Page 9 of Fierce-Michael

“Dad and I went food shopping just now.”

He looked at his ex and saw her eyes start to fill with tears. “Thank you.”

“Why are you crying, Mom?” Ty asked.

“Hey, buddy, why don’t you go put your clothes away,” he said.

Ty ran to his room with his book bag. He was sure his son was going to pull out his clothes for tomorrow and toss them on the bed. If he didn’t say anything, his kid came home in wrinkled clothes telling him everything stayed stuffed in there until the next day.

It wasn’t a major enough deal that he ever said a word about it. There were bigger issues in his life to deal with than some wrinkled clothes.

“You won’t leave without saying bye, right?” Ty asked.

“Never. I got a weeks’ worth,” he said to Electra. “Ty picked out half of it. Not sure what to get.”

“It’s fine,” Electra said. “I’m so sorry. I got paid last night and was going to get some things with him today. It’s just I needed my check last week for rent. Not many people leave cash for tips anymore so I don’t always have the money I used to daily. And with the tips being on my check, taxes come out.”

He knew how it worked. It was part of the reason he tried to leave a tip in cash when he went out even if he paid for the meal on his credit card.

“You need to tell me,” he said. “I can’t have Ty coming here and not eating. If you don’t give me the full truth or tell me what is going on, I’m guessing from a four-year-old.”

He’d finally called Electra on Thursday night. She’d been working and called him back yesterday. She said she didn’t have much in the house, but there was bread and peanut butter. Ty hadn’t wanted that for dinner and since he was going home, she didn’t stress about it. She knew he’d eat there.

He asked what Electra was eating and she said she was okay with peanut butter sandwiches and she got to eat for free at work.

The whole situation made him sick, but he couldn’t and shouldn’t have to pay for Electra’s living situation when they weren’t together.

But he was damned if he was going to let her stress about not being able to feed their kid.

He’d played it up as he wanted to surprise Electra and do the shopping for her so they could spend more time together when he’d told Ty they were going to the store first.

Ty wouldn’t know one way or another.

“I know,” Electra said. She took two bags out of his hand and he carried the other three in. Her apartment was tiny, but it had two bedrooms so Ty got his own space when he was there.

She started to take the food out of the bags and he did the same.

“Ty picked out this cereal and then some frozen breakfast foods. They should last for a bit. I can bring more things when he comes if you need them. Things he’ll like.”

“I should be okay,” Electra said. “This alone helped out. As I said, I would have gotten food today. It’s just I was low with the rent due and a few other bills came up unexpectedly last week.”

He didn’t ask what they were. He didn’t want to know.

Electra liked to shop and she probably had a bigger credit card bill than normal.

Looking around the apartment, he saw there were a few new throw pillows and pictures on the walls that weren’t there a week ago. For all he knew, she took her tip money and spent it on that rather than food, just assuming she’d get more cash on her next shift.

She never planned and was never going to change.

The only smart thing she’d done in his eyes was admit she wasn’t cut out to be a mother for more than a few hours or a couple of days at a time.

She liked to hand Ty back to him knowing things would always be taken care of without her having to take responsibility.

It broke his heart to hear those words said as simply as if she were describing the clouds were white.

“It happens,” he said. “We all have expenses we don’t expect.”

“They had this sale,” Electra said, shrugging.

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