Page 58 of Mr. Principal

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Two weeks later,I’d all but forgotten my confrontation with Tom. He had sent the maid out to pick Meredith up from our designated drop-off place and so I hadn’t seen him. I’d been both relieved and apprehensive. He always met me at the drop-off unless Becca volunteered.

I told myself that I needn’t be worried. And when my weekend rolled around, I went to the drop-off station and waited intently.

When he was ten minutes late, I picked up my phone and called him. It went straight to voicemail. By thirty minutes, I was starting to worry. I called three more times. I sat there for an hour fretting and nervous when finally he pulled up.

I sucked in a breath of relief.

“Where were you? You could have at least told me you planned to be late,” I said as he got out the car. Something was wrong. There was no sign of Meredith. Where was Meredith?

I looked at him sharply. “Where’s Meredith?

“She’s home,” he said, leaning against his car and folding his arms.

“What do you mean she’s home? Why isn’t she here with you?’

“Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. I’m not dropping her off.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“You’re in violation of the court order—”

“I’m getting the court order redone and until then Meredith will be staying with me.”

“You can’t do that. You can’t withhold my visitation rights!” I said and noticed the tears running down my face when I felt something salty in my mouth. My breathing was uneven and it took all my inner will to not punch him in his throat.

He must have realized that I was ready to explode because his eyes were cold and his tone was full of mockery and derision as he said, “What are you going to do? Call the cops? Take me back to court? We both know you wouldn’t call the cops and end up upsetting Meredith and you’re too broke to take me to court.”

“Bring my daughter to me.”

“No. I just came to tell you to keep your eye on your mail. I want the custody order revisited and I intend to fight you until that happens.”

I lost my temper and slammed my hand down so hard on the ceiling of his car, that I left a dent.

He didn’t even flinch. “I’m sure the court will love to hear about how you damaged my personal property out of spite.”

“Why are you doing this, Tom? What do you want?”

“Primary custody with all your visitations supervised.”

I felt as if someone had knocked the breath out of me. At that moment, I hated Tom with every fiber of my being. “You’re an asshole and I hope you burn in hell,” I growled, meaning every word.

I received derisive laughter in response.

“There’s no way I’m going to let you have primary custody. And there’s no way I’m doing supervised visits.”

“Fine. Then I guess you won’t be seeing Meredith.”

“Bring my daughter home.”

“She is home,” he said nastily.

“Look, Tom. You’re angry with me for whatever reason, but it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“It doesn’t feel good, does it, Dana? When someone takes away the person you love?”