Like Father, Like Son ✔

Chapter 34 - Amanda's Gift

CHAPTER 34

CAT

After such a great weekend and a positive reunion with her big brother, Monday came around like a needle to Cat's balloon. To make the situation even worse, while she was on her lunch break on Tuesday, Cat received a call from Sullivan regarding the custody case. He was wondering if she'd feel comfortable having Luke speak to a child psychologist.

"He'd only be speaking to the psychologist, and she's very good at her job, so you have nothing to be worried about," Sullivan went on when Cat hesitated. "I've worked with her in the past. You can trust me, I'd never suggest anything to you that'd put your son in harm's way."

"I know, Sullivan, and I appreciate that," Cat told him, glancing over her shoulder as the door to the coffee shop opened and Hannah strolled inside in a summery outfit that included a cute crop top showing off her flat midriff. "Do you think her assessment would really help my case? What kind of questions would she be asking him?" she added into the phone, giving her friend a silent wave.

"She'll just ask him questions about his routine with you... activities he likes to do, things he doesn't like... She will mention James, that's inevitable. She'll ask him about his relationship with his father," Sullivan explained candidly.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Cat murmured.

"It won't be so bad, Catherine, she won't ask him anything that might upset him," Sullivan told her pointedly.

"I know," Cat nodded, taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of her nose. "OK, I... um... I think I'm going to talk to Nick about it first, see what he thinks, then I'll get back to you – alright?" she said.

"Alright, sounds good, I'll talk to you soon Catherine," Sullivan replied, his easy tone so calm and comforting in a time where all Cat wanted to do was punch something.

"Yeah, have a good rest of your day," Cat smiled.

When she hung up and turned her attention onto Hannah, the other girl was staring at her from across the table.

"Was that the lawyer? Did he find a way to get that asshat locked up for something?" she asked angrily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sullivan is in family law, he doesn't put people in jail," Cat said with a small smile, although she wondered if that was even true. If a parent was abusive toward his child, did that fall under family law or criminal law? Would Sullivan take that kind of case?

"Sullivan? You guys are on first name basis now?" Hannah asked.

"He's a nice guy, and it'd feel weird calling him Mr. McDonald now. He's practically a friend of ours," Cat explained.

"Well that's nice, in any case... sister of a cop, friend of a lawyer," Hannah smirked, stealing one of Cat's breadsticks and popping a generous piece into her mouth. "I know who to call if ever I end up in jail," she added.

"Why would you end up in jail?" Cat giggled.

"I live an adventurous life, Catherine Logan, you never know!" Hannah wriggled her eyebrows devilishly.

"Right, because eating junk food and binge watching Jessica Jones on Netflix is totally adventurous," Cat retorted.

It was fun to have lunch with Hannah; no pressure, no rush, just two friends spending an hour together, cutting up an otherwise very insufferable day into two tolerable halves. When Cat went to pick up Luke at daycare later, she actually had a decent amount of energy, which wasn't usually the case these days between everything that was going on and this stupid end-of-July heat. So she took that opportunity to pick up supplies to bake Luke's birthday cake tomorrow and got a few more groceries – just a few things she'd put on her list that she could get while she was here. She also texted Nick and asked him if he needed anything, since he was the one that did most of the cooking.