Chapter 45: Rough Patch
After Nate's nightmare meltdown, Emily didn't feel comfortable leaving. When Nate fell asleep, deeply asleep, Emily moved him back into bed and decided that she would be staying the night as close to him as she could get. She tried to change Nate out of his clammy shirt, but that was all she could change without him waking. It would do. At least she knew he was fully asleep now, hopefully sleeping more peacefully this time.
Emily walked out of Nate's room, slipping her heels off and closing his door behind her. Leaning against the wall, she took a deep breath… He had been in her life for less than a year, and she was already damaging him… What did that say about her parenting?
"You were in an accident?" James asked, disturbing her mental reverie.
Emily glared.
"Not now, James."
"No, now. You were in an accident?"
"If you bothered to ever listen when Nate or I talked to you, then you would remember that, yes, the two of us were chased by some of Vince's extended family and they hit us with their car. More recently, someone hit my car and it freaked Nate out."
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
"Jesus James. Why is everything about you?" Her fingers dug into her temples. She was exhausted and now frustrated too. "This is about Nate. It happened yesterday. No one was hurt, but when Nate heard my car was hit, he worried about me. I talked with him. I assured him I was fine."
"Clearly, you didn't do a good job."
"You didn't do any better," she bit back. "I'm so tired of your attitude. Things have been better. You can't even blame it on the injury. It's like…" She looked to him with sadness and anger. "It's like you're channeling Vince. He couldn't stand that Nate liked me, and now you can't either. Why? What's so bad about it?"
James shied away and said, "Vince should be here. He should be comforting Nate."
"You can't use that excuse forever. You will always want Vince here. Nate will always want Vince here. But you have to accept that he's not. It's sad, but it's reality, and I know you see that. I know you've confronted his death. So that excuse doesn't fly anymore. Missing him and wanting him to be a part of the moment doesn't give you an excuse to treat me like garbage."
"I tried to comfort him, you know?" James said, ignoring what she just said. "He pushed me away."
"I'm sorry," Emily responded with genuine sentiment. She knew that had to have been hard for him.
"All he wants now is mom, mom, mom… Mom this. Mom that… It's all about you. All he wants is you. How am I supposed to be ok with that? Because I'm not… Not even a little."
"He loves me, James. I love him. I'm not sorry about that. You opened that door, now you need to make peace with that again."
"And if I can't?"
"That's not an option," she said, trying to remain calm, taking a deep breath. "We've been through this. We've talked this to death. I'm in his life now, and I'm staying. You need to figure yourself out and be there for him. When I got here, he was making himself sick. How long was he like that because you couldn't help him and were too prideful to call me sooner?" she pointedly asked.
He felt ashamed. Nate was like that for at least a half hour, probably longer, crying, and yelling parts of his nightmare, things about Emily, pushing his father away. Nothing James did helped, and he didn't want to call Emily. At the moment, all he felt was that he was failing his son. It didn't matter that Emily could help. It only mattered that he couldn't. It got to him. He couldn't deny that.
"You can't even answer, can you?"
Emily shook her head.
"I don't know why you're so set on having to be better than me. He loves you. Let that be enough. Let go of whatever anger you have at me and just be his father," she pled. "I'm too tired to keep doing this with you. It's up then it's down and I always take the brunt of it. I have given you everything you have ever asked of me from high school until you up and left, cutting me out of Nate's life, and then dropped everything in my life to do it again when you needed me."
"Do you regret it?" he asked, almost hopeful, as if her saying yes would give him cause to keep at this game he was playing.
"No… I don't regret this. I don't regret anything regarding Nate except the way we went about things and the time I lost with him." Emily gave him a sad smile. "And one day soon, you'll have that same regret if you don't let go of the resentment and whatever… Just let it go, James. Please. Not for me. For him and for yourself. He's not going to be a kid forever. He's hardly a kid now. He's a little man, and he needs his dad."
"I'm his dad and I am here," James insisted.
"You're here… but you're not. You're not focused on him, and you're the one losing out. Take it from someone who knows. There will come a point where that loss will hit you harder than anything else, and you won't know if there is anything you can do about it. Don't get to that point, James. Don't do this anymore," she continued to plead.
"What do you know about what I'm feeling? He loves you. He lost his father, he lost me, and now, all he wants is his mom. A mom he was never supposed to have. All he wants is you!"
