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“Letmelookathim,” I stared at the phone screen at little Sammy playing with his big sister. “He’s getting so big, my God. I feel like he’s grown two whole feet.”
Claire smiled brightly, turning the phone back to her. “I swear having two kids is so hard.”
“But you make it look so easy, though.” I admired her strength as a woman. She overcame much adversity to get to where she is today and still did it all with a smile. Even when her world had been dark, when her first husband had died in an accident, she still found a way to see the light.
“Thank you. But how are you, though? You keep asking about me, but I want to know about you. I feel like I haven’t spoken to you in ages.”
“I’m okay, work is going great, and...umm...let’s see, my crazy psycho ex, who I left and put behind bars, is back and tormenting me from God knows where, and I am fighting with your brother, who is my new boss, but I am also struggling with the fact that every time I see him I want to rip his clothes off.
That was a mouthful to say, and I couldn’t tell her all of that, so I just settled with…
“I’m okay and settling in well with everyone.” And by everyone, I mean Brandon. The rest of the office looks at me like I’m some intruder who needs to be dealt with swiftly.
“Really?” She gave me those Sinclair eyes of hers. “He isn’t making your life harder?”
I shook my head, “He has been nothing but great and accommodating. He wants me to do well here.”
He was waiting for me to fail, but that didn’t need to be shared with her. Claire took on other people’s pain as her own, and she didn’t need that when she had other things to focus on.
“He is great.”
“Then what’s wrong? I can tell when something is off about you, and something is definitely off.”
“I’m fine, Claire. Maybe I’m just a little tired from the case we are working on. But other than that, I’m okay.”
“Then why did my brother call me to ask to check in on you?”
I sat up on the couch, “He did what?”
“He called me an hour ago to check on you because you called in sick today. And from what I have seen since you answered the phone, you don’t look like you are dying from pneumonia, so what is the issue?”
“Nothing,” there was no way I would talk about Marcus over the phone. I still needed to contact Lucas—but his number was out of service. “I think I’m just having one of those days. I feel a little out of my depth at this firm. Everyone grew up in a bigger tax bracket than I did, and they all look down on me.”
This wasn’t the main issue but part of the problem. It wasn’t just Daniel. The other lawyers looked at me like I was scum underneath their feet. They all felt like they had to dumb things down for me so that I could understand.
“Do you know what I have to say to those idiots that think that of you? Fuck ‘em.”
In the background, I heard a little high-pitched voice yell, “Fuck ‘em.”
Claire’s eyes widened, looking at her daughter, “Oh my God, do not say that, Ella; your dad will kill me.”
I let out a low laugh at the sweet little girl's antics. She was the absolute light of Claire’s life, along with Sammy. She may not have birthed that little girl, but she was her mother in every way that mattered. When Sebastian and Claire reconnected, they were both widows and single parents. Ella’s birth mom had died during childbirth. But I knew she would be happy that Claire had stepped in and been there for her child and husband.
Little Ella kept screaming the cuss word at the top of her lungs, and Claire looked like she was about to pass out.
“Baby, you cannot say that word. It’s a bad word,” but her daughter only screamed it louder. She then turned to me with an apologetic smile on her face.
“Go, you don’t have to babysit me. I need to get started on my dinner. I will text you later.”
“Thank you,” she smiled and then hung up the phone, leaving me alone in the silence of my small one-bedroom apartment.
There were moments when I loved the silence and other times I loathed it. Sometimes, it offered me solace from the chaos. It gave me a space where I could exist instead of being trapped within the chaotic storms of my life. But right now, it gave me too much room to think, especially when many unknowns were still circulating.
I got up and headed to the kitchen, but I stopped short when I heard a knock at my door. I looked at the clock that hung on my kitchen wall. It was far too late for someone to visit me, and the only person who knew my address was Amelia; she would have called me if she wanted to make a house call.
Could it be? My heart dropped. No, there was no way that he could have found where I lived. But this was Marcus we were talking about. The man had always been relentless in his pursuits. He never stopped until he got what he wanted.
The knock came again, and I jumped. I reached for a steak knife and clutched it in my hand. I was too high up in the building to jump, so my only option was to fight like hell and run for the lobby and get someone to get help.
