“Did you use the detangler spray I left you?”
Steph narrowed her eyes. “You mean the one your girlfriend gave her?”
“Yes,” he said snidely. “That one.”
“I’m so damn tired of hearing about how great Trinity is. It’s constantly Trinity this, and Trinity that. ‘Trinity doesn’t pull my hair. Trinity does it softer,’” she mimicked in a snide tone.
So that’s what really set Steph off.
“What the hell is she even doing here? This is between us. Emmy is our daughter.”
Trinity wasn’t the problem here; Steph’s jealousy was making her act out and it needed to stop.
“Trinity cares about Emmy. She takes care of her when she’s with us.”
“Us? So you two are living together now. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”
He had no idea what she meant by that. “What am I doing?”
“You’re trying to take her from me. You just want to be a happy family with that bitch and my daughter. I won’t let you have full custody.”
“I want you, her mother, to take care of her properly. That’s all.”
“I’m a good mother.”
“You left her alone in the apartment to go party with some guy.”
Pam interrupted. “If Emmy is being left alone, there are bigger issues we need to discuss. Which should include the statements Emmy has made to her teacher about her mother being mean to her.”
“She’s lying,” Steph immediately spat out.
Jon wanted to know just what Emmy had to say to her teacher, but first he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened this morning. “We both know she’s not, Steph. Look at what happened today. She’s so upset, she made herself sick. You’re defensive and agitated, but you won’t say what happened.”
“She wouldn’t sit still. She kept saying I was pulling too hard and hurting her.”
“You probably were. So why didn’t you stop?”
“And let her video call you with less than perfect hair so you can tell me again how I’m not doing what I’m supposed to for her? I’m so tired of you picking at every little thing I do or don’t do for her. All you do is threaten to take her away from me. And now she’s telling me that I’m not good at stuff, that Trinity is such a good cook and does her hair without hurting her, and blah, blah, blah, blah blah.”
“So this is Trinity’s fault.”
“She took you. Now she’s trying to take my daughter.” Steph had lost her mind if she thought he still belonged to her in any sort of way.
So Jon made it clear. “Trinity and I are together. She’s a part of Emmy’s life. She’s good to her. She’d never do what you did to her this morning.”
Steph tried to rein in her anger, but her frustration came through loud and clear. “There wasn’t time to straighten up her haircut. We were already late. I’ll fix it later tonight.”
“Trinity and I are taking her to the hairdresser right now. I hope that will repair some of the damage you did to her self-esteem and make her feel good about herself again.”
Steph waved that away. “If she’d stayed still it wouldn’t have turned out so bad.”
Jon caught himself before he took a step toward Steph and did or said something he shouldn’t and might not really regret later.
Steph glared at him. “You can’t take her from school.”
“I can. I am. She’s too upset to stay.”
Pam nodded. “I think she’ll feel better coming back to school tomorrow with a new haircut and time to let what’s happened settle in her mind.”
“She’s supposed to be with me tonight. But, of course, because I had to come down here, I’ll have to work late to make up the time.” She rolled her eyes in exasperation that she’d been put out.
Jon didn’t give a shit that she’d had to leave work. It was her damn fault. She just didn’t see it.
“Then it works out, because I’m taking Emmy home with me.”
Steph fumed.
He ordered her to do the right thing. “After you go inside and apologize to her for what you did.”
She gaped at him. “After the way she acted, the things she said.” Steph shook her head. “No. She should apologize to me.”
“So she’s the only one in the wrong?”
“Yes. If she’d stayed still and shut up, none of this would have happened.”
He fought to contain his rage. “You lost your temper and attacked her hair with a pair of scissors.”
Steph rolled her eyes. “Her hair will grow back.”
“But will she ever forget what you did to her and how you made her feel today?” Jon wouldn’t forget the devastation in Emmy’s eyes or the way she’d cried like a wounded animal.
“She’s four. She probably won’t remember any of this.” Steph shrugged it off.
“So you’re going to leave it to me to fix this between you two.”
“She’ll get over it. What choice does she have? I’m her mother. She needs to do what I say.”
He set her straight. “That’s where you’re wrong, Steph. She does have a choice. I’ve already got my lawyer working on it.”
Steph rushed him and got right in his face. “I’ve done everything you ordered me to do. You can’t take her away from me!”
Principal Fields inserted his arm between them. “Perhaps this is a discussion you can have when you’ve had time to calm down and you can talk amicably about what is best for Emmy.”
“I’m her mother. I’m what’s best for her. Not Trinity.” Steph glared hard at him. “I’m calling my father and getting a lawyer to stop you.”
No surprise. When things got hard for Steph, she ran to Daddy and begged him to fix things for her.
Jon wondered what her father would say when he heard what Steph had done to Emmy.
“You’re going to need one because Pam and Principal Fields are required to report suspected abuse and neglect.”
Steph’s eyes went round when Pam nodded. “You can’t do that. She’s fine.”
Pam gave Steph a sad but determined look. “We are mandated reporters. If we suspect abuse, a call is required.”
Steph stormed off, pulling her phone out, likely to call her dad, as she crossed the parking lot.
Jon stood there, not caring if the principal and Pam stared at him, waiting for him to say or do something. He knew what was coming. He’d held off Emmy’s teacher in California with promises that he’d take care of things with Steph. She’d do better.
Well, he was tired of covering for Steph. He hated that Emmy was going to have to go through this, but it had to be done if he was going to get the court to side with him instead of Emmy’s mother. More than likely, they’d be lenient and give Steph more chances than she deserved to get things right. And in the process, Emmy would suffer.
He’d do his best, everything and anything he could to protect her, but if he wanted to win and keep Emmy away from Steph and her abuse in the future, he had to do it the right way.
Pam broke the tense silence. “I know this has been a difficult morning, Mr. Crawford. We appreciate you coming down to see to Emmy’s needs.”