“I know.” He shook his head. “I always hoped she had a good reason for leaving… like maybe she witnessed a terrible crime, and had to go into witness protection in order to save you and your father from being murdered; or she was abducted by aliens.”
“But now you realize that she is just a narcissistic asshole who abandoned her family for her own selfish reasons.” I wiped a stray tear from my cheek.
“Are you okay?”
“Right now, no; but I will be, once the shock wears off.” I looked up into his concerned eyes. “Thank you for defending me.”
He kissed my forehead, then tilted my chin to bring my lips to his. “I will always stand behind you. No matter what.”
“Ditto.” I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for another kiss. “I have to call Shelly. Do you think you could go explain this to Tanner? And make sure she’s not still lurking around out there.”
“Of course. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
After he left, I locked the door behind him. I paced the apartment, listening to each ring of the phone until Shelly picked up.
“I’m still mad at you,” she answered.
“Fine, then I guess I can’t tell you what just happened after you left.”
“You told Chase you didn’t want to go to California?”
“Claire paid me a visit.”
It was silent on the other side for a moment. “Claire? Your mother, Claire?”
“Yup. The bitch is back.”
“Why? How did she find you? What did she want? What did she say?”
“I didn’t let her say much. I told her to leave. I yelled. I thought about pushing her down the flight of cement stairs.”
“You yelled at her? I wish I could have witnessed that. What did she say?”
“She tried to say she was sorry, and that she felt bad when she heard about what happened.” I laughed. “As if that would fix everything she wrecked.”
“Are you okay? Is she still there?”
“I’ll be fine. I don’t know where she went.”
“I wonder if she’s living here now.”
I shuddered at the thought. “I’m more shocked than anything. It feels like I saw a ghost.”
“I can imagine. I don’t know what I would have done if I was there. Why now, though? Why would she come back so randomly out of the blue?”
“I don’t know. Why did she leave when she did? That was out of the blue, too. There’s no rhyme or reason. She does what she wants, when she wants it. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself.”
“What did she expect you to do when you saw her? Hug and braid each other’s hair? She’s got balls coming back here. Everyone knows what she did. How did she even find out about what happened to you and your dad, anyway?”
“Again, I don’t know and I don’t care. None of it matters.”
Shelly sighed. “Well, I can’t be mad at you now. Claire really does ruin everything.”
I chuckled. “Good. Then you’ll hang out with me tomorrow?”
“Yes. What time are you working until?”
“We close at five. I’ll have to come home and shower the smell of engine oil off of me. Figure by six-thirty?”