31. Speaking The Truth

31

SPEAKING THE TRUTH

T he minute Ty was sleeping, Michael returned downstairs. Kelly was sitting on the couch and it’d been tense for hours.

Ty didn’t seem to notice while they ate dinner and watched a movie, both of them forcing out laughs.

“What did Electra say to you?” he asked.

She turned to look at him. “Why are you pissed at me?”

“I’m not,” he said.

“Could have fooled me,” she said. “It’s a tone I’ve never heard before.”

“I’m frustrated,” he said. “It never ends with Electra.”

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t. And I never say a word about it. But I commented on the fact you figured she did this on purpose and you gave in. I want to know why you do that.”

“I told you,” he said. “Ty doesn’t deserve to be subjected to her in that mood.”

“Newsflash,” she said, throwing her hands up. “People are moody in life. No one is perfectly happy all the time and you are doing a disservice to your son if you let him believe that. He should know that people get moody, sad, and mad.” She put her hand up when he went to snarl. “Don’t get pissed at me for speaking the truth. I know you’re going to tell me it’s your kid to parent, and that is your right. But I’m stating my opinion. Give or take it, but your choices to do things are coming between us tonight.”

“You’ve said you don’t have a problem with me having a kid. So you’ve lied?”

It felt like a punch to the gut that he let himself fall in love with someone who might not have been truthful.

“I haven’t lied and I’m hurt you think that I have,” she said. Her eyes were filling with tears. “I’ve been very supportive of everything from the first date. Supportive to many dates being canceled or changed. We had no big plans tonight either. But to find out that you suspected she was playing games and gave in to it is just upsetting. That you’re enabling her to keep doing it to you. Whether it’s with me or someone else, she knows she has your number.”

He ran his hands through his hair.

Kelly wasn’t telling him anything he hadn’t known for years, but he never had a girlfriend before or much going on in his life to even worry about those things.

“I have to deal with it,” he said. “I’ll do it on my terms. But it’s as you said, we had nothing going on tonight. I think this has more to do with the fact she said something to you that set you off than it does that our night was interrupted.”

“You’re so fixated on that,” she said. “She did say something, but there are two issues here.”

“What are they?” he asked.

“One, that you give into your ex all the time. And that is one of the things she said to me. So it was like the nail that was halfway punched in got the sledgehammer dropped on it.”

“She actually said I give into her?” he asked. Jesus. This was going from bad to worse.

“What she said was that I wasn’t what she expected and I must be good in bed. And if I wasn’t, she could give me some pointers on what you liked because she always gave it to you and to this day you still give in to her because of that.”

“Fuck! That’s not true. I do it all for Ty.”

The tears fell on her face like a flood that had been damned up and just broke free.

“Yep,” she said. “You do. And it’s commendable. But you know what? She knows that. She uses your son for those things. You say she isn’t smart and is irresponsible. Sure, she is. She’s petty too from what I can see. But she’s smart enough that she pretty much has you figured out and you’re falling for it.”

“Don’t do that,” he said “Don’t mix up my love for my son and my ex starting trouble.”

“They are mixed together,” she said firmly. “They always will be. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t put Ty first. I knew that going in and I agree with it. I’m just your girlfriend you’ve dated for a few months.”

“You’re more than that,” he argued.

“It doesn’t feel it right now.”

“So this is it,” he said. “It took two months for you to decide you can’t handle that I’ve got a kid?”

She stood up and started to pace. “Not at all,” she said. “I love Ty. I love you. I’ve never once said I have a problem with you being a parent. I don’t tell you how to raise your kid.”

“Could have fooled me tonight with your sarcastic comment about dinner.”

It wasn’t lost on him when she’d said he was the parent and could decide on food.

“I’m sorry. That was petty on my part and I’ll own it. But I was raw over what I witnessed and what was said to me.”

“There’s more?” he asked.

“Yes. She said she offers sex to you all the time. I know she has in the past. You told me that on the first date.”

He didn’t think Electra would be this devious. He should have realized it. It’s not as if he gave her shit about all the men she slept with, only that she didn’t do it around Ty.

“She doesn’t do it all the time,” he said. “The last time she did it was when I told you. That her idea to repay me for the groceries was to take me to bed. It hasn’t happened again.”

No reason to say what Electra was wearing the day he knocked on her door when Ty had spent the night at Electra’s parents. It’s not anything he hadn’t seen before and nothing that turned him on in the least.

But he was smart enough to know saying his ex was half naked in front of him wasn’t a good thing to add to this conversation.

“I trust you,” she said. “It’s never been about that. And if she wants to embarrass herself by throwing herself at you, that’s on her. I don’t even think I care all that much that she said it to get a rise out of me.”

“Then what is the problem?” he asked. He was pacing just as much as her.

