Man of Steel(19)

She hung up on me, which meant she was going to try to make me jump through hoops to get my kid out of the house. We pulled up and I left Lily in the truck while I went to the door. The two women weren’t exactly friendly towards each other and it was never a good idea to let them have too much exposure to one another. For all her catholic schoolgirl upbringing Lily was a scrapper, she didn’t take shit and she hated Deanna’s guts. Not least of all because of the shit she’d done to me. To say Lily was protective of her man would be an understatement.

I could see from her expression that she’d pretty much gaged the gist of the conversation from Deanna’s end and she wasn’t looking too pleased. It was my job to smooth out the rough edges and hope that my ex had enough sense not to start shit in front of my kid. I also was not about to let her spoil Lily’s day. I had enough sense left to know that that is some shit that I’d never hear the end of for the next fifty fucking years. Women can hold a grudge like nobody’s business.

She took her sweet time answering the door and when she finally did she tried blocking my way. “We’re not doing this Deanna where’s Holly?”

“She’s not going anywhere and just so you know she has one mother and that bitch will never be her mother step or otherwise.”

“You sure you want to play this game? Because we both know you’ll never win. Now I’ve always tried to be human when dealing with you even though you don’t deserve that shit, but this right here is not about to happen. You can either let me take my kid to the fucking store and bring her back after I’ve fed her, or I can take her and all her shit right now as is my right. What’s it gonna be?”

She puffed up like a game hen but all the rage in the world wasn’t going to alter my course. She made the choice a long time ago to part ways, unless she thought I was dumb enough to fuck her after I found out she was cheating on me. I’m sure there’re some men who forgive and forget that shit but I wasn’t one of them and she should’ve known that shit.

She’d tried many times to convince me that she’d only done it to get a rise out of me, to get me to love her like I had in the beginning. How the fuck that shit played out in her head was a mystery. Since the divorce she’s been making fucked up decision after fucked up decision, but nothing yet that constituted me taking her child away from her. But we both knew if she pushed me too far that shit was a done deal.

Now she was turning on the waterworks, it never failed. When her rages and accusations didn’t work she resorted to the oldest female trick in the book. Too bad for her, that shit meant nothing to me. Now the other one was losing her fucking mind too. I looked back over my shoulder at the blaring of the car horn. Lily was looking dead at me with her ‘I’m not in the mood’ face on. What the fuck? I glared her ass into submission and she eased up off the horn.

Turning back to Deanna I eased her out of the way and went in search of Holly. “Lil bit where you at?” she came running and yelling for me from the back, where it looked like she’d been rolling in the mud. I couldn’t hold back the grin that broke across my face. Nothing in the world meant more than this little bundle of energy. She started talking as soon as I picked her up and kissed her little cheek. My heart melted when she hugged my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. “Daddy.”

I headed for her bathroom to clean her up while she regaled me with tales of her adventures in the backyard with the new poodle I’d bought her. Her mother had bitched about the extra work when I bought the dog a couple weeks ago but that shit had gone in one ear and out the other. It was because of her that I couldn’t be here for my kid twenty four seven so whatever I had to do to make up for that shit she’d just have to suck it the fuck up.

Deanna followed us around the house as I changed her clothes and showed my daughter how to lace up her shoes like a big girl. I could feel the anger coming off of her in waves but she knew well enough to keep that shit in check around my child. I pretended that her ass wasn’t there because really, what was there to say?





We made it out of the house without incident and it only took me five minutes to talk Holly into leaving her pet home. The two girls started gabbing at each other and I felt myself settle. Holly might be too young to understand the significance of her father buying another woman a ring but I wanted her there. She was a part of all the important things in my life and this was no different.

One of the things I loved so much about Lily was the way she accepted that fact and seemed to appreciate it herself. She knew that as much as I loved her, that little girl held a special place in my heart that no one else would ever reach.