"Now," Emily added. "All he wants right now is me, and that's because I've been here with him during a few hard times, but it hasn't always been like that, and you know that. There were nine years where I had to feel that absence in my life and worry and wonder… And I regret that. I regret not trying harder to find you guys and be a part of his life, however much or however little that may have been."
"I regret coming to you for help. I regret the tailspin my life has been in since I made that call," James said, his voice monotone, but deafening to her.
Emily snapped her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and walked back towards Nate's room. It wasn't worth getting into things when James was emotional. When he was like that, he said whatever he knew would hurt the most, and she wasn't going to deal with that anymore.
"Where are you going?" James yelled, getting her attention.
She stopped in front of Nate's door.
"I'm going to spend the night with my son, so that if he wakes up, I can be there to comfort him."
"We're not done."
"We are absolutely not done," she agreed. "But I'm done for now. I will no longer be your punching bag, James. We've been over that, too. Goodnight," she hissed, leaving no room for him to talk.
Emily bit her lip as she closed the door behind her. The whole day had so many ups and downs. Now, she just felt overwhelmed. She could feel the tired ache creep into her bones as she snuck into bed with Nate. No way was she leaving his side. It felt like it was as much for her as it was for him.
She didn't bother to get under the covers or even try to find the most comfortable spot. Instead, she just laid next to him, her arm wrapping around him. She wished they were back home together, that the whole weekend could be redone.
Emily just wanted to hold Nate tightly and forget everything else. That was exactly what she tried to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as that. Without realizing it, she cried. Tears silently flowed as she held her son, and it must have been enough to wake him.
"Mom?" Nate asked. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, Nate. Go back to sleep, baby."
"But you're crying…"
"I'm not."
"Yes you are," he said, reaching for her face in the dark, wiping tears from her cheek. "Did Dad yell at you again?" Nate asked, his voice already filled with disappointment.
"Everything is fine. You don't need to worry."
Nate sighed. "You could be dying and still say you're fine."
"I'm certainly not dying."
"Did Dad say something mean? Should I go yell at him?"
"Oh Nate… I appreciate the offer, but no. No yelling needed."
"I don't want you to be sad."
"I'm not sad with you by my side."
"I wish we were home."
"What did I tell you about home? Home is wherever you're with people you love."
"I know," Nate said. "But I like our home. Dad… he tries too hard and I know he loves me… I love him too, but he got upset when I wanted to call you and he didn't listen when I said I didn't want to do something."
Emily wanted to tell him that was a temporary thing, but she couldn't make that promise.
"Your dad is a little… rigid. It takes him longer to deal with emotional things, good and bad. He can't really help it. I know sometimes it's hard for you to see because it wasn't always like that, but I think it's important that you spend this time with him."
"What if I don't want to?"
"I think you do, Nate, but if you truly, truly don't want to, then I ask that you give it a try a couple of times and then we can take it from there."
"Alright," he yawned.
"Now go back to sleep."
"Will you be here when I wake up?"
"I'm not leaving this spot," she promised.
That was all the comfort he needed. He leaned in, put his head on her chest, over by her shoulder, and snuggled into her, his own arm mimicking what she did earlier and wrapping around her. And, as promised, she was there in the morning, just as she said.
Surprisingly, he woke up before Emily and decided to let her sleep. Nate gently pulled himself away from his mother and made his way through the apartment. It seemed James was still asleep too, so he thought he'd make everyone breakfast. Despite his somewhat more mature attitude, he was still a child and had the belief that something as simple as a family breakfast could make them a more functional family unit. Breakfast would make them better.
Of course, it didn't work like that.
James heard Nate in the kitchen, and when he walked in, he was not happy.
"What are you doing?" James asked.
"Making you and Mom breakfast."
"Emily will not be staying for breakfast. This is our weekend together, and she has taken enough of that time away."
Nate huffed, but just continued to work, not listening to his father.
"Nate, we don't need all this food. In fact, why don't we go wake Emily up and send her home, so we can go out for breakfast?"
"I'm cooking," Nate firmly stated. "I don't want to go out."
"Come on. It can be just us boys… Like old times."
"It's not like old times," Nate said, sounding suspiciously like Emily to James' ears. "Dad's dead, I have a mom, and you're not the same."
James was stunned silent momentarily, trying to get his wits about him. He didn't like the sentence his son just uttered. Not one bit. It bothered him even more that he said it so nonchalantly. It was true, but unsettling to hear it come from his son.
