She reviewed Ava's records, school attendance, medical extracurricular. She asked Malcolm four questions, each of which required a direct factual answer rather than an interpretation, and he gave four direct factual answers. She asked Diane's attorney two questions about the basis of the modification petition and received two answers that were more complicated than simple facts tended to need to be. The hearing lasted 40 minutes. At the end, Judge Callaway said that she was not prepared to grant the modification petition on the basis of the evidence presented and that if Diane wished to pursue the matter further, she would need to provide substantially more documentation of a genuine material change in circumstance.
She said the word genuine in a specific way that both legal teams understood clearly. She also said that she was recommending a family evaluation in 60 days to ensure the current arrangement continued to serve Ava's best interests. Standard language. Renee told him afterward, "Not a red flag, simply procedural." Malcolm walked out of the courthouse into a bright October morning and stood on the steps and did not move for a moment.
Renee appeared beside him. "You handled that well," she said. "Thank you," he said. And then before she could go, Renee, was it the grant documentation that made the difference on the employment stability argument? Renee considered this with the precision of someone who did not make imprecise statements.
It was part of a comprehensive picture, she said, but it was the part that was most directly relevant to the petitioner's primary argument. Yes, it made a material difference. He nodded. She left. He stood on the courthouse steps alone for a moment and then he pulled out his phone.
He had three texts: his mother saying thinking of you his colleague Darnell saying let me know and Clare which had come in at 8:40 that morning before the hearing started. You've got this Ava's lucky to have you fighting for her. He read Clare's text three times. Then he typed "Petition denied. They'd need substantially more to bring it back."
He paused. Then he typed, ""You were right about the documentation." Renee said it made a material difference. He sent it. He started walking toward his car.
His phone buzzed. Clare, of course, it did. Then 30 seconds later, ""How are you?"" He stopped walking. He stood on the sidewalk outside the courthouse parking lot and thought about the question. Genuinely thought about it the way she had been teaching him to without immediately converting it to strategy or action.
He typed, ""I feel like I've been braced for impact for 3 weeks, and the thing didn't hit as hard as I thought, and now I don't know what to do with the adrenaline. Almost immediately, "Come by tonight. I'll make dinner. You can decompress without having to manage anything."" He looked at the message for a long time. Then he typed, ""Okay."
One word." But it felt like more than one word. He picked Ava up from school and told her the news in simple terms that the hearing had gone well, that nothing was changing, that she was staying home. Ava received this information with the same measured steadiness with which she received most information. And then she asked if they could have ice cream, which Malcolm interpreted as her version of celebrating, and said yes, they had ice cream in the car.