Page 41 of Dirty Little Secret
Chapter 14
Kane
Not used to my son being angry with me, the quiet ride home wasn’t comfortable at all. “So, what do you want for dinner, buddy?”
“I wanted you to cook out on the grill.” He looked out the window, but I could still see the glare in his eyes. “I wanted my mom, the person you know I’ve wanted to see my whole life, to come over and eat with us. Now, I don’t care what we have for dinner. It can be a bowl of cereal for all I care.”
“Okay, Fox, I’m going to be very honest with you. That woman is your mother, yes. But we don’t know her. All we know for sure is that she just moved back here from Chicago, and that she has worked in bars her whole adult life, and currently works in one.” I thought about how to word my misapprehension when he looked at me like he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. “Okay, let me clarify. A lot of the time, the people who work in bars tend to live a wilder lifestyle than you and I are used to living.”
“Wild?” he asked with a confused expression. “Like a wild animal?”
“Like a wild person. Drinking alcohol. Getting drunk. Staying up late.” I stopped myself before I went too far and said something that might make him think badly about his mother. “Lots of things. And I have no idea if she does any of those things or not. I need to get to know her first before we figure out how involved she’s going to be in your life.”
“That’s not fair!” he wailed. “Why do you get to do that and not me?”
“Because I’m a grownup who knows a thing or two about life and people and you’re a little kid, Fox.” The dull throb of a headache began, and I knew this wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
“She’s my mom!” he shouted.
“Fox, control your voice when you’re talking to me. I’m not yelling, and you’re not allowed to either.” I had to keep our rules in place. This was the first situation where he’d really bucked me. But I couldn’t let things get out of hand. “Now, let me tell you more about what I’m thinking. Maybe then you can understand where I’m coming from.”
“Doubt it.” He sulked as he sat in the middle of the backseat.
“Well, I’m going to try anyway.” I paused, heaving a heavy sigh.Man, this shit sucks ass.“Since we don’t know her yet, we have no idea if she’s a good driver. And you wanted her to take you to school. What if she drives dangerously? I’ll have you know she sped out of the parking lot back at the hospital. What if she’s had a lot of wrecks?”
His eyes darted up to meet mine in the rearview mirror. “She’s alive, isn’t she?”
I had no idea what he was getting at. “And what does that mean?”
He gave me a stoic look. “It means that she’s alive. She hasn’t killed herself in a car wreck or something.”
Sometimes this kid was too smart for his own good. I could already see that he was going to have an answer for everything. My job would be hard, but I had to do it. “Okay, so she’s alive. But we have no idea if she’s been in accidents in the past that have hurt her. Heck, we have no idea if she was involved in an accident that killed someone. That’s how much we don’t know.”
“Drama.” After all I’d said, that one word was his only reply.
Another sigh came out of me as my head began to throb. Rubbing my temples, I had never been so glad to see our home coming up. “It’s not drama, Fox. It’s being a responsible parent. And no matter how dramatic you think I’m being, I will do what I think is best to keep you safe.”
After we stopped inside the garage, he took his seatbelt off and we both got out of the car. Stomping away from me, he muttered, “And what you think is best is that you get to know her better right now and I don’t. Real fair, Dad.”
“Life isn’t fair, son.” I gritted my teeth as the age-old saying came out of my mouth. But there was no other way to put it.
Life wasn’t fair. People weren’t always good. Children sometimes didn’t understand why things were the way they were. It didn’t make a difference. A parent had to do what a parent had to do.
Pounding the security code into the pad, Fox disabled the alarm system then slammed into the house. Now he was in trouble, and he had to have known that.
I came in right behind him. “Fox, you walk back out that door and come back in it the right way.”
Ignoring me, he just kept on walking away. In ten years, I had never seen this side of my son.
Catching up to him, I tried my best to remain calm even though my head was pounding like a herd of elephants was disco dancing up there. One hand on his shoulder was enough to stop him, but I didn’t expect what happened next.
Turning to face me, my little boy’s face was glowing beet red. “Let me go.”
I had never met Zandra’s parents, though I’d heard a few things about them through the years, like how strict they were. And I knew they must’ve been pretty damn opinionated and obstinate as hell to make their daughter give up her baby. But I had a feeling that I didn’t know the half of it. I could only assume this new side of Fox came from them.
“I’m going to schedule a meeting with Dr. Parsons tomorrow.” I didn’t let go of his shoulder, but I did ease up on the grip I had on him. “I know you don’t understand or even agree with me about this, but you will respect me and my decisions. Now, do what I told you to. Go back out that door, come back in, and do not slam it this time. If you don’t, then you can go on to your bedroom, take a bath, and go to bed for the night without dinner.”
Shrugging my hand off his narrow shoulder, he didn’t say a word as he went back to the door and did as I’d asked him to. I stood there, watching him, his face never lightening up at all. Instead, it stayed red and angry.
