One Month Later

Dylan stood outside with her class at the carline pick-up in front of the elementary school she attended. She’d just said goodbye to Briahna and was excited because she knew that her father was going to be picking her up today. Josh had flown into town and was staying for a few days at the house while Becca had begun the process of moving her things out to Seth’s place. Dylan was still processing how it would all work in a few months’ time. She would be with her dad most weekends and at her mom’s during the week. Her stomach had sunk most times when she thought about the fact that her parents might never get back together. She had remembered vaguely how happy her mother had been just a few years ago. And then there was Seth, who’d be her new stepfather in February. It made her cringe to think about it. She had vowed she’d never listen to him and she’d only do what her mother told her.

“Dylan, your car is here,” her teacher, Miss Mathis called to her. Dylan looked out into the carline and frowned when she saw Seth pulling up in his blue car.

“Miss Mathis, my daddy is supposed to get me,” Dylan said, going over to her teacher. “He told me he was coming today.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. He left a message at the front desk and I forgot to tell you at recess. He’s going to be waiting for you at your house and your stepdad is going to take you,” Miss Mathis leaned down to Dylan’s level and patted her head. “Go on. I think he’s waiting.”

“He isn’t my stepdad,” Dylan replied, softly, gathering her backpack and putting it over her shoulder. She said goodbye to a few of her friends and solemnly walked over to the blue car in line.

“Hey, there, Dylan!” Seth greeted her, a smile plastered across his face. Dylan said nothing, but opened the door to the backseat. “You can sit up front with me, honey.”

“No, I can’t,” Dylan climbed into the backseat and fastened her seatbelt. “I’m not tall enough yet.”

“Oh, I won’t tell anyone!” Seth turned around and flashed a grin.

“It’s against the law,” Dylan answered, not bothering to smile back at him. She looked out the window as Seth pulled out of the school parking lot.

“Oh. Okay,” he cleared his throat. “So, how was your day?” Seth turned down the radio and looked at her through the rearview mirror.

“Fine,” Dylan wasn’t going to elaborate any more than she needed to.

“Did you have fun at recess?” Seth turned the corner and Dylan frowned.

“My house is the other way,” she leaned towards him.

“Oh, I thought you and I could go to Cold Stone and get an ice cream before I took you home. How does that sound?” Seth was not giving up.

“No. No, thank you. I want to go home. I want to see my dad,” Dylan was calm in her response, remembering what both of her parents had told her about being respectful to adults.

Seth let out an irritated sigh and turned into a parking lot to turn around. “You know, Dylan, I’m trying my best to get to know you but you’re really making it hard. I’ve been with your mom for 2 years now. Don’t you think you and I should start to be friends?”

“No,” came Dylan’s answer.

“Well, honey,” his voice became terse. “You’re going to have to get used to me because in a few months I’ll be your stepfather and you and I are going to have to get along. And you will listen to what I tell you to do. Do I make myself clear?”

Dylan was silent and felt tears stinging at her eyes. She looked away and pretended to be interested in the scenery passing her outside, even though she knew it like the back of her hand.

“Fine,” Seth snapped. “You can ignore me all you want right now, but you’d better learn to respect me here soon enough.”

The rest of the ride was quiet until Seth pulled into the driveway. Dylan’s heart raced when she saw her father standing at the front door. He walked towards the car and met her as she opened the door and scrambled out into his arms.

“Daddy!” she threw her arms around his neck and giggled. “Hi!”

“Hi baby girl,” Josh kissed his daughter’s cheek. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come get you. My flight was late.” He looked over at Seth, still in the driver’s seat. “Hey, thanks for picking her up.”

“No problem,” Seth muttered, watching the scene before him.

“Daddy, can we go ride the Hulk with Uncle Joey and Briahna tomorrow?” Dylan immediately asked him. The Hulk rollercoaster at Islands of Adventure was Dylan’s favorite ride and she and Briahna could go on it over and over again. They especially loved going with Josh and Joey because it only made the experience more fun for both of them.

“Sure, honey. We’ll do whatever you want,” he kissed her again and she ran off with her backpack and suitcase towards the house.

“You sure do spoil her,” Seth muttered, looking at Josh, despicably.

