Chapter 7

• Chapter Seven
• The next morning, Dave walked down the stairs with his daughter in his arms. They were both dressed and ready to go to the firm. It wasn’t ‘bring your kid to work day’, but what else was he to do? Amy didn’t show up the night before and Dave didn’t feel comfortable leaving his child with a nanny. He was a little glad Amy didn’t show. Seeing her face anytime soon would send him to a rage that he wasn’t so sure he would be able to control.
• He spent the whole night thinking of a way to get Amy out of his life and get full custody of his daughter. He was tired of her, and he didn’t want his wife influencing his daughter in any way. He knew it would be difficult being a single dad, but he was practically a single dad now with his whimsical, annoying and self-centred wife. He also would have to give up a lot and reduce his workload if he was to be there for his daughter twenty—four seven. The drive for being senior partner grew but was backed by his concern and love for his baby instead of ambition. If he got the promotion, he would have less work and could just concentrate on the big cases which weren’t that many.
• Five months, he had to wait before he could be sure of his promotion. That meant spending five more months with the witch before he could start the process of getting rid of her, but one thing was for sure, he wasn’t leaving his daughter in her care ever again.
• He picked up his briefcase and walked out of his home. He was glad they had a day care in his office building, but he was still sceptical about leaving his child with strangers. He’ll make sure to get everyone’s information and background checks before he finally takes her there.
• “Ma.” Elizabeth yelled pointing out to the lawn. Dave pulled out of his worry fest, turned and followed her finger. Amy was asleep on the lawn. She was too drunk to even make it to the door.
• Dave stared at her completely unconcerned about her. He found it hard to believe that she was the same woman he was married to for five years, spread out on the lawn. He opened the back seat door of his BMW Prado and put Elizabeth in her baby seat. He walked to his drunken wife and took a few photos with his I-phone. She was making it easy to build a case against her. He smiled, excited that the custody battle would be a slam dunk. The pictures may not seem like much, but he had won cases with much less.
• “Thank you so much.” he spoke to his still wife. He walked back to his car, but stopped, an impish idea in his head, “Daddy is going to be right back.” he said to Elizabeth before he walked away.
• He couldn’t, in good conscience leave his wife out on the lawn. The least he could do was wake her up, show her the same courtesy she’d shown their daughter when she left their door wide open for any psycho to walk in and harm his child. He turned on the sprinkler and walked back to his car and waited.
• “You son of a bitch!” Amy woke up screaming and cursing at him as she ran on to the path, away from the water. Her red party dress clung to her as she was soaked to the bone. Her blond hair had mud in it and her make-up spread all over her face. She looked like a Halloween character.
• “Good morning honey.” Dave said laughingly, as he got in his car and drove away.
• ***
• “Carol, could you put me through to the day care centre?” Dave rapped his pen on his desk.
• He found it hard to concentrate knowing his daughter was being looked after by strangers. He had already done the background checks and had gone as far as getting their contact details and those of their families and saving them on his computer, but it wasn’t enough to keep him calm. He used to be a trusting man, before he got into this line of work, and before his wife became a self-centred brat who couldn’t be trusted with her own daughter.
• “You’ve just been down there for lunch.” Carol responded, a little annoyed, “And called eleven times in total. She’s fine!”
• Dave stayed patiently quiet for a while; glad he didn’t start an affair with her. She would have been a real pain in the ass, “Just put me through.”
• “You are being a very over obsessive parent,” there was a click before another voice came on, “Mr. Greer for the umpteenth time, your daughter is fine.”
• Dave felt a little awkward, but she was the only child he had, he was entitled to be over obsessive and overprotective, “Is she asleep?”
• “Yes, and yes we have someone personally and exclusively watching her.” the lady said sarcastically.
• Dave didn’t get offended. He figured he had annoyed her enough and being as rude to her would not help either one of them, “Thank you.”
• “You’re welcome, and could we please not speak again today?” the line went dead.
• Dave glared at the receiver before he put it down. He felt a bit more relaxed, and he could concentrate on his work now that he knew his baby was fine, until he got hysterical again and needed to check on her. His phone rang, but he didn’t need to pick it up to know what it was about. He could hear Amy’s raised screeching voice outside his office. Carol’s was raised to match hers. It didn’t take long before the insults began to fly, and Carol seemed to be winning on that front. Dave rushed out of his office, he needed to stop the commotion before it attracted an audience or developed into a fist fight and end up on You Tube. He opened the door just in time to catch Carol’s last insult.
• “That little girl is lucky to have Dave, you aren’t fit enough to be a mother to any child, not even to a cold-blooded reptile like yourself! I’ve heard of animals that eat their young, but you are far worse!”
• Dave looked at her amused. Amy was staring at her with lethal eyes. He pulled back the smile, then grabbed Amy’s arm and pushed her into his office.
• “What are you doing here?” He spoke, his voice dangerously low, all the amusement gone. Lately the sight of Amy got him in the meanest of moods.
• “How could you let your bimbo secretary talk to me like that?” Amy yelled, lividly.
• “Don’t answer a question with a question and bimbos are blonde.” He answered in a mild tone glancing at her held up blonde hair, which looked a lot better than that morning.
• She glared at him, “Of course you would let her speak to me that way, and she must be your mistress. It would explain why you haven’t touched me in months!”
• Dave felt like telling her exactly why he didn’t touch her. She had spent countless nights away from home and has been receiving gifts that he knew he hadn’t bought. It didn’t take a genius to know she was having an affair or two.
• “Amy, if you have nothing sensible to say get out of my office!” Dave held the door wide open. Amy sat down on his desk, a heinous smile on her face.