"Do you not care?" James asked. "Your father is dead. Do you not miss him?"
"I mis Dad all the time," Nate admitted, sounding staggeringly like an adult. "But Mom has taught me that I can't let that change who I am. I can be sad, but I can't let it hold me back. I have to be happy and live on because it's what he would want. He would want me happy. He would want me to do things without worrying about him missing out. Mom taught me that."
Emily walked in after witnessing that last bit. She could see James' hands ball into tight fists, his anger growing. Using her in his argument did more harm than good for Nate. She could see James' jaw clench and it made her uneasy.
"What's going on?" she asked, though she knew the answer.
"I'm making breakfast," Nate said, sadness clear in his eyes.
Emily looked to him sympathetically before moving her gaze to James. Biting her lip first, she asked, "Is everything ok, James?"
"Nothing is ok," he whimpered.
"Nate, while I appreciate you cooking, why don't you go wash up and give us a moment together? I'll finish."
"You will not," James yelled.
"I don't want to go," Nate said. He didn't want to leave them alone. They'd fight… again.
"He's not going," James insisted too.
Tension swam in the air. It was a standoff, sans guns, and no one was winning, but everyone had the opportunity to lose.
"James," Emily finally said, her eyes falling to his balled fists, now so white they looked dead.
His eyes followed her gaze and he saw what she was seeing. He sighed, releasing his grip.
"I'm sorry," he told them. "I'm just… I'm upset that you were so upset last night Nate."
"I didn't mean to be," he responded. "I had a bad dream."
"I know," James replied. "It's not your fault. No one is upset with you, just the situation. I'm sorry. Finish making breakfast and just be careful. Emily can stay, but after breakfast, she needs to go."
He said the last part a little more forcefully than necessary. When he walked away, Emily followed, giving Nate a comforting shoulder squeeze as she did.
"Last night was rough," Emily said when she and James were away from Nate.
He glared. "Way to state the obvious."
"Can you drop the attitude for just one damn second? I don't know how to do this anymore, James. I'm tired of always trying to keep the peace and to stay calm when all you do is yell at me." She shook her head. She could feel last night's emotions bubbling back up. "We're doing this together. Raising our boy together. You can't treat me like I'm irrelevant and you can't keep getting angry when there's nothing to be angry about."
"I can do whatever I want."
"No. You can't. Nate loves you and I know you love Nate, but I have some say now. If your temper gets worse and I feel like you're a threat to Nate, I'm not afraid to fight for full custody."
"Don't threaten me!"
She sighed again, her voice coming out as a pleading, exasperated, whine. "I'm not trying to. But what's happening now isn't healthy. We can't keep doing this. Things get better and then they get worse again."
"I don't want you here, Emily. I want time alone with my son and you're keeping that from happening."
"I'm not trying to."
"Then why were you late?! I missed a whole night with him."
"It was an accident," she said. "Honestly. We fell asleep watching a movie on the couch. There's nothing sinister there. I'm not keeping you from him. I want you to have your time with him."
"I don't believe you," he admitted. "And, frankly, I could probably use this as a reason to get custody on my own. Keep Nate away from you."
"You can't do that," Nate yelled, stopping the adults from getting any further.
Both parents looked to him. He looked frantic, upset, and getting worked up, which only drove the situation to a different extreme. Nate yelled at James, telling him that he couldn't keep him from Emily and that Emily wasn't keeping them from each other. Nate admitted that he was the one that turned his mother's phone to silent, and that created a whole new uproar.
All the work Emily put in trying to calm James was now negated. She swore, again, that he was seconds away from literally trying to smack some sense into Nate, though, she still had doubts about that actually happening.
"I think it's time Nate and I leave," Emily interjected. "Get everything you need for today, Nate. We're leaving."
"No," both James and Nate said in unison.
"What do you mean no?"
"This is my weekend and I'm not going to let you ruin it any more than you already have," James declared.
"You're getting upset," Emily started, remaining calm, once again pointing out his clenched fist. "You don't want it to get to the point of no return."
"I can control myself," he yelled.
"I think it would be best if I took Nate with me. I can bring him over during the week and you can spend the afternoons together after school."
"No. He's staying," James said, stepping closer to Emily with great bravado.
"Mom," Nate said, trying to get their attention. He didn't like the escalation that was happening, and he felt responsible for it. His mom was there for him because he had a nightmare and his dad was mad that she was there and that they were late, and that was his fault too. "I can't go with you."
