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She retreated back to her room without another word and I directed my annoyance back towards Sabrina.
“Fine. You think he’s mine? Let’s do a paternity test then, shall we?” I watched Sabrina’s throat bob as she gulped. “I’ll call my lawyer.”
I dialed Charlie's number. He didn’t answer, so I sent him a text asking him to call me ASAP. A silent stare off between Sabrina and I ensued, one that lasted over an hour until Charlie finally gave me a call back.
“Hey bud. Another emergency with Amber or just want to chat?”
“Actually, an emergency with Sabrina. She’s here right now with a little boy. She’s claiming he’s mine.”
“Holy shit! Is he?”
I walked into the other room and talked to Charlie in a hushed tone, hoping to make Sabrina squirm a bit. As I did so, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked over to see Candace running down them with a duffel bag.
“One second Charlie.” I put the phone to my side and approached my daughter who was angling toward the front door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked her.
“My friend’s house.”
“Who gave you permission to do that? We have some things to talk about, Candace.”
“Not interested.” She reached for the knob.
“Hey!” I yelled to her, in a firm tone I rarely used. She turned on her heels, one arm on her hip and the other clutching her overnight bag.
“You know, maybe you should save the parenting for all of the kids you haven’t told me about yet.”
“Candace!”
She opened the door and I ran out after her, Charlie still waiting on the line.
“Sweetheart, wait! Let me at least explain!”
“No! I’m sick of being constantly disappointed by you and mom!”
Candace ran towards a blue Subaru that had just pulled into my driveway.
“You’re not leaving until I know where you’re going.”
I walked over to the driver’s side of the car as Candace loaded her bag into the back seat and hopped into the passenger’s side. I tapped on the window and the driver rolled it down. She looked about Candace’s age, brown hair and petite.
“Hello. I’m Brenton. Candace’s father. And you are?”
“Christine.” She smacked on her gum.
“Nice to meet you, Christine. I assume it’s okay with your parents that my daughter sleeps over tonight?”
She looked at me with humor in her eyes, probably thinking she was too old for this type of interrogation. But if today taught me anything, it was that I needed to start being more hands on with the relationships in my life, especially with my children. Christine just nodded.
“Could I get their number just in case?”
Christine raised one of her brows and scoffed, but she acquiesced, grabbing her phone from the center console. She pulled up her mom’s number and handed it over. I put it into my phone and thanked her. I ducked down to try and make eye contact with my daughter but she was looking straight ahead.
“We’ll talk tomorrow, Candace. Have a nice night.”
Christine screeched off and I made a mental note to take a drive with Candace sometime. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t as horrible a driver as I had witnessed from her friends these past few weeks. I shook my head. I had made so much progress with my daughter these past weeks, and now it felt like that had all been wiped away. I had to do something big to apologize tomorrow.
I put my phone back to my ear. “Hey Charlie. Sorry about that.”
