Authors: Liv James
“His first name is Matthew,” Clara offered.
Josie ignored her, keeping her eyes
fixed on Rebecca. “You want to stay?”
“I want to talk to you about it,” Rebecca
said.
Clara huffed. She couldn’t help
herself.
“Privately,” Rebecca said, glowering
at Clara.
“You should probably have Dad in on
those conversations, don’t you think?” Clara asked.
“Clara, you can go back to work now,”
Josie dismissed. “I’d like to spend a little time alone with Rebecca and
Elizabeth.”
Rebecca smiled sweetly at Clara.
“Thanks again for the room last night.”
“Don’t thank me.” Clara said, closing
the conference room door behind her. As she’d suspected the wall between she and
her mother was still solid and strong where Rebecca was concerned.
Meg was in the hallway.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The moon must be full or something,” Clara
said.
“Tomorrow.”
“What?” Clara asked. She hadn’t
really been paying attention but now she focused in on Meg.
“The moon will be full tomorrow,” Meg
said.
“Great,” Clara said, shaking her
head. “Just in time for the retreat.” She paused, closing her eyes for a moment
and trying to regroup. She opened them and turned to Meg. “Do you need any help
getting ready for the trip tomorrow?”
“No, I’m good. Karen called again this
morning just to go over the list of things we need to bring. Markers, flip
charts, that sort of thing,” Meg said. “I guess she hired someone to make sure
all the camping stuff was set up, so we don’t need to worry about any of that.”
“Okay. Well, let me know if you need any
help.”
“I will.”
Clara headed back to her office. She tried
to concentrate on work but she couldn’t. She wondered if she’d made the right
move coming back here after all now that Rebecca was back in town, too. Maybe
she should have stuck it out in Tulsa
or maybe even taken Jon up on his job offer. She wasn’t sure she could survive
living in the same town as Rebecca.
She paused and looked out the window at the
far end of the office. She watched her father pull up in his big black pick-up
truck. A few moments later the front door opened.
“Hey Meg, have you seen Clara?” she heard
him ask.
“She’s in her office.”
He walked in and set a little box down on
her desk. “I got this package in my mail yesterday,” he said.
Clara looked at the little box. It looked
like the one she got from Aesthetics.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Open it up,” he said.
She pulled the box open and frowned. A
duplicate set of photographs tumbled out, along with a copy of the invoice with
Marguerite’s signature.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“It was in my mail at the house, addressed
to me. I was hoping you could shed some light on it since it came from that
arts center you worked at. What happened to the artwork?” he asked, thumbing
through the pictures.
“I broke up with David,” she said. “I can’t
believe Marguerite sent a copy of this to you. What purpose does that serve?”
“Maybe she thinks you won’t pay up and I
will,” he said, taking a seat across from her. He feigned sincerity. “Why’d you
break their art, Clara? Couldn’t you go to your own place and destroy
something?”
“Very funny. I didn’t do it.”
“Let me guess. David did?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds like you had a hell of a scene.”
“I got the same package in the mail
yesterday,” Clara said. “I threw mine away. I don’t think she can make me pay,
can she?”
“She’d have to get a lawyer, and depending
on who witnessed it you might be able to get it thrown out or make David pay
it. If she pursues it you’ll probably be out some money, but not $65,000.”
“In his mind I think he thinks it’s all my
fault. He probably told Marguerite to invoice me,” she said, shoving the photos
and the invoice back into the box.
“Sounds like a pretty screwed up guy if you
ask me.”
“So I’m figuring out. But Dad, there’s
something I need to tell you that’s a more immediate issue than David.” She
paused. “Rebecca is back.”
He stared at her for a moment without saying
anything.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“She’s in the conference room with Mom
now.”
“She’s here? In the building? Wow,” he
said, running his thick fingers through his white hair. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Either did I. She came yesterday,” Clara
said.
As much as seeing Rebecca had surprised
Clara she knew it was a deeper problem for her father, who’d tried to make it
work with Rebecca for Josie’s sake but always seemed to fall short.
“How does she seem?” he asked cautiously.
“Okay. But Dad? She has a daughter,” Clara
said gently.
“What?” His jaw dropped.
“A little girl named Elizabeth. I think she’s about two.”
“She had a baby and never called to tell
Josie?” he asked, incredulous. Clara nodded.
“That’s just wonderful,” he said. “Tell me,
Clara, how did you two end up so completely opposite of each other?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “But she’s here
now.”
“I guess I should get in there and talk to
her,” he said, slowly lifting himself from the chair. “I wonder if she still
hates me as much as she did when she was in high school.”