“She’s my daughter and right now, I don’t see her like I’d like to,” Josh replied, stoically. “Thanks again for-“

“Well, after Becca and I get married, things will change. She already knows that I don’t approve of Dylan getting her way all the time and we’re going to be a bit more strict with her,” Seth eyed Josh as though he were a piece of dirt on the ground.

“She’s my daughter. I’ll do whatever I like with her. And whatever rules you have at her house may not be what are at mine,” Josh had kept his calm. He really wanted to beat this guy to a pulp, but he held his ground.

“I think you need to understand that the real world is going to slap her in the ass once she realizes life isn’t handed to her on a silver plate,” Seth retorted, as he began to back the car out of the driveway.

Josh placed his hand firmly on the window- sill, causing Seth to stop abruptly. “You have no say in what goes on, dude. She’s my daughter.”

Seth just shrugged and continued to pull out. Josh was fuming by now and ran back towards the house. Dylan met him the foyer and he knew from the look on her face that she’d seen them talking from the front window in the dining room.

“What did he say?” she asked Josh, walking over to him and taking his hand in her small one.

“Nothing, honey. Don’t worry about it,” Josh knelt down and pulled her into his arms. “All you need to know is that I love you and I can’t wait to spend this weekend with you.”

“Yeah!” Dylan brightened and pulled her head off of his shoulder. “Me too, Daddy!”

“Ok, so where should we have dinner? We’ll go wherever you want to go,” Josh stood and ran his hand through her long, brown hair.

“Bahama Breeze!” Dylan blurted. “I want shrimp!”

Josh nodded. “Okay. Well, you go play in your room and we’ll go soon. Maybe stop at the mall on the way?”

“Yay!” Dylan squealed as she ran upstairs to her bedroom.

Once Josh had heard the door slam, he went over to the phone in the kitchen and dialed Becca’s cell phone number. He couldn’t believe this guy was serious.     And he couldn’t believe that Becca was engaged to him for anything in the world.

Becca had been online looking at bridal websites and was checking out a junior bridesmaids dress for Dylan. She leaned back in her recliner and clicked again on another site, which brought up an exquisite pale ivory dress that would look perfect on her daughter. It had simple sleeves and was knee-length, but didn’t look at all too young or too old for an 8-year-old. Just as she was clicking on the image to make it bigger, her cell phone rang next to her. She looked at the ID and saw it was Josh, probably calling about Dylan and checking in as he always did when he had her.

“Hey,” she greeted him. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Josh sighed and leaned against the island in the kitchen. “Becca, I had an interesting conversation with Seth today when he dropped off Dylan.”

“Interesting good or bad?”

“He’s an ass,”

“Of course he is,” Becca’s voice was curt and sarcastic. “What the hell did he do? Pick her up late?”

“Listen to me!” Josh snapped.  “He basically told me that I was spoiling Dylan and that once you and him were married, that all that would have to stop. I do not spoil Dylan. I don’t see her all that much right now, but I certainly do not spoil her. And I’m sorry, but whatever rules you make after you get married, I’m not abiding by them. “Dylan is just fine and-“

“Rules? What rules?” Becca interrupted him. “What are you talking about?”

“Apparently, he doesn’t approve of Dylan getting her way all of the time, which she doesn’t. And he told me that life would bite her in the ass once she found out it wasn’t handed to her on a silver plate. What the hell, Becca? You really want to be with this douche?”

Becca closed her eyes and groaned into the phone. “I’m sure that’s not what he meant, Josh. You probably took it out of context!”

“I didn’t take it out of context!”

“Well, that’s not like him so I don’t know what to tell you-“

“Maybe you should tell me that you need to find out how he is when he’s not around you! Maybe you should tell me that you’re not going to let him control my daughter!”

“She’s my daughter, too!”

“You know what I mean!”

“Fine. I’ll talk to him. But I’m pretty sure you just misunderstood him,”

“Right. Because that’s what I’m good at. Misunderstanding people?”

“Don’t start with me,”

“Baby, I started with you 9 years ago and I’m not about to stop. I know you better than any other person on the damn planet and you can pretend you have no idea what I’m talking about or whatever, but one day you’ll realize I’m right,”

“Goodbye, Josh,” Becca hung up and wanted to throw her phone across the room. Instead, she got up and rubbed her temples, heading into Seth’s bedroom. At that instant, she heard the front door open and him call for her.

