Page 31 of Big Obsession

He scrunches up his nose. “Okay.”

The front door slams, and Karla walks in. “Ace, come give me a hug.”

I watch as my son dutifully walks over to his mom and gives her a lackluster hug.

She peers down at him. “Now do you care if your dad and I have a private talk?”

Ace doesn’t hesitate at all. “Nope. Dad, I’m going to my room. Let me know when we’re going to get pizza.”

I look at the clock on the wall and chuckle. It’s nine o’clock in the morning, a little too early for pizza.

My smile drops when Karla moves in front of me. I jump to my feet, and when Karla advances toward me, I move to put the couch between us. “What do you want, Karla?”

She smiles. “You. I want you.”

When she reaches for me, I put my hands up to stop her. “That’s not going to happen.”

She rolls her eyes. “Tucker, you know we were good together.”

Stunned, I blurt out, “We had a one-night stand almost ten years ago.”

“Yeah, but…”

I don’t let her finish. “Forget it. I don’t know how else to say it but just say it. I don’t want to be with you.”

“But…” she starts. She’s getting mad, and when she gets mad, it gets ugly, but I can’t just stand by and let this go on any longer.

I cross my arms over my chest. “Karla, you signed your rights to Ace over to me. I let you see him because I want you and him to have a relationship, but all you do is hurt him. Over and over, you make promises and don’t keep them. You and I will not be together. Not now, not ever.”

She matches my stance. “You know, Dolly acts like a saint, but she’s not. She planned this the whole time.”

I want to tell her that she didn’t make Karla a bad mother. She didn’t force her to walk out on her son and just see him when she felt like it. But I can’t say that to her. “Do you want to spend some time with Ace before you go?”

She’s looking at me like I’m an evil person. “You really won’t give us a chance, will you?”

I shake my head. “No, there’s no us, Karla. There never was, and there never will be.”

She grabs her purse and lugs it up onto her shoulder. “Well, I’m leaving.”

I nod. “Okay, do you want to say bye to Ace?”

She scrunches up her nose. “No, it’s probably better if I just go.”

I want to yell at her and tell her how much she’s missing, but I’m not going to. I just nod my head. “Okay.”

She tosses her hair and storms out of the house. As soon as the front door slams, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Ace!” I holler as I’m walking to my bedroom for my shirt.

I get dressed and then meet Ace at the bottom of the stairs. “You ready for that pizza?”

He throws his hand up in the air. “Oh boy, am I! But Dad, I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. “Pizza for breakfast?”

He runs to put his shoes on, and I slide my boots on. He is so excited, he’s vibrating with it. “Dad, what about Dolly?”

I nod and pat him on the shoulder. It doesn’t get by me that he hasn’t asked about his mom. “I have an idea. Let’s get a pizza and take it to Dolly’s house to eat. What do you think?”

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