Michael rang Beth's doorbell, feeling impatient. He just wanted to get this over with so Parker could come back home, where he belonged.
Beth opened the door and greeted Michael with a smile, but he was still nervous that she was going to yell at him. Parker had probably told her all about what happened the day before, and knowing Parker he also over exaggerated about it.
"Hey, come on in." Beth said, holding the door open for Michael.
Michael just nodded and stepped into the house, hoping that this wouldn't take long. "Where is he?"
"He's upstairs with Jason, they're watching a movie in our bed." Beth said, turning to face Michael and folding her arms across her chest.
"Well is he all ready to go? Can you go get him?" Michael asked impatiently. He always tried his hardest to have Parker ready when Beth came to pick him up, Michael thought that she might be able to do the same.
"Uh, no." Beth answered slowly. "I was kind of hoping that we could talk first."
Michael let out a big sigh and had to hold back from rolling his eyes at Beth. "Didn't you and Parker talk last night?"
"Yeah, we did, and I told him that he's not allowed to say that he hates you anymore because he really doesn't mean it." Beth explained. "I also told
him that there are some adult conversations that you have that he's just not allowed to get involved in. But that's not really what I wanted to talk about."
"Beth, I was a jerk, I know, but - " Michael began, already having an idea for how this conversation was going to go. He knew that Beth was going to suggest the Parker lived with her full time, it had happened before.
"Do you want to sit down somewhere?" Beth asked, cutting him off.
"N-No, I'm fine here." Michael said nervously. "I'm not a bad dad, Beth, I promise. I was having a really bad day and I took it out Park, I'm sorry."
"Michael stop it, I understand." Beth chuckled, shaking her head. "You were frustrated, I get it, I yell at Parker and say things that I don't mean sometimes."
"Then what do you want to talk about?" Michael questioned, now confused. He knew that Beth was mad at him about something, he could see it in the expression on her face, but Michael just didn't know what.
"Well, I called Calum - "
"You called Calum?" Michael snapped, cutting Beth off.
"I just wanted to make sure that what Parker was saying was true. He's four, Michael, he still gets things mixed up sometimes." Beth said and sighed, already annoyed with Michael. "Plus he was freaking out and I could barely even understand him."
"Okay, fine." Michael said quietly, because he supposed that Beth calling Calum wasn't so wrong. "What did Calum say?"
"He told me about how you've been acting around Parker and Katie both lately."
"Oh my God." Michael muttered under his breath. Of course Calum told Beth all about Michael not paying as much attention to Parker lately. He probably made Michael's behavior seem much worse than it really was.
"Michael, I know that you love and care about Katie. I think it's great that you feel like way about her, but she's not your daughter." Beth said slowly and Michael nodded along with her, feeling kind of embarrassed. Beth was such a mom, Michael felt like he was a little kid getting yelled at. "Parker is your son and you need to give him the same attention that you give to Katie."
"I know." Michael nodded. He did know, he had learned his lesson now. Michael and Melissa sat down the night before and had a very long talk about all of this and now Michael knew that the way he was acting towards Parker was wrong.