James relaxed a little, feeling like Nate was on his side.
"What?"
"I… I want to," he told her quietly. "I can't, though."
"What do you mean you can't?" Emily asked him, her voice curious and gentle.
"You said that I need to give it a chance, that I should try being here. You were right. I have to try, so I need to stay."
Emily leaned down to be at height with Nate, watching James as she did. He seemed to be less tense and angry, slowly calming.
"Are you sure about this? This wasn't what I meant. You don't have to stay today."
"Yes I do, and I'm sure. I'll be ok. You should go home, though."
Emily sighed and put her hand on Nate's face. "Promise to call me if you feel even a little uncomfortable. I'll come back and pick you up. I don't care about anything else, just you. Don't worry about your dad or me, or us fighting. Call. Ok?"
"Ok. I promise."
"That's enough," James said. "Time to go, Emily."
She kissed Nate and whispered to him to check in. When she stood and walked past James, she paused. Her body leaned forward, mouth next to his ear.
"Yelling is not ok, but I know you're trying to get that under control… Still, if I ever find out you get so worked up that you touch him, I will take Nate and run, and you will never see either of us again."
"You wouldn't do that," he whispered back to her threat.
"You don't want to test me."
Nate watched the exchange but couldn't make out what was being said. His father looked upset, his mother angry and determined. Then she left the room, grabbing her keys and such before heading for the door, stopping only to tell Nate she loved him and that she'd be nearby for the rest of the day.
She wasn't exaggerating.
Worried about James' temper and Nate's potential for another nightmare or emotional meltdown, Emily just went to her car and sat in it. James and Nate both caught her through the window a time or two. Emily stayed there and was determined to remain until she knew nothing nefarious was happening with her son.
A knock sounded on her window, startling her. She dropped her phone and looked to the passenger side window.
"Hotch?" she asked. She moved out of her relaxed position and rolled the window down. "What are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
She nodded, unlocking the door so he could slide into the seat beside her.
"This is a funny spot to run into someone," Emily stated. "How'd you know where I was?"
"I tracked your phone."
"You did what?"
"Yeah, I pulled up your GPS coordinates."
It was clear that she didn't know what to make of that, nor was she happy.
"Relax. I'm just messing with you."
"Nate called?" she guessed.
"Actually, James."
"Really?" She found that hard to believe.
"Well, he and Nate called. They figured you could use a friend and that you should get out of here."
"I can't."
"Use a friend?"
"No, leave. I need to be here… Just in case."
"James told me what happened. He said Nate was worried you were upset and didn't want you to sit outside all day either. If James is calling me, then something is definitely going on. Tell me your side of things."
She did.
"If you truly think his temper is bad enough that he'd hit Nate, you can take action."
"That's the thing… I don't know that he would. He has been better. It has been under control, but when Nate talks about me or I'm around, it can be explosive. I just… I don't want it to escalate, but I can't remove myself from the equation either."
"No, you can't. Have you tried talking to him?"
Emily laughed. "When? This weekend has been borderline disastrous and just being in the same room as him put James on edge."
"Look, I talked briefly with Nate, and they're doing ok. Nate's trying to help James with a light physical therapy session and then they're going to watch movies all day. I don't think you have anything to worry about."
"I can't bring myself to leave."
"What if I stay with you? The two of us can go to the playhouse not far from here. They have a midday showing today."
"What's the play?"
"I have no clue. Does it matter?"
"Not really."
"You'll come?"
"What about Jack?"
"He's at a birthday party and will be for the next few hours. I'm all yours."
On cue, her stomach rumbled.
"And I'm taking you to lunch. Come on. I'll drive, and we'll get your car later."
He saw her hesitate.
"It will be ok," he told her. "You need to eat. Nate needs time with his dad."
"Fine."
Emily reluctantly followed him into his car. They made a quick stop for food before heading to the playhouse. Afterward they walked around as Hotch tried to talk to her more about what brought her to James' apartment in the first place. He only got a small and one-sided version of events.
"Thanks for the distractions," Emily said.
"No problem. Now, want to tell me why you were stalking James and Nate?"
"I wasn't."
"Kind of looked like you were."
"No…"
Emily explained about Nate's nightmare and about the fight that she and James ended up having, then the later fight that just picked up where that one left off.
"Eventful night."
"Yeah. You could say that. I was… I guess I was on a date when James called me about Nate."
