Rushing the Goal
Page 145

Lucy’s dad stood, clearing his throat. “Yes, sir. Ms. Sinclair would like to change and add a few things to the plan.”
“That being?”
“The biggest issue we are having now is that Angela does not want to go to her father’s anymore. For the past two months, on Mr. Hart’s weekends, he has physically forced her to go to his house. We would like to add to the plan that if she doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t have to. She is at an age where her wishes should be taken into consideration.”
It was downright disgusting is what it was. It had taken everything out of Benji not to rip Rick apart the last time. He was mad the whole weekend and actually said sorry to some of the guys he knocked into on the ice. It was painful, and he hated seeing Angie being put through that.
The judge nodded as he looked up at Angie. He was a big man with a heavy beard and thick bifocals. “Angela, you don’t want to go to your father’s. Why is that?”
Mark looked down at Angie, and she looked from him to the judge. “He’s mean,” she said in a very small voice.
“Mean, how?”
“He is always yelling at me, telling me I’m a bad kid, that my sister is better. He’s really mean about my mom and Benji—”
“Who’s Benji?”
“Benjamin Paxton, Ms. Sinclair’s significant other,” Mark said then, glancing up at the judge.
The judge nodded. “Has he laid a hand on you, Angela?”
Angie looked down and Benji’s heart stopped. She looked so pained as Lucy’s gaze shot to her, her eyes full of concern before Angie nodded. “Sometimes.”
Red-hot rage.
Lucy drew in a sharp intake of breath as she looked down, shaking her head. Angie hadn’t told them that. Why hadn’t she told them? Glancing over at Rick, who was watching them with narrowed eyes, Benji wanted to get up and beat him stupid. He completely understood Angie needing her butt spanked when she misbehaved. Lucy had had to do it before and it sucked and killed him a bit inside, but he doubted that Rick had reason to discipline her. Why? He had her for two days every other weekend. She shouldn’t even have time to be bad if he was loving her the whole time.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “He said I was bad.”
“Were you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay,” the judge said, writing some things down. “Other changes.”
“If we cannot get Article One changed about the visitation, then we would like to add that Mr. Hart has to allow communication between Angela and her mother—”
The judge looked up at Mark. “What do you mean?”
“Since the end of November on Mr. Hart’s weekends, he will not allow Angela to call her mother or for her mother to talk to her while she is in his custody.”
The judge looked over at Rick, as did everyone else. “Is there a reason for this, Mr. Hart?”
Rick leaned back in his chair. He was wearing a dingy white button-down with black pants, his hair brushed to the side. Heidi was nowhere to be seen, which surprised Benji. Wouldn’t she want to support him in this matter? Lucy had said she didn’t expect Heidi to be there, that she didn’t care about Angie anyway. Benji guessed she was right, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He got that Angie wasn’t Heidi’s, but she should love her. It was the right thing to do. Clearing his throat, Rick shrugged. “It’s my time, I don’t think Lucy should get to talk to her.”
“She’s her mother,” the judge reiterated.
“And I’m her father,” Rick spat back, and then his lawyer cut him a look that had Rick snapping his mouth shut.
The judge let out a long breath before waving his hand. “Continue, counselor.”
“Thank you, sir,” Mark said, moving a piece of paper around. “We ask that he should honor Angela’s wishes for her extracurricular activities. Angela is very active in the hockey community and has practice on Fridays from five to seven, and games on Saturdays. We ask that the new pickup time be at seven thirty on his weeks to allow for that. Also, he needs to either take her or allow her to be taken to games on weekends she is in his custody.”
The judge nodded, writing down the items. “Next.”
“We have submitted that Angela suffers from ADHD and is medicated, per her doctor’s orders. It has been brought to our attention that Mr. Hart will not give her the medicine she needs when she is with him. Angela has said that he locked her in a room with nothing to do, unmedicated, on one of his weekends. I have documentation from her therapist on that matter, sir,” he said, walking up and handing the judge the paper. The judge’s face reflected his annoyance as he looked over the paper and then back to Angie.
“Is this true, Angela?”
Angie nodded. “Yes.”
Scratching his head, he looked to Rick and then back to Mark. “Anything else?”
Mark glanced to Lucy and she was biting her lip. She looked as if she were going to cry, but instead, she shook her head. Mark sucked in a deep breath and shook his head. “At this time, no, sir. But if Mr. Hart proceeds with the threats he has made against my client, her significant other, and myself, then we will have more changes.”
The judge was a little taken aback as his head tilted to the side. “Threats?”
“Yes, sir. All documented,” Mark said, walking to the judge and hanging him another sheaf of papers.