AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once dressed, she meets me at the table to eat breakfast. I whipped up some quick cheesy eggs and toast. She sits down and eats. After a few bites, she peers up at me.
“When can I see Sparty again? He misses me.”
I love how each time Clementine brings up Spartan, she mentions how he misses her and not vice versa. No doubt it holds true, but Clementine misses him more than she cares to admit. And I hate that I have separated them this long.
Yesterday, out of the blue, Cora texted me. When my phone dinged, I half expected it to be Jonas. Especially after he left another note on my car sometime between Tuesday night and yesterday morning. The note simple—I miss you. And I have a sneaking suspicion Cora’s sudden interest in talking was sparked by Jonas. Either way, I was happy to talk with her. Penny is supportive, but she has too much inside information to give me an outsider’s perspective. Which Cora did with perfection.
Our texts weren’t anything spectacular, but she started it off with “heard you might need someone to talk with.” An hour later and I had spilled my fears to her. In return, she told me I should share the same with Jonas if I hadn’t already. Not until the end of our texts did she mention Jonas, and even then it was just that I should talk to him. Cora opted to play the neutral party to help steer us back toward each other.
“I bet he does, pumpkin. After my appointment today, I might stop by Jonas’s work to talk with him.” Clementine’s face lights up. “But no promises.” Her face falls again.
For a few minutes, we remain quiet. Clementine scrapes the fork tines across her plate between bites. After she finishes her breakfast, I take our plates to the sink and wash them. While she stomps around the apartment to grab her belongings, I ponder explaining to her why we haven’t been to see Jonas and Spartan as often. She may be seven, and her little mind might not grasp all the ins and outs, but she has every right to know why everything has changed so drastically in such a short period of time.
Glancing at the clock on the microwave, I note we don’t have to leave the house for another fifteen minutes. I walk into the living room and sit on the couch. Clementine should be out here in a moment with her backpack. And like clockwork, she stomps out and sits to my right.
“Pumpkin, I want to talk to you before we leave. About why we haven’t seen Jonas or Spartan as much.”
She peeks up with worry lines drawn across her face. “Is Sparty okay?”
“Yeah, pumpkin. He’s okay.” The lines on her face smooth out as she exhales. “You remember the day we came home from the beach park with Jonas and there was a man outside?”
She looks up and to the left while bunching her lips. After a moment, she nods. “Kind of.”
I take a deep breath and prepare for the most adult conversation with my seven-year-old. “The man who was outside when we came home that day, he is your father.” I don’t use the term dad because I have always seen a dad as someone who participates and spends time with their children.
“Mama, I don’t understand.”
“Before you were in my tummy, I met that man. Back then, he was nice. And we spent time together like I have with Jonas now. And after we dated a while, he became my boyfriend. When grown-up people date for long periods of time, they do certain grown-up things to show each other how much they care.”
“Like what?” Clementine interjects.
Kind of walked myself into a corner with this one. “Things we will discuss when you’re closer to being a grown-up. Anyway, after we showed each other how much we cared, you started to grow in my belly. But your father didn’t want to be a daddy, so he stopped being my boyfriend and didn’t talk to me anymore.”
“He didn’t love you?”
My poor sweet girl. Voice so soft and frail. If I tell her he no longer loved me, then she will assume it was her fault.
“Pumpkin, I’m not sure if either one of us really loved each other. We liked each other a whole lot, enough to make a beautiful little girl.” I bop her nose. “But there are just some people in the world who don’t want to have children, and that’s okay. There are still plenty of other people who do.”
The skin between her brows bunches. “So how come he was here that day?”
Here is the part I dread telling her, but I need to be open and honest with my little girl. “He said he wants to be your daddy.” The confusion still sits on her face as she stares at me with unfocused eyes. “And he wants you to live with him and not me.”
At this, Clementine jumps up from the couch and balls her little hands into fists. “He’s not my daddy,” she screams. “I won’t let him be. I hate him.” She snatches her backpack and storms to the front door, cutting our conversation off.
Penny comes out of her room, wiping her eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Peachy,” I deadpan. “Tell you later.” She waves and goes back into her room.
I grab my purse and head for the door. A few feet from Clementine, she unlocks the door and stomps out. Nothing like starting the day with a moody seven-going-on-seventeen-year-old. Can’t wait to see her temperament when she actually gets closer to her teens.
The drive to her school lacks conversation, but at least she sings and bops to the music while staring out the window. As soon as we get to the drop-off point in the school car line, she hooks her backpack over her shoulders, grumbles out anI love you, and exits the car. I stare after her as she steps on campus and smiles at some of her friends. Sighing, relief fills me that she can at least smile with her friends.
Leaving the school, I steer the car in the direction of the attorney’s office. Theresa said she had some updates she wants to discuss, plus a document I need to sign. After dealing with morning traffic for forty minutes, I park in front of Theresa’s office. Today, the building isn’t as intimidating as on my first visit.
I head inside, wait a few minutes, then am escorted back to the conference room. Over the next hour, Theresa explains how Leo holds no weight in the case. Since he intentionally left before Clementine was born, has never spent time with her or attempted to, and has never contributed to her well-being, the judge will side with us without question. Theresa assures me no amount of money will sway a decision in his favor. There is no justification or evidence to back up such a ruling.
The document I sign is for the court hearing toward the end of the month.Sooner than expected, thank god.I sign on the line and Theresa steps out of the room to make me a copy. During the minute of her absence, I go back and forth on an idea I have toyed with. She enters the conference room and I decide to heck with it.
