"Skip, is your father?" He asked.
"So I see we meet again…" Skip said with a wide grin as he offered his hand out to Jayden. Jayden was so flabbergasted that at first he didn't notice and then he looked down and grasped the man's hand in a shake.
"Have a seat," he offered and Jayden sat in a chair across from him.
"Mia, why don't you go and get our guest something to drink?" He told her and they all knew he wanted to be alone with Jayden to talk. She nervously nodded her head as her eyes first pleaded with her father to take it easy on him and then met with Jaden's in an apology. He nodded his head in understanding. After Mia left the two of them sat.
"Would have never guessed that you were her father…" Jayden told him honestly.
"I had her when I was barely sixteen years old." The older man told him.
"For real?" Jayden's eyes widened at hearing that.
"Yup… and I was determined that what happened to Mia's mother and me weren't going to happen to my little girl if I could help it." He said with great authority and conviction. Jayden nodded his head. In a twisted kind of way he felt the same way about his parents; he didn't want to bring a child into this world that he couldn't take responsibility for.
"Yea I feel what you're saying…" Jayden expressed his agreement.
"Good, I'm glad you know… So you own your own shop?"
"Yea, you've been there before…"
"How's business?"
"It's getting better… A lot of work you know…"
"Well you can either work hard for yourself or work hard for the man; either way a man has got to work hard to earn a living… Have you ever had a job?"
"Yes sir… I started working for the delivery company when I was seventeen years old in high school…"
"Really?" Skip was impressed with the young man's work ethics. At least he hadn't spent his youth lazing about living off of his mother or another woman.
"Yup… I worked there almost eight years… They promoted me to night supervisor and had me in their management program."
"So why did you leave? Good job, great benefits… health and dental plans… four-weeks a year vacation… school reimbursement… 401k plan… the delivery service pays well."