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Kayla’s hands were shaking so badly that she could barely undo the buttons on her jacket. Peggy had excused herself to use the restroom, leaving her alone in the small room with Brian’s ex-wife, Leighanne’s lawyer, and the court stenographer. Kayla felt like she was suffocating; like Leighanne was sucking all of the air out of the room. The blonde woman kept shooting her condescending looks over her shoulder; looks that made Kayla want to confess every dirty little secret about her relationship with Brian.

Kayla knew that she hadn’t concealed her surprise when she had looked up into Leighanne’s heavily made-up face. Thankfully, Brian’s ex-wife hadn’t seemed to notice her surprise. The older woman had been more preoccupied with determining whether or not Kayla worked for Child Protective Services. Apparently, Leighanne had been under the impression that she would be able to sweet talk her way into finding out how Brian had fared during the C.P.S. inspections. Kayla hadn’t given her the satisfaction; hence, the disdainful looks.

“Are you C.P.S.?”

Kayla looked up into the harried face of a man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late sixties. He was dressed in a well-fitting Armani suit, and he still had a full head of wavy, silver hair.

“Y-Yes.” Kayla managed to stutter out a response. She could still see Leighanne glaring at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Great. I’m Ed Kaladek.” The man extended his hand. “I’m representing Mr. Littrell.”

Kayla nodded. She gripped his hand with her still trembling fingers. “I’m Kayla Ford. My supervisor, Peggy Peach, will be joining me in a moment.”

“The reports are pretty self explanatory. I doubt that I’ll need to call on either one of you.” Ed smiled as he took a seat at the small table directly in front of Kayla. He began pulling files out of his briefcase. “I’m willing to bet that Tom will have more questions.”

“Tom?” Kayla repeated.

“Tom Noble; he’s representing Ms. Wallace.” Ed nodded his head in the direction of Leighanne’s lawyer.

The middle-aged man smiled back at Kayla and gave her a small wave. Leighanne scowled.

“Hi, Ed.”

Kayla froze at the sound of his voice; at the way his accent pulled at the vowels, drawing them out. She removed her eyes from Tom and dropped her gaze to her lap, to her cold fingers that were twisted together. Kayla was seated on the bench immediately behind Ed. Peggy had directed her towards the seat, explaining that it was where the judge would be expecting them to sit. Kayla had wanted to sit at the back, as far away from Brian as possible.

“Hi, Brian. It’s good to see you.”

Kayla knew that Ed had stood up to shake Brian’s hand. She could sense more people shuffling into the benches behind her. She could hear AJ’s raspy whisper. She could smell Kevin’s cologne. She could detect Howie’s nervous energy. She could feel Nick’s breath on the back of her neck.

“Hey, Kay.”

Kayla knew that it was against her better judgement, but she pulled her eyes away from her lap and moved to look at Nick. His face was so close that their noses almost touched when she turned her head. “Hi, Nick.”

“I didn’t think you would be here today.”

Kayla sighed. “Peggy said that I didn’t have a choice. I’ve signed off on most of the reports.”

Nick nodded. There was worry in his eyes. “Brian looks like he’s going to pass out.”

Kayla knew what Nick was trying to do. She knew that she shouldn’t fall for it, but she did anyway. She turned and looked at Brian. He was still standing, talking to his lawyer. His dark grey Versace suit hugged his body in all the right ways. Kayla swallowed hard. She hadn’t expected her feelings to be this strong; she was literally aching to touch him.

“He misses you.” Nick’s lips were directly on her ear.

“AJ told me.” Kayla’s voice was so quiet that she was pretty sure that Nick was doing little more than reading her lips. “I can’t do this now, Nick.”

“Every word of what I said to you last week is still true.” AJ had now slid forward on the bench to join in their hushed conversation. His face was so close to Nick’s that his beard was brushing against the younger man’s cheek. Kayla could see Nick’s nose twitching in discomfort, but he made no move to push AJ away.

“Gentleman!” Peggy’s wrinkled face suddenly appeared in their circle. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Nick and AJ spoke together; their faces registering identical flashes of guilt.

Kayla could see Howie and Kevin watching them out of the corner of her eye. Howie looked anxious and Kevin looked downright pissed off. “We were just saying ‘hello’.” She lied.

Peggy’s eyes were ripe with pent up anger. “The three of you don’t need to be speaking to each other.” Peggy clamped her hand down on Kayla’s arm and roughly turned her around so that she was, once again, facing forward.

Kayla heard Nick and AJ slide back on the bench behind her. Kevin’s whispered voice rumbled incoherently and AJ hissed back an equally unintelligible response. Kayla knew that Peggy was probably just as mad as Kevin; she could feel the tension radiating off of the older woman. She couldn’t wait for the hearing to be over.

