A few hours after leaving the rose garden, my bad mood returned. My night had been hijacked and now I was on Ruby LaFontaine’s front door step, banging on her door.

“Stop banging,” I heard her call from inside, the door swinging open finally, Ruby’s frail, aging, heavily tweaked face staring back at me with wide, watery blue eyes. When she saw it was me, she wrapped her fuzzy robe around her tiny body tightly and nodded firmly, stepping aside.

“Come in, Lucas,” she murmured. “It’s the middle of the night. I’m assuming this couldn’t wait till morning?”

“Hell, no, it can’t wait,” I growled, pacing in her living room like an angry wolf. “Where the hell is Scarlet? I went to her apartment and some old bald dude is living there.”

“I see,” she said, nodding again.

“I see? You see what? What the fuck does that mean?” I roared, my blood boiling through my veins. “I pay you every fucking month. I’ve never missed a payment. Scarlet’s mine and she’s supposed to be waiting for me, all the fucking time, every fucking minute, Ruby! Did she move without you telling me?”

“Lucas, calm down,” she said, holding up a palm.

“I’ll calm down when you tell me where my girl is.”

“She left.”

“She left. She left? Where the fuck did she go?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “It’s been so long, Lucas. You’ve been gone a long time.”

“Yeah, I have. So fucking what?”

“Well, a lot has happened.”

“Like what?”

“Listen, sometimes, the girls, they get a little rebellious, you know? Scarlet wasn’t a good girl. Let me get you another girl. In fact, I already have someone lined up. She’s Dominican, Lucas. Dark and svelte, very sexy, very sweet. Her name’s Maria, she’s just your type.”

“Just my type, huh?” I said, shaking my head. I stopped in front of her, my eyes searching hers. “Ruby, tell me something.”

“What?”

“Do I look like a fucking fool to you?”

“Lucas…”

“No, I’m serious, Ruby. You’ve known me a long time, right? Ten years, at least, right?”

“Yes, Lucas, but…”

“No, listen. Answer me honestly. Do I look like a fucking fool to you? I know I don’t come from old money, like most of your clientele, but I’m not fucking stupid.”

“Of course you aren’t, Lucas.”

“Then why the fuck,” I screamed, walking away and slamming my fist into her wall, “are you playing me like a fucking fool?”

“Lucas, I’m sorry!” Ruby said. “Scarlet fucked up, okay? You were gone a long time and I don’t know how, but she went and got herself knocked up. It was right after you left the last time, but I didn’t find out for a few months. She hid it until it was too late, or I would have done something about it.”

“Pregnant? She’s pregnant?” I asked, frozen in my tracks, my head spinning.

“Well, not anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once I figured it out, I kicked her out right away, Lucas. You know I’d never stand for a girl going outside.”

“She was pregnant and you kicked her out?”

“Of course,” she said, lifting her chin as if she was proud of it.

“That’s fucking brutal,” I said, shaking my head. “Well, where did she go?”

“Well,” she said, turning away. “I’m not sure.”

“Where the fuck is she, Ruby? I know you better than to just let her go.”

“I tried to take care of it,” she said, turning back to me, her eyes searching mine. “In fact, I thought took care of the entire fucking problem, but my stupid fucking hired help screwed up the job.”

“You tried to take her out, Ruby?” I asked, my voice rising in disbelief.

“Call it whatever you want,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “She was useless at that point.”

“So what happened?” I asked.

“Someone saved her. Some fucking nosy elderly couple, out for a weekend drive. She made it to the hospital and they saved her and the baby.”

“And?” I asked.

“And nothing. After that, she wouldn’t see me anymore and I gave up trying. Like I said, she’s fucking useless. A single mom with a fucking baby to take care of? Not exactly prime real estate, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “I know what you mean.”

She turned away, shaking her head as she walked to the corner and around to the back of the intricately carved wooden bar in the corner.

“You want a drink?” She asked. “Whiskey, right?”

“Sure,” I said, nodding thoughtfully, trying to remember exactly how long ago it had been since I’d seen Scarlet. I’d been paying her living expenses, keeping her on retainer, so to speak, available at my beck and call, for years. Months went by without contact. I wasn’t really a sentimental type, I didn’t have time for personal relationships so much.

That’s why I paid for what I needed, when I needed it. With the kind of money I have, you can afford it. I had another girl in Barcelona, with the same set up. And one in New York, too.

They knew what my expectations were and they met them willingly.

“Ruby, I haven’t seen Scarlet in almost two years, except for that one time…shit.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So how old is the baby? When did all this happen?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The kids gotta be close to a year old by now.”

“So she admitted to fucking around with someone?”

“No, of course not,” she scoffed. “She denied it up and down, but who can believe a whore?”

“So why do you think she was fucking someone else?”

“Because she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant with you, Lucas.”

“Why not?”

“Because you aren’t stupid enough not to wear a condom with a whore. And it’s in the contract.”

I nodded, slowly, letting all this information sink in.

“Ruby?” I asked.

“Yeah?” She said, handing me a glass of shimmering amber whiskey. “Why’d you keep cashing my cheeks if Scarlet was gone?”

“Why should I suffer just because that stupid bitch got knocked up?” She said, pursing her bright red lips angrily. “Besides, like I said, I’ve got this other girl. Her name’s Maria, she has long, black hair and the perkiest little titties you ever —.”

I threw my glass against the wall, shards flying through the air.

“Lucas!” She cried, her eyes flashing with fear as I rounded the bar, snatching her soft robe up in my hands.

“Tell me where the fuck she is, Ruby!”

“I - I - I don’t know, Lucas,” she said, her bottom lip quivering. “I really don’t. Last I saw of her, she was at the hospital. I tried to see her and the little boy, but she wouldn’t let me in. Maybe she went to a shelter or something, but I don’t know. I promise!”

“A boy?” I asked, my eyes wide.

“Yeah, she had a little boy,” she nodded. “Please let me go, Lucas.”

I let go in a daze, my heart threatening to burst from my chest.

“A boy…”

I took a step back and then looked at her again.

“You don’t know where she is?”

“I’m sorry, Lucas,” she said.

I nodded slowly and then reached my hand up, slamming it down onto her face and slapping her hard.

She crumpled to the ground in a pile at my feet.

I looked down in disgust, shaking my head.

“You’re a real asshole, Ruby, you know that?” I growled, before turning away and walking out of her house.

I sat behind the wheel of the car, the sky beginning to light up with a warm red glow, the sun rising in the distance as I let it all sink in.

It was a new day.

And I was a father.

“I have a son,” I whispered to the rose, still sitting on the seat next to me, a little wilted after a few hours. I reached over and picked it up, inhaling its sweet scent again.

Slowly, my fingers closed around it, crushing the perfect, velvety petals into a wrinkled, perfumed mess in my palm. I tossed it out the window and hit the gas pedal, racing off into the new day, a new man with a new purpose.

A father.