Chapter 5 - Claire asks for every date
Lily came home after one hospital night.
Claire took her to her sister’s house instead of ours.
She told me:
“You can stay at the mansion.”
“Claire.”
“I don’t want to talk there.”
So I went to her sister Rachel Bennett’s house two days later.
Lily slept upstairs.
Claire sat at the dining table.
She had a notebook.
“Start at the beginning.”
I did.
Ryan born:
Ten years earlier.
Paternity confirmed:
Two months after birth.
First support order:
Same year.
First overnight with me:
Age two.
Claire asked:
“Were we dating?”
“Yes.”
She wrote.
“First birthday you attended after meeting me?”
“His third.”
“What did you tell me?”
“Business trip.”
She wrote.
“Christmas?”
“I saw him December twenty-sixth some years.”
“Where did you tell me you were?”
“Office. My father. Clients.”
Each answer sounded worse because it was worse.
Then:
“Did Megan know I existed?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ask you to tell me?”
“Yes.”
Claire stopped writing.
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
“Did Ryan know about me?”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
“Yes.”
“He knew he had a sister.”
“Yes.”
“Did Lily know she had a brother?”
“No.”
Claire stood.
Walked to window.
Then:
May you like
“How could you look at her every day?”
I had no answer worth giving.
