Page 16 of Fierce-Michael

“He asked to meet for a beer at Fierce. I knew something was up, but he waited to tell me. We had our beer and dinner, then he went with me to see if Electra was working. She was. We went in and asked to be seated at her table. She walked over and got thishuge smile on her face and said she was glad to see me and had news. She’d lost my number.”

“Nooooooo,” she said. “She was pregnant with your baby and for six months didn’t think to try to find you? Had she been to your place before?”

“Yes,” he said. The server came over and took their plates away and said dinner would be out shortly. “But she couldn’t remember where I lived either. She knew my name. Where I worked. Forgot it all.”

“Do you think that is true?” she asked.

“Sadly, it’s probably a fact. I told you she just wasn’t that smart. Fast-forward, we do DNA testing, she is pregnant with my kid. I’m not about to have her move in with me because then I might not be able to get her out. I took care of everything financially for her that Ty needed. I paid all her bills while she was out of work. It was tight, but I did it.”

“Because it was the right thing to do,” she said. “That was nice of you.”

“It’s not nice, it was for my son. That is why I did it.”

Kelly had this soft smile on her face and he felt a flutter in his stomach over it.

“Was she not a fit mother?” she asked.

“At first I wanted split custody. I figured that was fair. There was no reason to go after full custody just because she was irresponsible with me. Maybe she was better with a child.”

“I hope this isn’t a sad story that something happened to your son.”

“No,” he said. “She was out of work for six weeks and within three she was calling me crying almost every night to say she couldn’t do it. She didn’t know how. She needed help. I’d go stay with her and then she’d say she needed a break and she’d just leave me with him while she was gone for hours with her friends.”

“You’re joking?”

“No. We sat down and I asked her what she wanted and she said she didn’t want to be a full-time mother. She loved him, but she couldn’t handle much more than babysitting duties.”

“That’s horrible,” she said.

“It’s the truth and I’m glad she told me. I took Ty home with me permanently, and we agreed she would come and visit him at my house once a week. When Ty was about a year old, she decided she wanted to start to have him overnight every other weekend. She has him tonight, which is why I picked tonight for us. She gets Ty for four hours on Tuesday too. It’s one of her days off. She gets every other Saturday off and sometimes she takes an extra shift and gives up her night with her son.”

He never cared even if it was last minute. It was one less sleepless night with him worrying that his son wasn’t under the same roof as him.

“Did something happen today?” she asked.

“Nothing tragic. Ty was there on Tuesday. When I picked him up at seven, he said he was hungry. I asked if he ate dinner and he said there wasn’t any food. I asked him a few times and got out of him that he didn’t want a peanut butter sandwich.”

“Not all kids like what is given to them,” she said. “I’m going to assume maybe she doesn’t cook?”

“She doesn’t, but there wasn’t anything in the house other than bread and peanut butter. No milk or juice that he drinks. I don’t even care about that. I finally got the facts after calling Electra. She said that she didn’t have anything and wasn’t getting paid until Friday night. That she knew Ty would eat with me.”

He watched Kelly blink a few times. Her eyes were moist and he thought she was going to cry.

“Sorry, but that is horrible and tragic. I feel bad for Ty.”

“Electra is very happy and carefree. Nothing upsets her and Ty didn’t seem like much was going on other than he was hungry. I fed him and all was well in his world.”

“It had to be hard for you to bring him there today,” she said.

“We went with a week’s worth of groceries. There is no way I could bring him not knowing. I got a bunch of stuff I knew Ty liked and tried to think of things I remember Electra eating. She cried when I brought it over. She said she eats at work so she isn’t starving and she’s not fussy with food. She’d eat toast and peanut butter when she was home and it was fine.”

“That was so sweet of you to do that. Not just for your son but her too.”

“The truth is if she’s upset or off, Ty sees that. I don’t need him worrying or stressing going there. For good or bad, Electra is his mother and I want him to know I tried for them to have a relationship.”

“Michael, you’re a great guy. I can see where a lot of other women might not like the dynamic, but I find it very endearing and kind of sexy.”

He laughed. “Sexy?”

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