Katy, it weren't mine."
"Maybe not, but you were fuck all use, weren't you?" She reminded him viciously. "If it had been down to you we'd have been bankrupt, homeless… he was threatening you, me, Gran… even the kids and you did absolutely nothing about it."
"I would have figured it out."
Katy laughed. "Would you? Would you really? Because all you really did was run off to Spain and find someone else. Look how well that ended for you."
"So that's what you're doing now, is it? You're seeing that Alex to punish me?"
"Oh my god!" She threw up her hands in disbelief. "And you say I think everything is about me. If – and I mean if – I was seeing Alex it would be because I like him and he's a good guy. It would have absolutely nothing to do with you."
"Right."
"Tyler… I don't care if you go off and marry twenty other women. We're over. We're done. You do not get a say in my life. Not anymore. Just stay out of my business."
"What are you gonna do about it if I don't, eh? Are you gonna do the same to me as you did to that Nathan or Carl?"
Katy gaped at him. "Tyler! Of… of course I wouldn't! I can't believe you'd even…"
"What? Is it so ridiculous that I might be a little concerned?" He snapped at her. "Don't forget, I know what you're capable of."
"Whatever you think I'm capable of, you're still the girls' dad. They love you and I would never, ever hurt them."
"You're right, I am their dad." He told her and Katy was suddenly concerned about what the expression on his face meant. "I want custody."
"You what?" She gaped at him. "Why? Have I ever stopped you seeing them? Have I ever made it remotely difficult for you to spend time with them?"
Tyler shook his head. "I want it to be official. I want there to be something legal in place so you can't turn round and decide that you don't want me in their lives no more."
"Tyler… I wouldn't do that."
"Yeah? Well I don't trust you and I ain't risking it. I don't trust you around the kids and I'll fight you through the courts if I have to. I want custody, Katy."
The silence that echoed around the office after he uttered those words and stormed out, slamming the door behind him, was deafening. It crashed over Katy with the force of a train, sending her into a crumpled, sobbing heap on the floor. She couldn't breathe, the thought of losing the children threatening to engulf her like a suffocating black cloud.
"Tyler's just stormed out of here looking as though he's about to commit a murder." Tina announced lightly, waltzing into the office as though she owned it. "What's hap– oh my god! Katy? Katy!"
"He wants to take the girls away from me." She gasped out, clutching at Tina as the brunette dropped to kneel beside her, hauling Katy into her arms. "He wants custody and I… I can't lose them. They're my world…"
Tina frowned in confusion. "Why would Tyler want to do that?"
"He thinks I'm seeing Alex and he doesn't like it. We had a row and he… he wants to take them away from me."
"Are you seeing Alex?"
Katy glared at her. "Not that it matters, but no. I'm not. We're just friends. But that's not important anyway; he's going to try and take my children, Tina."
"Right… sorry." Tina shook her head. "I'm sorry. Should I call Ronnie or Glenda?"
"No." Katy shook her head. "Please don't… don't tell them about this. I don't want…" She inhaled shakily. "Tina, don't tell anyone about this. I'll find a way to sort this and get Tyler to change his mind."
"You wouldn't… would you? Just to get him to change his mind?"
"Wouldn't what?"
"Well… get back together with him."
Katy shook her head again. "No. We're done. I'm done with him. We don't work… we're dysfunctional and… we hurt each other. I don't… I don't want to hurt anymore."
To Tina's horror, Katy started crying again. She wrapped her arms around the blonde, almost pulling her into her lap as she rocked her gently, trying to stem the flow of tears from the younger woman.
It took a while, but Tina finally convinced Katy to let her take her home. She wouldn't hear any argument to her decision to cover Katy's shift that night. If it was down to her, she'd have been covering for the next few nights, but there was no way she was going to get her boss to consent to that without causing a huge argument and possibly alienating herself from the blonde.
"What the hell's happened?" Ronnie demanded as she opened the flat door, her eyes widening at the state her daughter was in. "Is it… bad news? Do we need to go to the hospital?"
Katy shook her head, unable to explain again at that moment. Tina sighed deeply, before settling her friend on the sofa and turning to the older blonde seriously. Ronnie looked absolutely terrified, clearly thinking the worst.
"Tyler's told Katy he wants custody of the girls." Tina explained, acutely aware of the fresh wave of silent tears from her friend that followed her words. "Apparently he said he'd take her to court…"
Ronnie ran a hand through her hair, staring at the brunette, before dropping to her knees in front of her daughter. Placing a finger under her chin, she forced Katy to meet her eyes, sweeping the hair off her face and tucking it behind her ears. As Katy shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed to prevent another wave of tears, Ronnie exhaled softly.
"Baby… it's not going to happen. I won't let it." She promised seriously. "I will not let Tyler take the girls away from you. Ruby and the twins are not going anywhere."
"Grandma?"
All three women whirled around to stare at the entrance to the living room, horror plastered across all their faces as they realised that Ruby was standing there. The eight-year-old looked between them in confusion, before fixing her gaze on the tear-stained face of her mother. She took a hesitant step towards her, before stopping and glancing towards her grandmother instead.
"Ruby…" Ronnie tried to force a reassuring smile onto her face. Standing up abruptly, she walked towards her granddaughter and gently tugged on her ponytail affectionately. "Where's Granny?"
"Why's Mum crying?"
"She's just a bit–"
"Why would Dad want to take us away from Mum?"
"Ruby…"
"Are you ill? Has the cancer come back? Is that why you're crying and we're going to live with Dad? Are you going to die?" Ruby persisted, refusing to let them fob her off with lies or excuses.
"I'm absolutely fine, baby." Katy was on her feet in an instant, rushing towards her daughter and pulling her into her arms. "I promise, the doctor's said I'm fine. I'm doing well."
"So why…?"
Taking a deep breath, the blonde glanced at her mother, silently warning her not to speak. "Dad just… he loves you and he just… he wants to spend more time with you. But he's not going to take you away from me, OK?" She met Ruby's eyes and smiled at her. "I promise you, sweetie, everything's gonna be alright."
As soon as Ruby was convinced that Katy really was alright she headed back to her bedroom to carry on with her drawing. Sighing, Katy dropped heavily onto the sofa and put her head in her hands. For a couple of moments none of them spoke. Tina perched awkwardly on the arm of the sofa, not sure whether she should stay or not.
"He's not taking my kids away from me."
Both Ronnie and Tina jumped at the unexpected statement from Katy. They turned and looked at her as she raised her head, tilting her chin upward defiantly and moving a steady, determined glare between them.
"Of course he's not." Ronnie agreed at once. "We'll get onto Ritchie and we'll make sure he hasn't got a leg to stand on."
"I don't want… I don't want to spoil his relationship with the girls. They love him and I can't ruin that for them." Katy continued hesitantly. "But… they're my daughters."
"Everyone knows that, sweetie. No one is going to let that happen."
Nodding abruptly, Katy stood up and took a steadying breath. Ronnie and Tina were stunned when she announced that she was going to sort her makeup out and then head back to work. Their attempts to argue with her and change her mind fell on deaf ears, both women giving up as they realised that there was nothing they could say to stop Katy heading to the club.
Exchanging a look with Ronnie, Tina silently signalled that she would keep an eye on her boss, before heading back to the R&R to make sure that there was no sign of Tyler and that nothing had happened in their absence.