Page 5 of Steel

What good would that do?

I needed to get through to him and right now with the long hours at my job and the state of my finances, which was shitty considering Damon’s father hadn’t paid child support since day one, I was short on time and patience.

And right now, I wanted to curl up in a ball and have myself a good cry. That wasn’t going to solve anything either. I’d gotten myself into a pickle at work and the absolute last thing I needed was to lose my job.

With tears forming in my eyes, I glanced into the rearview again. I don’t know what I was hoping to see with Damon. Nothing seemed to get through to him.

“We’re going to Carrie’s house?” With a wide smile on his face, he pushed up from the seat, even bouncing up and down. Correction. The only person that could seem to get through to him was our babysitter.

Thank God for Carrie or I honestly don’t know what I’d do. She was not only good with him and cheap, but she could also speak his language. Whatever that was. He was the sweetest little boyin the world when he was with her, which made me feel like an absolute shit most of the time.

Failure wasn’t an option, but lately, that’s all I’d felt. As if I was shirking my duties as my child’s mom. “Yes, we are, honey. Mama needs to go back to work for a few hours.”

I felt him shrugging without looking to confirm. He barely tolerated me while soaking up everything Carrie said. She was an interesting young woman, an artist with eccentric tastes in all things.

Which fascinated my son. I’d enjoy branching out with my likes and dislikes if I had the time or money. As soon as I pulled into her driveway, my little man was out of his seat and onto the gravel, bolting toward her door.

She always seemed to know when he was coming, a happy smile on her face. Today was no exception. You bet there were times I was jealous.

Maybe she wanted to adopt him. Laughing, I cut the engine, yanking out the keys. Where I sat quietly for a few minutes while Carrie was happy and animated as usual to see my son.

Whatever Damon was sharing with her was ten times more than what he’d done with me. Yep. I was a complete and total failure. With a heavy sigh, I dropped my head onto my arms on the steering wheel. My stomach ached, a full sense of dread fueling the discomfort.

Something bad was going to happen. I felt it in my bones.

When the phone rang, I fisted my hand. Why were my instincts always correct? Brenda. “Please tell me nothing is wrong.” My voice sounded whiny. Great.

“No, but you had a call. Correction, I had a call.”

“Who was it?”

“Your ex.”

“What?” My child’s father because that was the only ex I had. He was the reason I’d sworn off men.

“I know. I was going to wait to tell you, but he was… angry?”

“Maybe because our last conversation didn’t go well.” I’d dared try one more time to convince him to pay child support. With the conversation getting ugly, and because I’d had a couple of glasses of wine before making the call, I’d threatened to take him to court. As if I’d meant it. I was no fool. The man was rich and I wasn’t.

He had a team of lawyers and I couldn’t scrape up the downpayment for one. He also lived in another state, which was both good and bad. At least I wouldn’t run into him on the street. Asshole.

But I’d taken a swing at the dirt. That’s when he’d threatened me with finding out every dirty little secret. Not that I had any. Except for being a foster child. That had been months ago. “What did he want?” I gritted my teeth together.

“To talk. I said you were out of the office. Don’t worry. I didn’t give him your cellphone number.”

When Kenneth Coleman wanted something from someone, he did everything in his power to make that person miserable. I wasn’t interested in playing his game, especially not since he’d ignore his own flesh and blood. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle him if he calls and I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

“Okay, cool. The team is working diligently.”

I ended the call, smashing my fists against the steering wheel. Why was life so complicated?

Thank God, I’d been able to bring the little monster over early.

By the time I pulled myself out of the wacko fog, I expected Carrie to have gone back inside. She was standing in the same place, a strange look on her face. Uh-oh. I hated when my intuition was right.

My legs heavy, I climbed out. “Thank you for taking him. I’ll be later than normal.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I already put on a pot of gravy, so I’ll make certain he has a good dinner.”