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Kelly Company.
How ironic. The father who abandoned me, and my mother, works at a company with the same name as my mother, and he has to wear her name over his heart every day when he goes to work.
He smiles at me, but it’s such a phony smile that I can’t even bring myself to smile back. “You’re Claire?” he asks with even more phony enthusiasm.
I don’t know what I expected from the person who never attempted to contact me until I refused the trust fund he contributed to. What was I thinking coming here?
Chris reaches out his hand to Phil. “Nice to meet you. I’m Chris.”
They shake and Phil raises one of his eyebrows, as if he’s sizing Chris up, then he laughs. “Great to meet you, Chris.”
He turns to Jackie and she holds out her hand. “I’m Jackie. Claire’s foster mother. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Phil looks a little taken aback by Jackie’s presence. He probably didn’t expect to meet the person who took care of me when he refused to. He turns to me and I take a deep breath as he holds out his hand.
I don’t want to shake his hand. I don’t want to feel the callous built over the years of working a blue-collar job to support his family. I don’t want to feel the warmth that belies the truth of how coldly he abandoned my mother and me.
“Claire has been through a lot,” Jackie says. “I think she deserves to know why you weren’t there for her.”
As soon as she says this, my father’s eyes widen and I realize I don’t need to know why he wasn’t there. I don’t need anything from this man.
“We were young,” he says, glancing back and forth between Chris and me as if we should understand.
Chris shakes his head. He’s just as appalled as I am.
“I should have been there, but I was dumb. Then I got offered a job in Kentucky, and I took it. Then I got offered another job in California…. And by the time your mom contacted me, I had already married Elsie and Nichelle was on the way.”
“You moved on,” I say, summarizing the sorry excuse he just gave me. “Well, while you were busy moving on, my mom was busy dying from a heroine overdose. And I was busy being kicked around from one place to another like a piece of trash. Nobody wants a piece of trash and that’s what I felt like. Because you didn’t want me.”
Jackie watches me with tears in her eyes, but she still smiles as she mouths, “I’m proud of you.”
Phil looks very uncomfortable and a little defensive, like a dog backed into a corner. “Well, I did deposit all that money into your account all these years. I wasn’t a deadbeat or nothing like that.”
“That money is nothing but a reminder of a childhood I want to forget. I don’t want your money. I want my childhood back. I want my mother back.”
My entire body trembles as the adrenaline courses through me. These are the words I’ve dreamed of speaking, but always wished I would never have to. In my happiest dreams, this meeting included a heartfelt apology from my father followed by the kind of hug that heals from the inside out.
Jackie wipes the tears from my face and I wait another couple of minutes for an apology that was never coming to me. “You ready to go, honey?” she whispers and I nod as I let out a deep breath that I think I’ve been holding for twenty-one years.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stick around to meet your sister?” Jackie asks.
“We have a flight to catch,” I reply. “And she didn’t seem so eager to meet me after all.”
Chris nods toward the door. “Mom, take Claire to the car. I’m going to have a talk with Phil.” I look at Chris questioningly and he shakes his head. “I’ll be right there. You two go ahead.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Elsie says and I nod as Jackie and I walk out of the house arm-in-arm.
It’s raining when we get outside and we quickly deactivate the car alarm so we can both get into the backseat. As soon as the car door closes, Jackie takes me into her arms and I cry on her shoulder for a few minutes as she strokes my hair.
“You said what you needed to say, Claire. If he can’t see what he did wrong then he’s not your father. A father loves his child and would never allow his child to feel unwanted. That is what you deserved and I hope with every bone in my body that I have given you that.”
“You have. You’ve given me so much more than that,” I reply as I think of Chris.
I’m worried about what he’s doing inside that house. But my worrying ends when he walks down the brick path toward us. He slides into the driver’s seat and quickly turns the key in the ignition.
“What happened?” I ask anxiously.
He shakes his head and I can feel the anger pulsing off of him with every breath he takes. “Exactly what I thought was going to happen.” He pulls away from the curb and makes a U-turn to go back the way we came. “I offered him a check in the amount of the trust fund and he took it.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chris
We already packed our luggage into the trunk of the rental car, in anticipation of having to make a swift getaway for the airport. The visit with Claire’s father was such a flop that we arrive at our gate in the airport three hours early. Claire sits in my lap and closes her eyes as she rests her head on my shoulder. Within minutes, she’s asleep and I can only imagine how tired she must be with everything her body and mind have been put through these past two days.