“The problem is you knew she was playing games tonight and you gave in. Ty said Electra took aspirin and was whining they were taking too long to kick in. She wasn’t dying. She had freaking cramps. We all do at that time of the month. We all get crabby too. Ty should learn that as young as he can women are different than men. Does Electra have a history of throwing things or getting violent when she has cramps?”

“No,” he said. “She just whines and cries.”

“Then there is no reason that Ty had to come home. You even knew why she wanted him to leave. When you have a headache and Ty is driving you nuts, do you call your parents to come to get him? Or Electra to take him? No,” she said. “You handle it like an adult and tell him he needs to be quiet or behave or go watch a movie. And you know what? I bet he listens to you just like he would have listened to his mother because he told me he was in his room playing.”

He wouldn’t address that because she was right.

There had been times he hadn’t felt good or was sick and asked Ty to play quietly or go watch a movie.

He also knew that Electra almost always made Ty play in his room when he was there or watch a movie so it shouldn’t have been any different tonight.

“I was in the middle of a shit storm with the broken hose and water and wasn’t thinking and just wanted to get him.”

“I’ll buy that,” she said. “I really will. And if she hadn’t said what she did to me, I might have let it pass and brought it up another time. But then you admitted that you were sure Electra did what she had on purpose and that set it off. That she played you, she knew how, and it worked. It came off as if you wanted to make her happy and give into her more than anyone else.”

Oh hell no. “Me? You’re the one who gives in to everyone. The people pleaser. I didn’t marry someone so he could have his dying wish.”

“That’s fucking low,” she snarled. “I didn’t think you’d play that dirty.”

Kelly stalked to grab her purse.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving. Continuing this conversation isn’t good for either of us and I’m not going to let myself say something I’ll regret.”

She slammed out the door and he watched her go.

He knew the minute the words were out of his mouth he shouldn’t have said what he had, but he didn’t want to be judged or accused of giving in to his ex.

Because the truth was, everything she said was right.

He didn’t bring Ty home with the direct purpose to make Electra happy. He did it so that Ty wasn’t upset. But in the end, Electra got what she wanted just like she always did.

He couldn’t go after Kelly because he couldn’t leave Ty and it was probably best if he let her go right now. They needed space and the last thing he wanted was to put his foot in his mouth again.

He locked the house up. It was almost nine at this point and it was nothing at all how he thought this night would have gone.

Michael climbed the stairs to go to bed and noticed Ty standing in the doorway.

“What’s going on, bud? Are you okay?”

“I heard you yelling at Kelly.”

He should have paid more attention to the tone of his voice. Kelly was keeping her voice down; he realized that now.

“We were talking and it got a little loud.”

“It wasn’t talking,” Ty said. “You yelled. I know it. I’ve heard it before when you’re mad. When you want me to stop doing something and I won’t, you yell at me.”

He didn’t do it much but had in the past.

And his kid didn’t suffer any long-term damage from it either.

“Let’s go to your room and talk,” he said.

Ty turned and ran back to his room and climbed into bed. “Why were you yelling at Kelly?”

“We were talking loudly about something,” he corrected.

“Mom?” Ty asked.

He wasn’t sure how much he wanted Ty to know. A four-year-old would easily go and say things to his ex without meaning to.

“A little bit,” he said. “But can we keep that between us?”

“Sure,” Ty said.

“Was Mom whining and complaining a lot tonight?”

“Not really,” Ty said. “She told me to go watch a movie and I did. I came out to get a drink and she asked me if I wanted to go home.”

He ground his teeth. “So you didn’t ask to come home?”

“No,” Ty said.

“And you weren’t bothering her at the time she asked?” he asked.

“I was watching a movie in my room,” Ty said. “Why?”

Kelly was right and he just gave in without getting all the facts.

He could use the excuse he was knee-deep in the water issue, but it didn’t make it right.

“In the future, if this happens again, I’m going to talk to you first and get your side of it. Would that bother you if Mom calls me to come get you and I decide you need to stay there?”

Ty shrugged. “I like it better here, but I know I have to go there. It’s only overnight. Sometimes she takes me outside to play with other kids so that is fun too. Or she chases me around the house in a game of tag and it makes me laugh.”

He was happy to hear that at least.

“Okay,” he said. “I think it’s important that you spend the time with your mother and that you see all sides of everyone. Not everyone is happy all the time.”

“I know,” Ty said. “I get sad and cry and angry, but I’m happy too. You’re not normally smiling and happy like you’ve been lately and it’s nice. I like seeing that.”

A good way for his son to humble him.

“I like it too,” he said.

But he’d have to fix things with Kelly to get there again.

Ty yawned. “Can I go back to sleep?”

“You can,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” Ty said. “Kelly will come back tomorrow, right?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “We hadn’t made plans.”

“When will I see her again?” Ty asked.

“I’m not sure. Soon,” he said. He hoped. He’d hate to lie to his kid, but right now, he had a big bridge to repair and knew it.

He didn’t remember ever fighting dirty and that was exactly what he’d done tonight.