Page 36 of Dirty Little Secret
“Dad, I’m serious,” he said in a much quieter voice.
“So am I. Now, son.” I pointed at the chair and looked at it.
Reluctantly, he went to sit down, and I caught Zandra chewing on her lower lip. “Kane, please don’t be mad at him.”
“I’m not mad, Zandra.” Turning my attention to my son, I said, “Fox Colton Price, are you allowed to ever raise your voice in an ugly way to anyone?”
His arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the floor. “No, sir.”
“Eyes on me.” I made him look at me. “I understand that this is very important to you, and that you’re very excited about meeting your mother. That said, I am your father, and I decide what’s right for you. Do you understand me?”
His eyes grew big as he shook his head. “Not about her, I don’t. That’s my mom. And nothing you or anyone else does can change that.”
“Oh, Kane.” Zandra came up behind Fox, putting her arms around him as he sat in the chair. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to get so loud with you. Tell him you’re sorry, Fox. Tell him you won’t yell at him again.”
“Sorry, Dad.” He looked back at Zandra. “I’m sorry I yelled, but not sorry for what I said. No one can take you away from me. No one. Not even Dad.”
His words chilled my soul. I had no plans on keeping him from his mother, but that boy had always been mine. Just mine. Sure, my parents and aunt and uncle had helped raise him, but it’d always just been me and him. In name, he’d been mine alone since my aunt and uncle had turned over custody to me.
This didn’t feel good at all.
Fox had his mom now. A woman neither of us knew, really. And what I did know wasn’t exactly great, so far.
But I could see now that I would have to watch what I said in front of my son. And I’d seen a side of him I’d never seen before—a side that must’ve come from his mother, because my side of the family didn’t act that way.
Her parents had been real hard-asses after all. Could my son be capable of fighting just as hard as they had to keep him a secret?
The future had seemed so bright only minutes before, but now I was getting a glimpse of just how challenging it could be.
Zandra’s eyes met mine. “Kane, we’ve got a lot to take in. Maybe we should part ways now to let things sink in. I could use a drink, anyway.”
And there it was. She wanted to leave her son already to go have a drink. And it was only five in the evening, at that.
Well, I guessed five was about when most happy hours started, so I guessed the average person thought it was okay to partake in the cocktails at that time. But I couldn’t help feeling a little judgmental—she wasn’t just an average person; she was my son’s mother, and I’d do anything to protect him.
“Yeah, I guess you probably do need one.” I could concede that she’d had a harder day than normal, though.
“I bet you do too,” she teased as she made her way to the door.
“Nah.” I followed after her. “Hey, we need to exchange phone numbers. Give me your cell.”
“Oh, yeah.” She reached into her back pocket, taking it out then handing it to me.
Fox came up, wrapping himself around her again. “Don’t go. Please. I just got you. Please.”
She looked a little bewildered as she said, “Um, Fox, I can’t sit here in this office all night. I’ve got to get home.”
“How come?” he asked her, a pitiful look on his face.
Handing her phone back to her, I tried to make him understand things. “Because she probably has things at home that she needs to take care of.” Then I thought about something else I might want to have. “How about you give me your address, Zandra?”
“Oh, sure.” She went to the desk, found a blank piece of paper, and wrote it down. “Here you go.” Patting Fox on the back, she said, “I’m off tomorrow. If it’s okay with your dad, I can see you then.”
“I’ve got to go to school,” Fox said with a frown. He looked at me with a smile. “Can she take me to school, Dad?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I looked at her. “Is that something you want to do, Zandra?”
“Um … I … don’t—” She had that deer-in-the-headlights look about her again.
