She’s got to be kidding me. My knee starts bobbing. I don’t want to bring up the fact I went through her phone again, but how can I not? “There was one other person who you were messaging with on your phone—the contact was named Paul.”
Her eyes narrow. She’s definitely still pissed off I went through her phone.
“You mean Mr. Luger. He’s a colleague. He’s a little strange, but I don’t think it could be him,” she says, annoyed.
“Strange how?” I keep pressing.
“He’s…well…” Even in the dim light I can see her cheeks darken. “He seems smitten with me. I can’t see him doing anything like this.”
“Smittenwith you? How does smitten and strange mix together in your thoughts?” Shit, my voice is too harsh, I sound absurdly jealous. No, I sound downright ridiculous.
She rubs her hands over her eyes and lets out another long sigh. “I don’t know really, it’s just, well, he sometimes shows up places I am, leaves little snacks for me in my classroom, things like that.”
“He sounds like a psycho,” I fume.
“That’s your definition of a psycho?” she laughs.
“Abso-fucking-lutely. He’s probably your blackmailer. I bet he even tries to swoop in at the last minute acting like a hero before any of those pictures get sent out.”
“And what if that isn’t his plan or it’s not him?” she asks. Her eyes glisten with tears. “My career is over.”
I lean forward, devouring the space between us. “I’ll make sure you get an even better job, Claire. I promise. If you want to continue teaching in private schools, I can send a huge donation in your name and we can—”
“Vaughn, stop,” she says, placing her hand over mine. “Montgomery money will never be the answer to any of my problems. Ever.”
She can’t be serious—I need to make her understand—Iwantto help her. I want to be there for her and see what me and her could be, together. “Claire, I…”
“You’re insulting me again, Vaughn.Please. Just stop.” She stands and walks into the kitchen, trailing the bottom of the blanket that’s bundled around her shoulders along the floor.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop,” I lie, raising my hands in surrender. I’ll call the private school Chloe and I attended growing up, and by the time I get off the phone with them, Claire will have the choice of teaching any grade she wishes, making as much money as she wants. She’s not the girl in those pictures. She didn’t know about our parents, then or now. I need to make it all right again, what it was supposed to be. I want to give her everything. I’ll show her I can give her the life she missed out on. I’m the one that will be her hero.
“I’m hungry,” she mumbles, staring into the dark pantry. “There’s not many appetizing choices here. What if we eat all these,” she waves a box of Ritz crackers at me, “and we run out of food?”
Maybe I’ll just eat you.
“I remember liking when you did,” she giggles. I didn’t realize I said the words out loud.
“Well, I got much better at it.” I can’t help but brag, if she let me I’d do it all night long.
She sits back down next to me and offers me a sleeve of crackers, “How about for now you just eat these?”
“You’re no fun,” I say, frowning.
“Uh-huh,” she says through a mouth full of crackers.
We eat every cracker in the box, then stare at each other in awkward silence.
She’s so closed off. I need to make her see I’m not the enemy anymore. I want her to realize I can change everything for her, make her life better. She doesn’t deserve to be in the hole she’s in. “I’m sorry about everything, Claire. Please realize you aren’t what was done to you.” I don’t think I’m using the right words, because she’s watching me with those same guarded eyes as the first time she saw me. “I shouldn’t have ever accused you of anything, or treated you like your mother.”
She looks away and exhales a heavy breath.
“You were my person. I should have never thought—”
“Don’t, Vaughn. I get it, you feel sorry for me, but you don’t have to, okay? It doesn’t matter,” she whispers.
“It matters to me,” I say a little too harshly.
“Well, don’t let it.” She crumbles up the plastic wrapper of the cracker sleeve and tosses it on the coffee table. “The only thing I’m concerned with right now is how to make those pictures disappear.”
