Not Again

Renda walked over and sat as far away from him as she could. The silence grew longer and she wondered why he even asked her out here if he wasn’t going to say anything. Soon fifteen minutes had passed and she was tense trying to think of a reason to go back inside. Just as her mind was searching through various reasons Ian broke the silence.

“Is Jackson my son?”

Renda took a deep breath and turned her head away from him as she said, “What do you think?”

“I think I want to hear you tell me the truth.”

Renda turned to face him as she said, “Yes, he’s your son, but that does not make you his father!”

“Care to explain that one? The way I see it, if he’s my son, then I’m his father.”

“A father is someone that’s loves you, teaches you how to do things, catches you when you fall off your bike for the very first time. A father is someone that doesn’t run out on you and your mother!”

“How the hell could I do any of the above when I didn’t even know you were pregnant?”

Renda looked at him and said, “Didn’t know or didn’t care?”

“I didn’t know!”

“Of course you didn’t Ian, you lied saying you loved me, and then without a single word to me, you just up and left.” Renda wiped the tears off her cheeks as she said, “Then you come home for your father’s funeral and didn’t even say one word to me!”

“I left you a note saying where I was going, and a number for you to call me, when you were ready to talk to me. If you remember right Renda, I couldn’t take you to the prom because I had to be out of town for a job interview. You were mad as hell at me and said, you didn’t want me to call you. You’d call me when you were no longer upset.”

“First of all there was no note. Second, you were going out of town for an interview. You didn’t say you weren’t coming back!”