Past Due (23 page)

“No. He was willing to let me deal with you.”

“So deal with me,” Tanner challenged.

“I don’t know how. I’ve never been a father. I’ve never even been around any kids. Hell, I didn’t have a clue when I got up this morning my day would end like this.”

“Sorry for your luck. And hey, look on the bright side, maybe you’re not. Maybe you should check the DNA first.”

“I don’t need to.”

“You just said you weren’t a dad.”

“I’m not, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to be. Trust me, Tanner, I don’t regret the turn of events. My only regret is not knowing from the beginning.”

“I bet. Do yourself a favor, just go away and pretend none of this ever happened.”

“That’s one thing I will never do.”

“You should. Hell, if you were smart you’d hire lawyers to get you out of this mess. I would if I were you. This could cost you a fortune.”

“I’m not worried about money. Look, I understand how confusing this must be and I am sorry for that. And I swear I’ll do everything I can to work this out.”

Tanner spun back around. “You’re an idiot. You don’t even know me. My mom lies to you for like forever then she says, oh yeah, he’s your kid and you’re just going to take her word for it?”

“She wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Really? So the last fifteen years of lies are just what?”

“She thought I knew,” Tres explained.

“And you buy that?”

“Yes, I buy that.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to. Even if I did think she was lying—which I don’t—I would still take her at her word that you are my son.”

“That makes you an idiot.”

“It’s what I want. It’s what I’ve always wanted. I’ve loved your mom since I was just a little older than you are now. And I’ll love her ‘til the day I die. I hate that things got screwed up. I can’t even explain to you how bad I regret not knowing until now. Just this morning when I talked to you, I couldn’t help but think why can’t I be so lucky to have a kid like that? I’m willing to do whatever it is you need me to do. You name it, I’ll do it. The only thing I can’t do is walk away. Getting rid of me is not an option.”

“What If I tell you I don’t want you around?”

“Then you’ll never know I’m there, but I will be.”

“So you’ll be a stalker?”

Tres shook his head, “I’d like to think I could be your friend. Help you out if you ever need anything.”

“But not be my dad?”

“DNA doesn’t make a father. I realize being a dad is earned. I just don’t want you to feel pressured. I know Jake’s your dad. I’m willing to be whatever you need me to be, be it stalker or friend.”

Tanner thought a minute, hands on his hips, “you really rich? My friends told me I should be happy about all this because you’re rich.”

“When did they say that?”

“Tonight, on the beach, before the hospital. I was hanging out with some friends and Becky Hooper said her mom said you were probably my real dad and that you were like stinking rich.”

“How would they know?”

“Guess by the car you drive.”

“No, I mean how would they know I was your dad?”

“They say you look like me, or I look like you.”

“So, that’s why you were so upset at the hospital?”

Tanner stuck his hands in his pockets and studied the ground. “I don’t know what made me mad at the hospital. I was embarrassed by the gossip and I was so friggin’ pissed at my mom. If she knew some rich guy was my dad and still made us live like we were broke, then screw her. I was on my way home to ask her what was up when Milo stopped me and said she wrecked. Then I saw her car being towed back to Milo’s garage on the way to the hospital, and I thought she’s probably dead. Man, it looked bad. I was kind of scared, so I wasn’t really thinking about being mad at her anymore. Then at the hospital, I heard you and Nanny talking and I... I just wasn’t thinking. My only thought was that you had to be an asshole for her to hide me from you.”

“And you were partly right in your assessment. Tanner, I have to be honest with you. I treated your mother pretty badly tonight. I yelled at her when she told me about you. She was way too upset to be driving home from that hotel. She never should have been in a car.”

“My mom was at a hotel with you?” Tanner said in utter disbelief. “You’ve got to understand, until like the last twelve hours, life in the Jenna Austin home has just been completely boring. I mean nothing ever happened. My mom does nothing. She has the exact same schedule every day of her life. I mean she only eats one kind of cereal, for crying out loud. All of this,” Tanner threw up his hands, “this is so completely bizarre. It all feels so weird.”

“You’re the same person you were twelve hours ago. Nothing has changed about you. Or your home. How about we do this, let’s just pretend I’m a new guy in your neighborhood and sometimes we talk. I like football, you like football. I like the beach, you like the beach. Simple as that.”

“Only you’re my dad.”

“Jake’s still your dad,” Tres said the words though they scorched his throat. Tanner rewarded him with a more relaxed stance.

“So, I don’t have to call you pops or get you a Father’s Day card? But you’ll still stick around?”

“Can’t stalk you very effectively from another zip code.”

“Real estate’s pretty high down here.”

“I’ll manage.”

“So, you really are rich?”

“I’m comfortable.”

“The GT we drove home in, you own it or rent it?”

“Own it. It was a gift from my brother.”

“Dang. Sweet gift. You gonna buy me a car?”

“Can you drive?”

“Next year.”

“Talk to me next year.”

“My mom could use a car.”

“She wouldn’t even let me get her a tank of gas. I’m not offering to buy her a car.”

“So, why did she dump you?”

Tres laughed, “That part
’
s still being sorted out. Look Tanner, I’ve got to be totally honest with you. I love your mother. I always have. But tonight made me wonder if I’m any good for her. It just seems like every time I deal her, I hurt her.”

“So, you dumped her?”

“No. Never.” He told Tanner what he knew of the history, though there was still plenty he didn’t understand.

“So, basically, your mother, my rich and powerful grandmother, wanted you to have nothing to do with my mom or me?”

“Sounds pretty harsh, but yeah, that’s what I’ve gathered so far.”

