Harlequin
I sat outside the house before swinging off my Hog. This time, I wasn’t going to be chased away. April was at work. I’d seen her leave. I guessed she had a meeting about the suspension. Remembering what she’s said about Clara, I expected to wait. I knocked on the door, and it opened instantly, and the scowling housekeeper answered.
“Well, Clara loves flowers,” she muttered, glancing at the bouquet I held.
“Can I come in?”
“Wanna say no, but Clara adores gifts,” Rose mused before stepping aside.
“Who is it, Rose?” Clara called.
“That biker man,” Rose replied.
“Ah. Stone. You can bring him through. April’s not here. She’s gone riding,” Clara announced.
I marched towards the cosy lounge from where Clara’s voice originated. My boots stomped, and I winced. Clara was sitting in an oversized chair when I entered, sipping tea.
“You grew into your promise as a handsome man,” she stated.
“Thanks, I brought you these,” I said, offering the massive bunch of flowers and a large box of chocolates.
“Rose, please put them in water. They’re my favourite, Stone, how kind of you to remember,” Clara replied and waved a hand to a sofa. I took a seat and studied her.
Clara was as beautiful as I remembered, although slightly older. She wore pressed slacks and a silk blouse with two strands of pearl necklaces. Her hair was short in a bob but immaculatelystyled, and her makeup was light. A floral scent engulfed me, and I guessed Clara still used the same perfume, even after all these years.
“What can I do for you, Stone?” Clara asked. “I won’t intercede with April.”
“April let slip you’d been injured, so I came to see how you are.”
Clara eyed me astutely. “Did you now? How strange. You’ve not bothered until now, when April’s returned.”
“Just because we broke up, it didn’t mean I didn’t care,” I retorted, stung.
“Actually, it did mean that. How you acted was reprehensible and unworthy of the man I believed you’d become. You were a disappointment, Stone.”
Shit, that really hurt. That was something I’d never aimed to be. “There’s more to the story, Clara.”
“I’m uninterested, as is April. Neither of us cares for your version of the truth; we know exactly what happened.”
“I was arrested and facing prison!” I blurted.
Clara’s eyes narrowed in disappointment.
“Did you believe April would abandon you? Unless you’d raped or committed a murder, nothing would have damaged her love. You didn’t even give April a chance to decide for herself. You made a unilateral decision and decided April had no brain through the process of her own!” Clara replied calmly.
“No!”
“But you did. You didn’t give April the respect of considering that she knows her own mind and letting her choose. Instead, April was to be protected like a brainless bimbo.”
“Clara, you’re twisting my words. April would have quit nursing to stay local.”
Clara threw back her head and laughed. “Not at all. She would have continued because she knew there’d be no point moping at home while you were locked up. Stone, you seriouslyunderestimated my daughter, and still are. Our conversation is over; I grow weary, and I need rest. Time for you to leave, Stone.”
“Clara, I’m sorry about everything.”
“Sorry means nothing, Stone. It’s just a word people used to ease their conscience. Goodbye.”
Clara leaned back and closed her eyes, and I was dismissed. I got up and left. I don’t know what I’d expected to resolve here, but whatever I had been, I was leaving empty-handed.
