“I need to do this,” Maribel insisted.
He shook his head. “Not gonna happen. That kid has an attitude and he’s going to learn respect and manners and he’s going to learn it from me.”
Wyatt coughed.
Elias looked at his friend. “You think I can’t do it?”
“I just want to go home. Whatever you do with your child is your business. But I’ll say one thing for you, Elias. You’ve always shown me respect, even when you were in the wrong.”
“Elias...” Maribel called after him as he walked away to the cell. Chase lay on the cot with his hands behind his head. He slowly sat up when he saw Elias entering the cell.
“What do you want?”
Elias sat on a cot, facing his son and he couldn’t stop staring at him and reliving the memories that churned inside him. That night when he had come upon Maribel fixing a flat, he thought all his prayers had been answered. There had been an electricity between them for some time and he had just wanted to talk to her, away from school, away from their families. She’d accepted his help graciously and then they had scrambled into his truck to get away from the sleet.
Breathing the same air as Maribel had been as intoxicating as any beer he’d ever had. She’d smelled of strawberries, and being young and stupid and besotted he’d thought it was because of her strawberry colored hair. He’d loved being close to her. Her hair had been wet and he’d grabbed an old jacket from the back seat and had helped to rub it dry. When he’d touched her skin, her soft skin, something had happened to both of them and they’d kept on touching each other. One kiss had led to another and before either of them could stop, they were ripping off clothes and getting warm in an old familiar way.
She was the sexiest girl he’d ever touched. He remembered every emotion he had felt that night. It was like a movie in his head and he could bring it up at the oddest of times. Her moans, her smile, her long hair all around him. He remembered it almost every day of his life. And he regretted it almost every day of his life. Now, he was staring at the results of that night. The child they’d created, not in love but in passion. A powerful passion. And after it was gone, the only thing that had remained was the regrets.
“Are you just gonna stare at me, or what?”
“What has your mother told you about your father?”
“What? That’s none of your business.”
“You know we had this talk about manners and respect. Do we need to have it again?”
Chase frowned. “Are you a deputy, or what?”
“Or what.”
“Why do you want to know about my dad?”
“I’m just curious. Your mom is trying to get you out of jail and...”
Chase tried to see around the bars. “Is she talking to the sheriff?”
“Yes, he wants a thousand dollars upfront to make sure you don’t run or leave town.”
“My mom doesn’t have that kind of money.”
“Maybe your dad does.”
“I don’t know who he is. Mom doesn’t talk about him. The only thing she told me was that he was someone in high school, someone she shouldn’t have gotten involved with. He wasn’t ready to be a father and she had to raise me alone. She never told him about me, and that’s okay. We had Nana.”
“Who’s Nana?”
“She’s my grandmother, or the lady who took my mother in when she was pregnant. She became my grandmother and she loved both of us. It hasn’t been the same since she died. After that, we had to move into an apartment. We did okay until Mom’s boss fired her because she wouldn’t sleep with him.”
Maribel had failed to mention that. He could imagine her life must’ve been pretty hard raising the kid alone. He was glad she’d had someone there for her like Nana to help. The guilt was now beating against his head with the force of a two-by-four. He should have known something was wrong when she’d left town without graduating. He should’ve been the one to put it together, but he had been busy doing other things. Maturity hadn’t been his strong suit back then, and some people would say it wasn’t now, either.
Elias decided to let it go for now. Later, he and Maribel would talk about a lot of things. He rested his forearms on his thighs and looked at his son. “You seem to have had a pretty good life. Why are you so angry?”
Chase looked down at the floor. “I don’t like it here. No one wants us here. I want to go back home to Dallas. I play football and I’m hoping scouts will notice me and I can get a scholarship to college because Mom won’t be able to afford to pay for me to go. I want to play in the NFL. All that is ruined now and I’ll never get noticed in this one-horse town. My life is over.”
“So life is all about you. Have you even thought about what it’s like for your mother to come back here and face her family and the guy who is your father?”
“No.” Chase continued to look at the floor.
“Have you ever thought of getting a job to help out?”
His head jerked up. “A job? I don’t know how to do anything except play football.”
“That’s going to change.”
Chase narrowed his eyes. “Says who?”
“Says me. You have to pay for the beer you stole and to do that you have to get a job and make money. A new concept, huh?”
“My mom will pay for it.”
Elias’s shook his head. “No. You will, and I’m going to make sure that you do.”
“You can’t make me do anything. My mom won’t let you.”
The crux of all Chase’s problems—his mother. Elias was going to undo some of that, at least the pampering.
“You’re seventeen years old and it’s time for you to stand up and be a man and take responsibility for what you did.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” There was a note of regret in his voice and it was the first sign that it was getting harder to carry around that big ol’ attitude.
Elias got to his feet. “The sheriff has released you into my custody.”
“What? Why would he do that? I don’t even know you. My mother will not stand for this.”
“Your mother has agreed, so this discussion is over.”
“I’m not going with you. I’d rather stay in jail.”
Elias placed his hands on his hips and stared at this kid that he and Maribel had created. It was time for a dose of reality. For the kid. And for Elias. “That guy from high school who your mom said wasn’t ready for responsibility would have taken full responsibility for you.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m that guy. I’m your father.”
“No.” Chase shook his head. “You’re not my father. My mom would’ve told me.”
“She told me for the first time tonight, so I’m in shock just like you. I guess she never wanted either one of us to know.”
Maribel couldn’t stand it any longer. She walked to the open jail door and faced her son. They rarely talked about Chase’s father and she liked it that way. But now her pride was going to take another hit. She had never meant to keep it a secret. It had just happened. Never in a million years had she planned to tell Chase this way.
“Mom,