True Summer Love

Chapter Six

The next day Lance put his truck in park outside of Tiffany's house. He had stopped by the garage first but Gary had told him that she had taken the day off. He looked at her picture on his dash. He had wanted to rip it off and throw it away last night. Every time he looked at it the sting of her betrayal tore at his heart.

He didn't understand how Tiffany of all people could have hidden something like this from him. He had confided in her about his own father, who had abandoned him and his mother before he'd been born. She was the only person he had ever fully told about all the hurt he held inside. Now she had made him no different from his own father.

He had a son. A six year old son who did not even know he was his father. He had not been able to hold the boy as a baby. He had not been there for his first steps, first words, first day of school. Tiffany had stolen all of that from him and he wanted to know why.

He knocked on her door and heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the house. When she opened the door he felt his anger falter momentarily. Clearly she had not slept the night before. Her face was pale and her eyes were surrounded by bruise like shadows. She looked as if she had been crying.

He forced himself to remember why he was here and felt the edge come back to his anger.

"I wondered when you would come back." Tiffany said quietly. She moved aside and let him enter the house. He walked into the tiny kitchen and looked around. The room was spotless. The white linoleum tile was sparkling and the oak table and gray faux marble countertops didn't have a bit of clutter.

"It doesn't usually look this nice." Tiffany said noticing the way he was looking around. "Six year olds aren't known for their cleanliness but I've had all morning here to myself so I've been cleaning." She looked around uncomfortably. She knew why he was here and she wondered how long it would take him to start the conversation that was bound to lead to a lot of tears on her part.

She motioned for him to sit down at the table and while he did that she poured them each a glass of lemonade and sat down across from him. She took a sip of her lemonade and waited on him to speak. He looked tired. His blue eyes were dull as they looked at her and his dark hair was even messier than usual.

"Why?" he asked. Tiffany knew what Lance wanted to know but she was not yet sure how to answer so she sipped her lemonade again and looked down at the table top.

"Why what?" she asked. Lance felt his temper flare but pushed it back down. Yelling and getting angry wouldn't accomplish anything and would end their conversation before it even started.

"Why didn't you tell me that night that you were pregnant?" Tiffany picked at the leg of her gray lounge pants and forced herself to meet his gaze.

"I didn't want to be responsible for getting in the way of your dream, Lance. I wanted to see you go out and make all your dreams come true and I knew that wouldn't happen if I told you about the baby."

"You know what my father did to me, Tiffany. You made me do the same thing to my son. You made me no different from my father." Lance said, the accusation clear in his voice. Tiffany shook her head in stern protest.

"No, you're not like your father. He knew about you, you didn't know about Parker."

"Because of you!" Lance yelled. He slammed his hand down on the table and his face flushed red with anger. Tiffany shrank back in her chair and felt tears fill her eyes. Lance had never been one to lose his temper and she realized just how angry he truly was.

"I am sorry, Lance. I know that doesn't make up for keeping my pregnancy a secret from you that night but please try to look at it from my side…." She waited to see if he would tell her to go to hell or if he was willing to listen. When he just sat there silently and stared at her she decided to continue.