Manage Me

Dinner was a quiet. There was almost no talking at all while we ate. Katie tried, but her mom didn’t have much of a response to anything she had to say. Kade kept looking at me, refusing to speak. I smiled at him whenever I caught his eye, which usually resulted in him quickly looking away. I knew I would win him over eventually though. If I could manage to somehow convince Katie to be mine, I could find a way to get Kade to give me a chance.

“Why don’t you take Kade out back?” I whispered into Katie’s ear as she began to clear away the plates. She looked at me like I was insane. “You can show him to pool house and I can talk to your mom. Trust me, babe.” She stared at me for another moment, testing me, before slowly nodding.

“C’mon, bug.” Katie held her hand out to Kade who quickly jumped from his seat and latched onto it. “Let’s go play outside while Ma and Jack talk.”

I watched them leave, smiling at how happy Katie looked with Kade next to her. I could see straight through her nerves. Katie had never been happier than she was in this moment. I waited until I heard the back door slide shut. Katie’s mom looked at me expectantly.

“Well you’ve got me alone now, so go ahead and talk.” I took a deep breath. I had to keep this civilized. For Katie.

“Look, Ms. Feist, I know you don’t know me and I know you don’t really trust Katie, but believe me when I tell you that she’s changed. She isn’t even close to the same girl she was when she gave Kade up. Please, just give her a chance. She loves that little boy more than anything in this world. And do you really want him to grow up without a mother?”

“Kathrine Rae is no mother.”

“Well, have you ever given her the chance to actually be one? From what I hear Kade has been living with you for a majority of his life and Katie didn’t try to fight you when you kept him away from her. She knew better than to do that. She dug her way out of the gutter and got healthy again before even considering bringing him back into her life. That’s the mature thing, the motherly thing, to do if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you.” Katie’s mother snapped, standing up and beginning to walk away.

“How can you not even give her a chance!?” I cried out, finally losing my cool. She stopped, turning to face me with shock written all over her face.

“Excuse me?”

“She’s trying so hard to please you. She’s done everything you’ve asked her to do. Her entire life revolves around getting that little boy back, and you’ve done nothing but give her false hope and act like she hasn’t changed at all. Don’t even try to tell me she hasn’t! You don’t know her. I’ve been living with her for almost a month now and I can tell you that Katie is the most mature and responsible 20-year-old I’ve ever met. When she first showed up this place looked like it should be on an episode of Hoarders and I probably hadn’t showered or properly eaten or even talked to anyone in weeks, but look at everything now. Katie did that. She didn’t run around doing drugs or getting wasted. She cleaned up my entire house and she cleaned me up as well. It’s a real shame that you can’t see past what happened when Katie was younger. You’re missing out on knowing a really wonderful girl and Kade is missing out on his mother.”

I was breathing heavily by the end of my little rant. Katie’s mother just stood there, her lips pursed as her eyes roamed from my feet to my face, as if she was sizing me up. I simply stared back at her, refusing to break eye contact. Finally she let out a long breath.

“What’s in it for you?”

“What?”

“You heard me.” She finally moved so that we were only standing a foot or so away from each other. “Why do you want Kade to move in here so badly? What are you getting out of it? What did my daughter promise to give you in return? I’m sure Kathrine Rae bribed you into this somehow.” Her voice made it clear what she really meant and I couldn’t help but to curl my lip back in disgust.

Did she really just imply something like that about her own daughter? I took a deep breath to calm myself.

“Actually, I was the one who insisted that she stay here with Kade. All I want is for Katie to be happy. She deserves to be happy and having Kade in her life will make her happy. I don’t care about anything else and I don’t want anything else.”

We had ourselves another staring contest before I heard childish squeals coming from right outside the back door. Katie’s light laughter soon joined in and I heard her teasing Kade, something about a crocodile and Captain Hook. My lips curved into a soft smile. This was the way it was supposed to be. This was what was right. I turned my attention back to the woman who looked so much like the girl outside that I was slowly falling for.

“This is it. Right now, Ms. Feist. You need to make your decision. I can promise you though, no matter what you choose to do, Katie will be getting Kade back. I guarantee it.”

I left her alone in the dining room and made my way out to wear Kade and Katie’s voices were coming from. I saw them before they saw me and I couldn’t stop the warm feeling that exploded inside of my chest at the sight. Katie was absolutely glowing, her smile stretched wider than I had ever seen before. Her eyes came up to meet mine and I could see a sparkle in them that hadn’t been there before. She gave me a sly grin before crouching down next to Kade who had quieted once he noticed my presence. I offered him a gentle grin, slightly wary of the way Katie was whispering in his ear. Kade’s eyes widened at me and a huge grin broke out on his face.

“Now, My?” He asked quietly as Katie stood back up.

“Now!” She cried and Kade ran at me his arms opening and closing as he made chomping noises. I looked at Katie, completely confused.

