Just then, the door to the lounge swings open, and my sister sashays toward the sink. “Oh, hey. Am Iinterrupting? Don’t mind me. I’ll just be a minute.” She stares at Phantom so hard, I’m afraid she’s going to lose her eyelash extensions.
I draw in an annoyed breath and wave toward Clara. “This is my sister,” I explain. “She’s just about?—”
“I’m Clara.” She’s suddenly right up in his face, her hand extended. “And you are?”
He looks from me to her, the severity of our conversation gone from his face. “Phantom,” he says, standing to shake her hand.
Oh God. That was the absolute worst thing he could have said.
“Phantom?” Clara lifts a brow then fans herself with the hand he shook. “Sexy and mysterious?” She turns to me. “Whatever this is, I love it for you.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Clara.” I shake my head. “This is the man who covered his daughters’ bill the other day.”
Recognition lights up her face, and she turns her attention back to Phantom. “My sister didn’t tell me you were gorgeous and that you were coming back.”
“Clara.” My voice does nothing but bring a smile to Phantom’s face and fuel my sister up even more. We should have left the salon to talk. I should have known my sister would butt all the way into something absolutely not her business.
“What?” She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me. “Is he not single?” She turns back to Phantom. “No disrespect, but come on, look at him.” She motions toward him. “Although, don’t take this the wrong way, but who does your hair? You?—”
My meddling flirt of a little sister literally takes a step toward him, her fingers wiggling like she’s about to run them through his hair, when I stop her. “Clara. He’s here because he needs me to write a statement about what happened. Can you not touch the man’s hair and just give us a minute, please?”
She does the exact opposite. She plops onto the love seat next to him and nods sympathetically. “That’s heavy,” she says, still eyeing his hair. I’m not convinced she’s not going to start trimming him right now. “What do you need the statement for? The cops?”
I cover my face in my hands, not sure if I should apologize to Phantom or tackle my sister.
“For the judge,” Phantom says, looking both confused and a little amused. My freight train of a sister has that effect on people. “I’m trying to get full custody of my daughters.”
Clara nods vigorously, as though she’s actively a part of this conversation, which, now, she is. “We’re really busy today, but of course she’ll do it. When do you need it by? Do you need it emailed someplace or printed? What’s your email?”
Phantom looks at me, and I shake my head helplessly.
“She’s like this,” I tell him. “Let’s ignore her.” But then I grimace and hold back a chuckle. “So, do you need it emailed? When do you need it? And I guess I should ask if there’s anything specific you need it to say?”
Clara crosses her arms as if to say she was asking allthe right questions before I butted into my own conversation, but I refuse to look at her.
“I’ll text you my lawyer’s number,” he says. “Send it all to him. That way, it goes right to the court from him, and no one can say I messed with it.”
I nod. “I’ll do it tonight. While it’s still fresh in my mind.”
He stands to leave, but then he stops and meets my eyes. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.” His voice is deadly serious, and I know what a big deal it is for him. If I had an ex and the roles were reversed, I’d have shown up on Phantom’s front door Sunday morning after the whole thing happened, begging for him to document it too.
He flicks a quick glance at my sister and then meets my eye. “I want to do something to thank you,” he says. “Can I take you to dinner?”
“Yes.” Clara stands up and points at me. “Yes, you can take her to dinner.”
“Clara, no. Jax just got over a flu bug, I don’t have a babysitter, and…”
“I’ll babysit.” She cocks a brow at me. “Or you can ask Mom. One of us will watch Jax.”
“He’s not asking me on a date, Clara, for God’s sake…” I look at Phantom. “I’m sorry. My sister is?—”
He doesn’t let me finish. “Bring your boy,” he says. “I don’t exactly have childcare myself, and I can’t send the girls back to their mom’s yet. I’ll bring them too.”
“A family date,” Clara says. “Even better. She says yes.”
“Okay, out. Go.” I point to the door. “Don’t you have clients processing?”
“Shit.” Clara frowns. “Okay, I got to run. Bye, Phantom. So nice meeting you.”