“I’m going to get you two something to eat,” my mom whispers before she sets off down the concourse.
Claire’s chest rises and falls slowly and I think of the life growing inside of her at this very moment. I can’t believe I just handed over a check for two hundred and seventeen thousand dollars to a man who didn’t understand the beauty of the life he created. But I guess it’s a small price to pay for Claire’s peace of mind. Now she can do whatever she wants with the money in that trust fund.
&nbs
p; Claire wakes before my mom returns, but her eyes are still rolling around with grogginess. “Where’s your mom?”
“I think she went to get you something to eat. Are you hungry?”
She blinks a few times until her eyes are focused then she looks around at the people sitting around us with their carryon bags at their feet and their electronic devices in their hands.
“I’m starving.”
We find my mom sitting inside a pub, talking on the phone and looking very upset. When she sees us approach, she quickly says goodbye and ends the call.
“Are you okay?” I ask as she tucks her phone into her purse.
“I’m fine. I was just talking to Joel. He wanted to know how it went. How are you two doing?”
I look to Claire and she shrugs. “Can you get me a sandwich? I’ll be right back. I have to call Senia.”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”
She pulls her phone out of her pocket as she sets off toward the exit. I take a seat across from my mom and she lets out an exasperated sigh.
“We shouldn’t have brought her here.”
“She’ll be fine. She needed this. Have you talked to Rachel?”
“Yes, I spoke to her right before Joel. She said that she’ll send Jake’s assistant, I can never remember her name, to drop off the dress tomorrow morning. So no room service for you two. You need to get Claire out of the room by nine a.m.”
“Her name is Irlina. You didn’t tell Rachel about the tattoo, did you?”
“Of course not. Do you want to tell me about this tattoo or do I have to be surprised again the way I am with everything you two have been keeping from me?”
I’m almost certain she knows that Claire is pregnant, but I can’t confirm her suspicions. She’ll find out about the baby the moment everyone else finds out. Since we found out about the baby last night, I’ve been planning how I’m going to tell my mom and I’m pretty sure she’ll be glad I waited.
“I can’t tell you about the tattoo, but you’ll see it soon enough.”
She shakes her head then flags down a waitress. She orders Claire a sandwich and a plain club soda. The food arrives a couple of minutes before Claire returns. Her eyes are rimmed pink and I wish I could reach inside her and pluck out the pain like a weed from a lush garden.
“Senia said she picked up the bridesmaid dress from Rachel last night and it was very classy and fit her perfectly, so I shouldn’t worry about my dress.”
“I told you that you had nothing to worry about,” I reply as I think of the day Rachel brought me a picture of a wedding dress she thought would look perfect on Claire.
I don’t know much about fashion or wedding dresses, but I almost kissed Rachel when she showed me the picture. Claire is going to look so beautiful in her wedding dress. But I know that even if she doesn’t love it, she’ll pretend to because she loves me.
Our flight arrives in Vegas at seven p.m. When we arrive at the hotel, Joel is waiting for us in the lobby.
I like Joel, and my mom deserves to be happy, but I don’t like the idea that she may get hurt if it doesn’t work out with him. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would hurt her, but you never really know someone until you’ve seen them react under pressure.
I pull out my wallet to tip the bellhop before he takes my mom’s luggage, but Joel puts his hand up to stop me. “I’ve got it.”
Suddenly, a loud scream gets our attention and we all turn toward the sound coming from my right. About twenty feet away, a dark-haired girl is staring at me with her mouth agape.
“Oh, my God!” she squeals.
I force a smile because everyone in the lobby is looking in our direction now. Instinctively, I pull my hood up over my head so that no one else can recognize me. The girl jumps up and down a few times as she converses with her friend, then they both begin walking towards us.
Claire smiles and I kiss the corner of her mouth, letting my lips linger against her skin for a moment so there’s no confusion about whether I’m available. Claire pokes me in the ribs and I laugh as I finally pull away. The two girls in their scarves and Ugg boots are staring at Claire and me with