“You better run, Captain Hook.” She giggled, her blue eyes shining brightly. “Or the Tick-Tock Croc is gonna geeeeeeeeet yoooooooooou!”

I cast another glance at Kade, who was actually really quick for a four year old, before jumping up and beginning to run. I made sure to maintain a pace slow enough that Kade was always right behind me, but fast enough that he couldn’t quite catch me. Suddenly I felt a weight hit my back. It wasn’t enough to send me sprawling, but it was enough to have me stumbling to a stop. A second weight soon wrapped itself around my right leg.

“Gotcha, Captain.” Katie whispered huskily in my ear, slipping off of me.

I repressed a shudder as she gave me that sassy little smirk of hers before holding out her hand to Kade, who was still clinging onto my leg with a look of triumph on his face. He let go with one hand in order to give her a high five.

“Victory is ours, Kangaroo! We beat that mean old Captain Hook.”

Kade giggled, finally fully letting go of my leg and holding his arms up to Katie who rested him on her hip. He stared at me shyly, resting his head in the crook of her neck. I walked over, wrapping an arm around Katie and hugging the side Kade wasn’t on. She tilted her head up to kiss my cheek.

“No!” Kade yelled, making us both jump. Katie immediately started freaking out.

“Kade?! What’s wrong?! What is it, baby?!” She ran her hand nervously through his hair, resting it on his cheeks and forehead to feel for a fever.

“You okay, buddy?” I asked softly. Kade shook his head, his forehead creasing deeply as he frowned.

“No!” He cried again, hugging himself tight to Katie as he stared at me. “You can’t have her. She’s mine.”

“Kade!” Katie exclaimed, pulling Kade away to look at him with a shocked expression. I’m sure my face looked almost exactly like hers but I forced it to rearrange itself back into something normal. “You are not allowed to say things like that! That was very rude.” Kade sucked in his bottom lip.

“I’m not going to take her away from you, Kade.” I said gently as the little boy turned his blue eyes, the exact same ones his mother possessed, back to me.

“But Ma said that My is only My Mom for me.” I quirked an eyebrow, turning my questioning gaze to Katie who was biting down hard on her now trembling lip.

“Kade, I’m always going to be your My. Jack isn’t going to change that. I promise you. Okay?” Kade gave me a guarded look, but finally nodded. “Go find your truck, okay?” She said as she set the little boy down shakily.

He scampered back into the pool house happily which only confused me even more. Although it did look as if I was in the clear. Even if Kade didn’t exactly like me yet, he didn’t dislike me either. I glanced back at Katie as she took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair before lightly placing it on my arm.

“What does he mean?” I asked. Katie shook her head, her lip trembling again.

I pulled her over to a pool chair, sitting down and pulling her onto my lap. Kade came back out of the pool house with a Tonka truck that I was sure Katie must have conjured out of thin air seeing as I’d never seen it before. He took a seat in the grass a few feet away, making different noises as he drove the toy around. Katie leaned back against my chest, her eyes on her son.

“I didn’t know at first.” She whispered. I knew better than to say anything so I just waited for her to continue. “I didn’t know I was pregnant. I mean, when you’re 16 that’s not exactly something that you think about. And girls skip periods all the time when they’re young. Sometimes I would only get mine once every three months. I wasn’t worried at all when it didn’t come. I didn’t bother to change any of my habits, and at the point some of them were already drugs.” She stopped, squeezing her eyes shut as a single tear slipped out. I reached up and wiped it away, leaving my hand resting on her cheek. She took a shuddering breath before speaking again. “They messed with his brain. It wasn’t a whole lot; the doctor said it could have been so much worse, but still. He has a form of dyslexia. He switches the ending of some words and names with the beginning. That’s why he calls me My. Because Mommy ends in m y. In his brain instead of Mommy, he thinks My Mom and that makes him a bit possessive. He just gets a little mixed up sometimes.”

I pressed my lips to her temple. I couldn’t even imagine the shit Katie had gone through in just 20 years of life. She closed her eyes, a few more tears falling, before clearing her throat and standing. I stood with her, running my fingers across her cheeks to clear the tears.

“Kathrine Rae!”

Both of our heads snapped to the back door to see Katie’s mother standing there with her lips in a tight line and arms folded across her chest. She began to walk towards us. I glanced over to see that Kade was still happily playing in the yard, oblivious to the world in the way only a kid can be. Katie began to gnaw at her lip as her mother stopped in front of us. Her eyes darted back and forth between us for a moment before she finally spoke.

“Well are you going to show me this pool house you’re living in or not? I need to know where my grandson will be staying if I let you have him back.”

Katie nodded and her mom took off towards the pool house. I rubbed my hands up and down her arms a few times.

“It’s going to be fine, babe. This is a good sign.”

Katie just nodded her head again before taking off after her mother, leaving me to do nothing except cross my fingers and wait as I took a seat on the ground next to Kade.