"A date?" he asked, surprised.
He had known Emily a long time and, except for a few scattered relationships, he hadn't heard much about dates, and certainly not anytime recently. He wiggled in his seat uncomfortably.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Garcia set me up… Without my knowledge. Apparently, I'm on a dating site."
"So how did you end up on the date?"
Emily shared the details. "It wasn't all that bad. Turns out that he is the father of one of the boy's in Nate's class. We talked. It was…"
"Nice to talk to another adult?"
"Yes," Emily laughed. "It was nice to talk to someone who didn't know every complicated part of me."
"Do you think we judge you?" Hotch asked, concerned.
"No… It's not that. It's just, I don't know. My life is completely different than where it was a year ago, and that life was so different than where it was a few years before that. I like where I am now. I'm more settled with Nate than I have been my entire life. I've made a life for the two of us… and James. I just… Sometimes it's lonely."
"Sometimes you want something more than a friend or family."
"Exactly. See, you get it."
"I do. I've felt that way too. It's just hard to find someone to accept the things about my life that aren't as easy to accept."
"Like the job?"
"That's one thing, definitely. The inconsistent hours and the need to cancel plans last minute… often. That's a relationship breaker. That's what happened with Haley. No amount of love was able to salvage the strain my job put on our marriage."
"I can't begin to imagine what things were like for Haley, but I don't know that I believe that. I know you both loved each other. I saw it when we all went out together. But… I also believe that love is accepting all the bad and the good. It's about making compromises and learning how to work out the things that don't seem to be working. At the end, neither of you could make the concession needed to make it work. I mean, you can tell me I'm wrong, and I won't speak ill of the dead, but it seemed like she was done trying. There was no more fight left."
"I put her through a lot."
"The job did."
"The same job that got her killed."
Emily sighed. Her intention wasn't to bring that up. "It wasn't your fault. Foyet killed Haley."
"As a means to get to me."
"Because he thrived on torturing people. He liked that power over you. But it could have been any one of us."
"No one else put their child and his mother at risk."
"You did everything you could to protect them."
"I'll always wonder what I could have done differently."
Emily sighed again. The atmosphere became a little heavier. "I'm sorry I brought this up."
"No… It's good to talk about. It's been a while."
"As an outsider, watching the end of your relationship, it felt like Haley couldn't understand what the job meant to you and the sacrifices you were making to make the world better for Jack and all the other little boys and girls in the world."
He didn't think she was wrong. He came to that same conclusion after the divorce. At the time, it angered him. Things could have been different, he convinced himself. But, in the end, maybe it was best for his family. It allowed him to do his job without guilt all the time. Less guilt anyway. And it gave Haley the freedom to find what she wanted and needed, find what he couldn't give her. Things with Jack were complicated, but he was sure that, given some time, it would have worked itself out.
"I wish she understood that," Emily said. "Because I think you guys could have made it work."
"I had my faults too, Emily."
"Of course. I just see your side more. It was so hard for anyone I was with to understand the job and why I continued to do it after everything."
"No one ever did."
"Just the seven of us. No one seems to get it outside of our group. You know, until she learned about Nate, my mother asked me the same series of questions every time I saw her." Mimicking her mother's voice, Emily said, "Are you dating? How are you ever going to find someone to settle down with if you're always away on cases? How can you have kids if you don't have time for a man? I'd like grandchildren at some point. I suppose that's too much to ask for. Do you really need to be at such a dangerous job?"
"If only she knew then the job you took before that. She doesn't know about the CIA, does she?"
"We've had a conversation. She knows what she needs to know. Nothing more, nothing less. I think I've put her through enough."
"Do you miss it?"
"Miss the job?" Emily asked. "Every day. I miss helping the victims, getting them justice… The chase. Being part of a team."
"Then why did you turn down my offer?"
"You know why," she said. "As much as I love that work, I have years that I already missed with Nate, and I don't want to miss anymore. Plus, Nate has been through too much. He lost one parent, has one that is only just getting better, and I couldn't throw myself into the front line when I'm his only stability."
"You're doing the one thing I've never been able to do. Say no to the job."
"After Haley, more than ever, you needed to be at the job. Our situations were different, and our choices were right for us."
"I think so," he said. "So, you're dating again?" He brought the conversation back.
"I don't know. It was a set up. And it was nice, but it felt more like we were friends talking than anything else. Minimal flirting."
"Are you going to see him again?"