“Good luck,” Clara said.
“Thanks.” He paused in the doorway. “What
do you think I should do about her?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Clara said.
“That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
“They could never pay any man enough for
all the work it takes to be a father.”
“You’re a good one, too,” she said, smiling
gently at him.
“Thanks, hon. Okay. I need to go deal with
this.”
“Let me know if you need reinforcements,”
Clara said.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
“Okay Grandpa.”
“Christ,” he said and headed down the hall.
Clara felt sorry for him. He didn’t stand a
chance with Josie and Rebecca, let alone that cute little girl.
Clara turned back to her computer and
opened her email account. As she started to sift through her messages her phone
buzzed. She could tell from the odd sound that it was Meg. “Yes?” she asked.
“I have a call for you,” Meg said, sounding
a little too excited.
“Okay …” Clara started.
“It’s Jon Griffin!” Meg practically
squealed.
Clara’s heart jumped in her chest. She was
amazed that just hearing he was on the phone had made her hands start to shake.
She hadn’t felt this way about a boy calling since high school.
“Clara?” Meg asked, sounding concerned. “Do
you want to talk with him?”
“Okay.
Put him on,” she said, swallowing to steady her voice before she spoke.
“Jon?” she asked after she heard the
telltale click of Meg’s transfer button.
“Clara,” Jon replied, sounding relieved. A
tiny volt of electricity shot through her at the sound of his voice.
“I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“I’ve been kind of out of touch,” she said.
“I lost my cell phone and the land line at the bungalow isn’t hooked up.” She
paused, remembering the gift he’d sent. “Thank you for the journal. It was very
thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I thought …” It
was his turn to pause. “I thought you might have some things you’d want to
write about. You know, work through.”
“I’m fine, Jon, really,” she said. “Just
busy getting settled in.”
“I talked with your father,” he said. “Bill
told me you’re working for him again. Does that mean you’re planning to stay in
Brighton?”
“For now,” she replied. “I have to see how
things go. Was there something you needed?” she asked. “Do you need to talk to
him again?”
“I told you I would call you,” Jon said.
She sighed, remembering how she’d
threatened to ignore his calls. It seemed so silly now.
“Have
any family members or reporters barged in on you while you’ve been on the
phone?” he asked.
She laughed. “Not one,” she admitted.
“Okay, good. Then I’ll call you again. Are
you going to be around tomorrow?”
“Actually, no,” she replied, glancing out
her office window and across the parking lot. “You’ll never believe this but
I’m going on a corporate retreat.”
“A corporate retreat?” Jon asked. “When
will you be back?”
“Monday, if all goes well.”
“Okay, we’ll talk on Monday then,” he said.
“Goodbye Clara.”
The call ended before she had a chance to
protest. Hell, she didn’t really want to protest anyway. It was good to hear
his voice.
What would it hurt to ride
this out for a little while anyway? If nothing else Jon was an incredibly
pleasant distraction from everything else that was going on. She closed her eyes
and pictured his dark brown curls and his handsome face, how he’d towered above
her as he pulled her close in front of the hotel.
Yes, he was definitely a pleasant
distraction.
Clara forced herself to get back to work
and tried to ignore the fact that her parents were still huddled away in the
conference room with Rebecca. She was getting ready to run over to the sandwich
shop across the street to pick up lunch when the conference room door opened
and laughter filtered out. Clara sighed.
All’s well, she thought.
She grabbed her purse from the floor beside the desk and walked out of her office.
They were all standing there around Meg’s desk. Josie was holding Elizabeth propped on her
hip.
“So you’ll need to let Karen know to make
room for two more,” Josie was saying.
“Two?” Meg asked, writing it down on a
scratch pad.
“Rebecca and Elizabeth will be joining us
on the retreat,” Josie said, squeezing Rebecca’s arm and smiling.
“You can’t be serious,” Clara interrupted.
“This is a business function, remember?”
“And Rebecca is the newest member of the
team,” Josie announced.
“Doing what?” Clara asked, her eyes growing
wide.
“You’re going to train her,” Josie said,
still smiling at Rebecca. “She’s going to be an account rep like you.”
Clara’s jaw dropped.
“Clara, let’s go back into your office for
a few minutes to talk,” Bill said,
putting an arm around her and turning her with her elbow to lead her back into
her office. He called back to Josie over his shoulder, “Go get settled. I’ll
see you guys tomorrow morning.”
“Okay,” Josie said. “Come on Rebecca. Let’s
go get this little darling a good home-cooked meal.”
“Who’s cooking?” Rebecca asked as the
elevator door closed.