“I’m in the bedroom, babe,” Becca called back. She sat down on the bed and hated this feeling in her gut. Surely Josh misunderstood. Seth was always careful about stepping over the parenting line with Becca and he always made sure that she had the last word with Dylan.

“Hi,” he greeted her, coming over to the bed and pecking her lips. “How are you?”

“Good,” Becca smiled at him then cleared her throat. “Hey, I just got off the phone with Josh. Was there some sort of misunderstanding when you dropped off Dylan? He said that you said a few things about parenting and how he spoiled her or something?”

Seth furrowed his eyebrows. “No. He completely misunderstood me. I told him that it was a good thing she wasn’t spoiled. You know with as much as he could give her but doesn’t. I’m sorry, baby. Do you want me to call and apologize? I didn’t mean for him to take that the wrong way,”

Becca shook her head and smiled at him, kissing his lips softly. “No. He’s wrong and I know that you would never do anything that stupid. You know that both Josh and I don’t ever want to be those parents who let our kid get away with shit.”

“I know that, Becca,” Seth enveloped her in his arms. “I’m sure Josh meant well. It might be hard for him to see me with Dylan is all.”

Becca nodded. “That’s true,” she stated. “Thanks for being so great. I knew that couldn’t have been at all what you said.”

Josh opened the garage door and pulled the car inside. He and Dylan had had a full evening of eating at her favorite restaurant, then going to Build-A-Bear and getting a new outfit for her favorite stuffed dog –Rufus- and then over to Cold Stone for an ice cream cone. Dylan had talked to him about school, about her new dance she and Briahna were putting together, and that she couldn’t wait until he was really back in Orlando for good. It had been a perfect evening. And now, they were home and tomorrow they would meet Joey and Briahna at Islands of Adventure for all the Hulk riding they could do in a day. Josh had almost forgotten about that encounter with Seth until he walked inside and his phone buzzed immediately.  He didn’t look at the ID before answering, simply told Dylan to go upstairs and change into her pajamas.

“Hello?”

“I talked to Seth,” came Becca’s short response. “You completely misunderstood him.”

“Oh, really? Did I? Please enlighten me. I’d love to know what he’s saying I misunderstood,” Josh snapped back sarcastically.

“He was simply saying that he knew how easy it would be for us to spoil her and he was glad that we didn’t do it. Now, does that sound like anything you heard?”

“No. He’s lying, Becca,”

“You’re lying. You just don’t want me to be happy with anyone. Look, if I recall, you’re the one that fucked this up for us three years ago. And I’ve moved on and maybe one day you’ll decide to do the same for yourself. But I’m happy and I’ve moved on and he loves me and loves Dylan. So the sooner you learn to accept that, the better it will be for everyone else involved!”

“Becca, come on. You know me. You know that I-“

“Save it, Josh. I don’t want to hear it anymore,”

He went to say something else, but it was too late. She had already hung up on him. He sighed loudly and banged the phone down on the counter. He looked up to see Dylan at the end of the stairs looking back at him and immediately he felt guilty.

“Daddy, was that Mama?” she asked him, walking over to him. “Did she make you mad?”

“Don’t worry about who that was,” Josh forced a smile and took her hand in his. “C’mon. I’ll go tuck you in. Pretty soon, you’re gonna be too old for me to do that.”

“I won’t ever be too old for you to tuck me in!” Dylan replied. “Cross my heart, Dad!”

“Okay. So when you’re 16, I’ll remind you of this conversation, alright?” Josh mused, tousling her hair. He followed her back to her bedroom and Dylan immediately jumped on her bed and pulled back the covers, snuggling beneath them. Josh sat next to her and smoothed out her hair, bending down to kiss her cheek. “You’re always gonna be my little girl, Dylan. You know that, right?”

“I know, Dad,” Dylan grinned at him. “I love you.”

Josh smiled and playfully tickled her under her neck, which made her squeal. He reached down and she threw her arms around him, kissing his cheek before letting him go.

“Goodnight my favorite girl,” he stood and turned off the lamp next to her bed. “I love you.”

“Goodnight, Daddy,” Dylan yawned, as she rolled over on her side and closed her eyes.

Josh cracked the door as he left and headed back downstairs to watch television. His stomach still churned from the conversation he’d had with Becca and he couldn’t believe she hadn’t believed a word he’d said to her.