"Who are you, Penelope?" she joked. "I don't know. One thing at a time. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"When are you going to find someone?"
"At this rate," he said, "Never."
"Hotch."
"It's like you said. No one understands the job, and those who try end up hating it."
"It doesn't have to be that way."
"Maybe. Maybe not."
They managed to get off the dating topic, though it did spur something in both of them. They each had that void. They didn't need someone to complete them, but they did want to feel that love and companionship that came with a stable, committed relationship. They just weren't having any luck, nor were they really putting in much of an attempt as of late.
"What are you going to do about James?"
"I think part of the problem is that he's truly on his own for the first time. Nate's not with him all day, Vince is gone, and he has a lot of free time on his hands. So, I'm going to address that and try to work things out with him. We need to be better."
"And you can't be so strong all the time," Hotch said. "I know some of what he says gets to you."
She shrugged.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm here."
"I know. Thanks."
She didn't really want to talk about it then because they were having such a nice time, but she would eventually. He would comfort her and make her feel better, just like he always did.
"I have another hour before I pick up Jack. Want to come over and help me cook?"
"Only if I get to stay."
"That was a given."
"Then I'm in."
They got her car and headed back to the apartment. Cooking with Hotch and then having dinner with Jack felt good and normal. The only think wrong with it was that Nate was missing from the group. Still, they had a nice time and talked a lot. Jack, who was about to be thirteen in just a week, pulled Emily aside to talk to her in confidence.
"Emily, do all girls like flowers?"
She looked at him oddly. "I can't speak for all girls, but giving a girl flowers is often a nice gesture."
She was curious where that came from.
"How can I buy flowers?"
"Can I ask what you need them for?"
"For my girlfriend."
"Your girlfriend?" she asked, her eyes wide and her voice a pitch higher than normal. "You have a girlfriend?
"Yup. Her name is Chelsea. She's in my class. We've been friends for a while, but decided we wanted to be more."
Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing. No way was this a child saying this. When the heck did Jack grow up so much.
"So now we're an item."
"What exactly does being an item mean to you, Jack?"
"We hold hands and eat lunch together and we talk on the phone a lot. We have playdates and hang out on the playground. Sometimes, I bring her chocolates."
Young, puppy love…
"Do you two do anything else?"
"Well, we kiss sometimes."
Her eyes grew wide again as she peppered him with more questions. Turned out their first kiss was at the party. Their first kiss on the lips anyway. It was all pretty innocent. Hand holding, pecks on the cheek, food sharing. It was adorable actually. Still, Emily felt obligated to talk about it with Hotch. He needed to know so he could talk with Jack about relationships and whatever that might entail.
"I'm too young for my son to have a girlfriend," Hotch said when she told him after they returned from getting her car, hand rubbing his face.
Emily just gave him a sympathetic look and a pat on the back to let him know it would be ok.
"It's getting late. I think I'm going to head home and call Nate. I had a lot of fun today. Thank you."
"Thank you for keeping me company," Hotch said. "And for being someone my son can talk to about girls. Hopefully that will help him have better luck with relationships."
"I think you did ok. I'll see you tomorrow."
Of course, she couldn't leave without first saying goodbye to Jack and promising him that she would help him pick out some flowers for his girlfriend, with his father's permission. He said he'd get it, and then she left the Hotchners to talk
Showering and getting ready for some quiet time, she finished the day by checking in on Nate.
"Things are good," Nate said. "I've been teaching Dad a new game I got and we watched movies. He hasn't been mad since you left."
"That's good. Sounds like you're having fun."
"I am. I miss you though."
"I miss you, too, but I'm going to see you tomorrow. There's no school, so I'll pick you up around lunch time and we can go to the store to pick out Jack's birthday present."
"Cool. I know exactly what I want to get him. He's going to love it."
"I'm sure he will. Well, it's almost bedtime Nate. I love you."
"Love you too."
"See you tomorrow."
"Bye Mom."
Things were going to work out, Emily thought as she hung up the phone. She had a few ideas that she needed to look into that she thought could help move that along. James had too much time on his hands… She could definitely do something about that.
The next morning before leaving to get Nate, Emily made a few calls, set up a few appointments, and prepared herself for seeing James. She wanted them to continue moving forward, and that meant putting an end to all the steps back. They had to keep working together rather than having those setbacks every time something set him off.
She had a plan. Their dysfunction would, hopefully, be a little more functional.