Page 25 of Waiting for Friday Night

He thought about raising a kid. He was a coach because he wanted to give back. To pour into the younger generation some of the support and respect that hadn’t been poured into him. He felt responsible for every kid on that team and wanted them to all feel like they were a part of a family. Now one of them really was his family. He didn’t know how to handle that.

He jumped up and started pacing again. “I don’t know. I don’t know how knowing this is supposed to change anything. Halle wanted—”

“Who’s Halle? Your daughter?”

“No, Halle is her mother.”

“Ahh, gotcha.”

“Halle wanted an anonymous donation. She didn’t want her child’s father to be a part of her kid’s life. I should have thought of that when I did the DNA test.”

“Well, your daughter found you, so obviously she wants to know who her dad is.”

He thought about Shania’s eyes as she’d confronted him. Straightforward and insistent. He looked back at the family picture. His eyes. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Then he remembered the horror on Halle’s face with the revelation. “Her mom can still say that I’m not allowed to be involved.”

He wouldn’t be surprised if that was what Halle wanted. They were barely on each other’s radar. Both distant employees in the Peachtree Cove school district. He’d noticed her because she was a good-looking woman. She’d only noticed him because she’d wanted to make sure he wouldn’t treat her daughter unfairly. Otherwise, she never would have looked twice at him.

“Can’t you fight for rights?”

“What rights? Come on, I didn’t exactly make the donation because I wanted kids or because I wanted to be involved. I made that donation so Mom and Dad wouldn’t get kicked out of their apartment. I made the donation and moved on with my life. I never thought about it again.”

“I don’t believe that. Otherwise you wouldn’t have spilled your guts that day after Christmas,” Dawn said, slapping away his bullshit of an answer. “You admitted then that you always wondered what had happened. Who’d gotten your donation and if you had a kid out there. Admit it, Q, you wanted to find your child. Now that you have, you can’t just turn your back and pretend as if you don’t know.”

“But that doesn’t mean I can force my way into their life. Or that I’ll be welcome.” That Halle would welcome him.

“I mean...true, but you never know. Things are kind of messy right now. It’s going to take some time for things to settle down. Just take it one day at a time. You’ve found her. That’s the good thing.” Dawn’s voice was filled with optimism.

“Maybe you’re right. I’ll get with Halle, and we can figure out what the next steps should be.”

Even though he had a pretty good idea based on her reaction that she wouldn’t want any next steps. The way she grabbed Shania and rushed out of his office made him think she didn’t want him to have anything to do with her or Shania.

“I needed to tell someone, but can you keep this just between us?” Quinton wasn’t ready for his parents and their give me grandchildren request right now. Figuring this out with Halle, the school, the team, was going to be hard enough.

“You’re not going to tell Mom and Dad?”

“Not right now. Not while I’m still trying to figure out what all this will mean. You know how Mom and Dad are. They want a grandkid more than anything. If they get even a hint of this, they’ll be down here making things worse. Promise me, Dawn, that you won’t say anything.”

His sister sighed. “Fine. I won’t say anything until you tell me to.”

“I mean it. Don’t let it slip out or anything like that. They can’t know until I say they need to know.”

“What if your daughter finds them?” she said smugly.

“Dawn,” Quinton said in a serious voice. Shania had looked for him. Now that she found him there was no need for her to look for his parents.

“I’m just saying. What if she does?”

“I’ll worry about that if it happens,” he countered. “But unless that happens, then we won’t bring it up until I say it’s time.”

“What if you never say it’s time?”

“Dawn, please.” His voice snapped with exasperation. His sister was like a dog with a bone on some things. She was decent at keeping a secret, but she would eventually spill. He knew he couldn’t hide this from his parents forever, but he needed a window before involving them.

“Fine. You’re right. I won’t say anything.”

“Good. The last thing I need is for them to just show up here and make this situation worse.”

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