Page 43 of Dirty Little Secret
Putting down the slice, he took a bite of his salad as promised. “Dad, we’ve got a big house here. Five bedrooms in all.”
I already knew what he was getting at. Along with that, I knew I had to watch what I said, or we’d end up arguing again. “Yes, we do.”
He took a drink of milk before adding, “If you don’t like Mom being a waitress in a bar then why don’t you invite her to live here, so she doesn’t have to work?”
And here we were, on the cusp of what I hoped wouldn’t be another argument. “You know, Fox, I think that’s something I can talk to her about.”That should be good enough for him.
“’K.” He smiled, then stabbed his fork into the salad. “Make her want to come here, Dad.”
I didn’t even know if I wanted her to come live in our home yet, if ever, but I wasn’t about to push my kid’s buttons. “I’ll see what I can do.”
As if a light bulb had gone on in his head, his entire face brightened up. “You know what you should do?”
Go to my bedroom and hide from you.
Knowing I couldn’t do that, I asked, “What should I do?”
“Ask her to marry you,” came his tremendous answer.
I nearly choked on the water I’d just sipped. “Fox! She and I don’t know each other well enough for that.”
His eyes immediately drooped. “Yeah. I thought you might say that.” He looked up at me with a weak smile. “I had to try though. I just want her around, like, all the time.”
My heart began to ache for him. “Of course, you do.” I ran my hand through his dark hair. Hair that would look just like his mother’s if she hadn’t dyed it. “That’s understandable. And I’ll do all that I can to make sure you get as much time with her as possible. She has a life too, though. You’ve got to understand that. She never saw this coming.”
“I know.” He looked sad as he stared at his food. “Why does life have to be so hard?”
“I wish I knew.” But then I thought about how good we had it. “But you should be thankful for all the good you’ve got in your life. You’ve got a family who loves and adores you. You’ve got a nice home, plenty of food to eat, a great private school to go to.”
He nodded then took a bite of the pizza. “And a great dad too. And now I’ve got my mom. My real mom. I thought that one day you might meet someone and get married and I might have a stepmom.”
“You know, that still might happen,” I had to let him know.
Looking at me with sheer determination in his eyes, he said, “I don’t want a stepmom. I want my mom.”
“I know, buddy.” It didn’t feel like the right time for any more mentions of marriage or other women. “We’ll just see how things go. ’K?”
“’K.” He went back to eating. “I like this pizza and salad. Thanks for getting it.”
“You’re welcome.” I messed up his hair. “How about tomorrow you and I go get a haircut after school? You’re getting shaggy, and I should try to look my best for your mom.”
“Now you’re talking, Dad.” His smile went from one ear to the other. “Reel her in for us!”
I had no idea when my ten-year-old kid had learned anything about reeling in a lady, but it made me laugh just the same. With no idea if I would even want to try to catch Zandra Larkin, much less reel her in, I prayed I wouldn’t disappoint my son. Or make him angry with me again, because that argument had left me with an awful feeling.