“Sounds like a real bitch.”

“Well, don’t count on her to bake you any cookies.”

“Does she hate me?”

“No, Tanner, she didn’t know about you. She was as shocked to find out you existed as I was.”

“So she only hated my mom. Probably thought she was a gold digger.”

“Probably.”

Tanner laughed, “My mom, a gold digger. Just can’t picture it. But then I can’t picture her in a sleazy hotel either.”

“It wasn’t a sleazy hotel, and she definitely has never been after my money. Were that so, you would have been the trump card, the golden goose.”

“Maybe she was afraid of DNA?”

“If she feared anything, it was BAC, Barbara Ann Coulter. She could make it snow on the equator with a single glance.”

“Can’t wait to meet her.”

“That’s up to you. You don’t owe anybody anything.”

“I have to admit, I am kind of curious. It’s like someone telling you about a twisted wreck on the road and you think, oh, man that’s awful, but you still want to take a peek yourself.”

“I understand. You can meet whoever you want, whenever you want.”

Tres felt he could spend the whole night talking to Tanner, but he also knew a very worried Maureen waited to hear from them. “I better get you home to your grandma.”

“Nanny?”

“Yeah. She’s worried sick.”

Tanner nodded and they headed to Tres’s car. “You know that night at the gas station?”

Tres nodded.

“I kept asking you question
s
trying to keep you there so I could hook you up with my mom. Ironic, huh?”

“Too bad she was hiding behind the post card rack.”

“Was she?”

“Yeah, I could see her. I bet she was sweating bullets.”

“Probably. I might still try to fix her up with you. You still want her?”

Tres quieted as he thought about the question. Could he really have a relationship with a woman who didn’t trust him, who loved a dead man more than him? He sighed and repeated his mother’s advice, “I suppose we’ll just have to see how things evolve.”

Chapter
17

Tres brought Tanner back to Maureen’s. Outside the house, under the eternal starry blanket, he apologized again to Tanner for turning his life upside down. Tanner shrugged, “I guess it wasn’t your fault. And I guess your life’s been screwed up just as much as mine.”

Tres shrugged and looked Tanner over with pride and grinned, “No. I think mine just got sorted out.”

“You think?” Tanner didn’t sound convinced.

“It’s the one thing I’m certain of.” Tres focused his gaze on his son. His son. He repeated the words in his head. He liked the sound of it. He hoped Tanner found the change to be in his favor too…at some point in time. But right now, he figured Tanner had more immediate concerns on his mind. “So, you think you’ll be able to survive your friend’s gossip?’

Tanner shifted from one foot to the other. “I guess I’ll be all right. People will talk about it for a week or so; then something new will happen. It’s still hurricane season. Might get a storm. That gets everybody minding their own business.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through this, Tanner.”

“Always something about Mom for people to talk about,” Tanner said with a grin to Tres. “Buy me that car next year and I’ll forgive you.”

Tres laughed. He opened his mouth to ask what kind he wanted when Maureen pulled the front door open and yelled out to them, “You guys better get out of the night air.”

They walked in together, but Tanner didn’t make it past the threshold as he was stopped for a smothering of hugs and a scolding. “You about gave your old Nanny a fit.” She looked him up and down. “Well, you look safe enough. Grandpa Sam’s here. You need to say hi to him.”

Tanner said hello to the thin man in the living room. He gave him a stiff hug and Sam ruffled the boy’s hair and said in his soft voice, “Well, your mom will be home soon and your Nanny says she will be just fine.”

“And she will be,” Maureen assured.

“Hopefully she’ll call and let me know how she is?” Sam asked Maureen.

“Of course she will. I told you she told me to call you. Good will come of all of this, you’ll see. Right now,” she said as she began rubbing Tanner’s back, “it’s bedtime, because tomorrow is a school day. Sam, will you keep Tres busy while I lock up all the escape routes?”

Once in the room, she went to the window and flipped the lock, “This stays closed.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Nanny.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you,” Tanner said, dropping onto the bed, exhausted.

“Been quite a night, huh, baby? It’s a lot to sink in.”

Tanner nodded, “Yeah, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.”

“Really? I would think it’d still be a shocker to you.”

“I’m blown away my mom had a boyfriend. That she had unprotected teen-age sex without being married. Shocking and completely gross. But Mom turning her back on a guy who could have really helped her out is not at all surprising.”

“That’s not why she walked away, darlin’.”

Tanner shrugged. “He told me. He also says he’s staying here to help us out, to get to know me. I think that’d be all right, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. Mom will send him packing.”

“Oh, I don’t think she will. She loved him a great deal.”

“Yeah. That worked out great, didn’t it?”

“A lot happened. They’ll get it together.”

“I really don’t think so, Nanny. I don’t think Mom wants a man around.” Tanner sat up straighter. “She probably only stayed married to Dad because he was never home.”

“Now Tanner...”

“Come on, Nanny, be straight with me. Mom and Dad didn’t have a normal marriage. They were never together.” Maureen said nothing, so Tanner continued, “I mean never. At least not until he was dying. That was the only time he was here for very long.” Tanner leaned back; “I used to hold that against my dad, or Jake... whatever. Now I wonder if that’s the only kind of relationship Mom would ever want, the kind where the guy’s never around. She probably didn’t want Dad at home. Do you think she ran him off because she loved someone else?”

“Your mom was good to Jake. His absence had nothing to do with her. He had his own troubles. He was never comfortable in one place for too long. You’re one of the reasons he showed back up at all. He was just crazy about you, you know?”