“Case 1046: Littrell vs. Wallace.” The judge walked into the room and took a seat. She peered around the room to ensure that both parties were present before she continued. “This is the appeal hearing regarding the custody arrangement for Baylee Littrell, age eleven. The appeal was requested by Leighanne Wallace on September 6, 2013, and it was registered by the courts on September 10, 2013. Baylee Littrell is presently being cared for by his father, Brian Littlrell, who was granted primary custody during the initial hearing on August 17, 2013. We’ll begin with character references for both parties.”

Kayla shifted anxiously in her seat. She didn’t know why she and Peggy had to sit through the entire hearing. The judge had just finished reading the character references that had been submitted on Leighanne’s behalf. Kayla hated to admit it, but the letters had been well-written and they had easily conveyed the notion that Leighanne was nothing but a picture-perfect mother who was beyond devastated that she had not been granted primary custody of her only child.

“We’ll now hear the references that have been submitted on behalf of Mr. Littlrell. The first is from Mr. Nickolas Carter.” The judge’s voice reverberated through the room.

Kayla sucked in her breath. She hadn’t even been aware of the fact that Nick had submitted his character reference. For obvious reasons, Peggy must have transcribed his letter and posted it to the file without her knowledge.

*****
To whom it may concern,

I met Brian Littrell when I was roughly the same age as his son. I was twelve years old; a child who was living in a world of fear and neglect. Brian and I were both thrust into the media spotlight at the same time. We didn’t have an instruction manual or any warnings about what to expect. The only thing that we had, at that time, was each other.

It didn’t take long for Brian to become my best friend. In some instances, it also didn’t take long for Brian to become my guardian. He looked out for me during the early years of our friendship; he tried his best to make sure that I would grow up to become the same type of amazing man that he is.

Unfortunately, I pushed Brian away. I self-sabotaged myself with drugs and alcohol to the point where I was inches away from death. When I finally overcame my self-defeating behaviour, I was terrified that Brian, my best-friend, had given up on me. I was as surprised as anyone to find out that he hadn’t. Brian waited for me to get my life back on track. He gave me the silent, unwavering support that I needed in order to save myself. Without his support and his friendship I would be dead.

Baylee needs his father. He needs to experience and feel Brian’s support on a daily basis. I lost so much time with Brian because of my own bad decisions. It would be devastating for Baylee to lose time with his father because of someone else’s bad decision. Brian deserves to raise his son; it’s the right choice for everyone involved.

Sincerely,
Nickolas Carter

*****

Kayla blinked rapidly. She was glad that the judge had already launched into AJ’s letter. The last thing that Kayla wanted was for the judge to see her cry. She was supposed to be a neutral third party, and it would be pretty hard to maintain that image if she started blubbering like a hormonal teenager over Nick’s words.

The judge read through AJ and Howie’s statements before handing over the reins to the lawyers. Ed and Tom both delivered a quick statement and presented evidence to convince the judge that their respective client deserved to be Baylee’s primary caregiver. Ed focused primarily on the reports that she and Peggy had submitted, and Kayla breathed a sigh of relief as neither Ed nor Tom called upon her to provide any additional information.

Brian faced forward the entire time; his eyes firmly locked on the judge. His face consistently registered a nervous, slightly panicked expression and Kayla could see his left leg bouncing steadily underneath the table. Leighanne, on the other hand, appeared to be perfectly composed. She, too, kept her eyes glued to the judge, but her face was pulled into a soft, easy smile. It appeared as though Leighanne didn’t have a care in the world. It was as though she knew without a doubt that she would be walking out of the door with Baylee at her side.

“I understand that Baylee has opted to answer some questions related to his preferred living arrangement.” The judge glanced up from the papers on her desk and looked to Brian’s lawyer for confirmation.

“That’s correct.” Ed confirmed.

“Is Baylee aware that he will be expected to answer questions from both members of counsel?” The judge peered over the top of her glasses.

“Yes.” Ed nodded. “The process was explained to him.”

“Bring him in.” The judge waved at the security guard who was standing by the door.

The guard signalled his understanding and pushed open the heavy, wooden door. Another guard appeared in the doorway with Baylee by his side. If Baylee was at all nervous about speaking in court he didn’t show it as he walked quickly down the aisle. He smiled at both of his parents as he stepped up to the front and promised to tell the truth.

Ed waited until Baylee had situated himself on the wooden chair before he stood up and began to ask him a series of questions designed to sway the judge’s decision towards Brian. Baylee answered each question in detail; his face lighting up when he talked about school, his friends, and the basketball team. He even launched into a touching monologue about how much fun he had with his dad and about how much he enjoyed travelling the world when Brian was on tour.

“Baylee, I just have one more question for you.” Ed smiled. “Who would you prefer to live with? Your mom or your dad?”

Baylee paused. He gave Leighanne a small, tentative smile before settling his eyes on Brian. “My dad. I want to live with my dad.”