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BRENTON
Iwoke up the next morning, forced to remember for a split second everything that had happened the day prior. I laid in bed and crossed my arms over my face as I thought of Helen and her betrayal. I saw what Dudley had written, how Helen was supposed to get her inheritance. Her newfound interest in apples made all too much sense now.
I knew she was probably desperate after losing her job, but that didn't make it right. What hurt me the most was that after all we had shared with one another and all that trust I assumed we had built, she still didn’t trust me enough to let me help her. I had wanted to provide for her and I would have gladly helped her get back on her feet. She was just too stubborn to let me.
I pushed my sheets back and got out of bed, more determined than ever to get full custody of my kids back. After getting ready with Samson hovering by my side—he knew something was wrong with me—I called Candace.
I tried several times, but her phone kept going straight to voicemail. It was either off or out of battery. Maybe she forgot to bring a charger in her haste to leave yesterday. Then, I remembered that I had the phone number of her friend’s mom. I patted myself on the back for what seemed like one of the only good parenting moves I had made in a while.
“Hello?” A woman picked up the phone.
“Hi. You must be Christine’s mother.”
“I am. Who am I speaking with?”
“I’m Brenton McLean. Candace’s dad.”
“Oh, hello Mr. McLean.”
“Hi. I was just wondering if I could talk to my daughter. Her phone is sending me straight to voicemail and I’d like to check on her.”
“Your daughter isn’t here actually. She got picked up about an hour ago.”
“What? By who?”
“Her mother.”
My nerves began to tingle. How had Amber known Candace was there? And why would she pick her up early? After what had gone down at the mall the other day, I didn’t think my daughter would just go with Amber willingly, but then again she was pretty pissed at me too. Maybe she was too mad at me to care about what her mother had said anymore.
“Ugh,” I groaned. I had really messed up.
“Is everything okay, Mr. McLean?”
“Um, yeah just some miscommunication between me and my ex. Did she happen to say where they were going?”
“Um, no. But I didn’t ask.”
“Ok, no problem. Thank you.”
“Of course. Have a good one.”
I hung up and felt as if I were going to puke. I called Amber immediately, needing to get to the bottom of her sudden interest in being a good parent.
“I was wondering when you’d call,” Amber picked up. I could tell there was a guileful smile on her face. There was a lot of noise in the background. It sounded like a crowd.
“Where’s our daughter?”
“With me.”
“Why is that? It’s my half of the summer with her, and last I checked, you were more than happy to relinquish your duties for a while.”
“Well I changed my mind. You got her early and I came to regret it. I wanted some mommy-daughter time after all.”
I heard some mumbling in the background.
“Is that Candace? I want to speak with her.”
“No can do. She doesn’t want to talk to you, Brenton. I heard you made quite the fool of yourself with Sabrina yesterday.”
