Page 182 of Ice Me Out

“I have a job lined up.”

“Where?”

“Armani’s uncle owns a welding shop and says he can get me on. He agreed to pay me under the table so it won’t screw up my SSDI.”

I damn near ripped my earring out.

This can’t be fucking happening.

“Dad, you are near retirement age. You shouldn’t be in a welding shop where you can overheat and die from a heatstroke.”

He waved me off. “You worry too much.”

“You don’t worry enough! You cannot be bringing geriatric babies into this world! Do you know that the risk of this child having a developmental disability or illness significantly increases due to your age? What if this child needs lifelong care?”

“We got it covered, Hart.”

“Obviously, you don’t, if you’re still calling and borrowing money.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

“No, you won’t! And that’s not even the problem! The problem is that you haven’t learned your lesson. At 56, you are still out here creating broken homes! You have three grown sons whom you barely raised, and God only knows how many other kids you got out there that you might not even know about. I’m surprised your dick is still attached.”

His expression tightened.

“I didn’t come here to be judged.”

“Well, then you came to the wrong place.”

An uncomfortable silence fell between us. I was reeling from his confession, and I was sure he knew nothing he could say would justify his poor decision-making.

“It’s a little girl,” he confessed, smiling faintly. “Found that out last week.”

I scowled.

“And I know I haven’t been much of a father,” he continued. “But I want to do things right this time. I want to get myself together for my little girl.”

Something inside of me went ice cold.

My little girl.

“You want to get right for your little girl?”

He nodded. “Yeah… that’s right.”

“What about getting right for the three children you already have? Or is it just fuck us and you’re just gonna start over?”

His smile disappeared.

“Hart—”

“No, I’m serious. What about us?”

“I know I let y’all down.”

“Let us down?” I repeated. “Is that what you think you did?”

He dropped his gaze to the gray carpet.