“Eighty-Sixth between Park and Madison,” I tell the cab driver, and when we’re halfway down the street, I can’t help myself. I look back, and Harrison is still there, crouched over on the bench with his hands on his face.
I knew he felt it, too.
Something in my gut told me this was all wrong, but he gave me no other choice than to leave.
Harrison
One Month Later
“Hi, Daddy!” Claudina skips into my office, her pigtails swinging side to side as she drags a large bag behind her.
For a second, I freeze, getting a flashback of her mother, Claud’s twin, wearing the exact hairstyle when we were younger.
“Hi, angel.” I hold my arms out, and she drops her bag to run full speed into my embrace. “How was your day?”
She climbs into my lap as I minimize my screen and open a blank document, knowing she’s two seconds away from clicking like a little maniac on the keyboard.
“We had the best day. We went to the American Girl Doll store to get Samantha’s ears pierced, and now we have matching earrings.” I noticed her new star studs immediately. “Then we went to that one playground in the park where the older kids climb the rocks.”
“Heckscher Playground,” I remind her. Though I know she knows the name, she can’t pronounce Heckscher, and it bothers her, so she pretends she can’t remember.
“Yes, that one. Oh…” She jumps off my lap, rummages through her bag, and holds up two bottles of my arch nemesis. “Uncle Sebby bought me nail polish. Can I paint your nails? Pleaseeeeee, Daddy?”
“Claud,” I groan. Of course, I’m going to say yes. But I have to push back a little.
She giggles. “Pretty please with a cherry on top?” She holds the bottles up high, “Look, hot pink!”
Oh, joy.
“Fine. But what do I get for it?”
She taps her finger on her chin. “Hmm…” She pretends to think, then throws her body back into my lap and kisses me a million times. “You get kissy monster time!”
“Okay, okay.” I laugh. “I’ll do it.”
“Yessss.” She drags out thes, shrugging her shoulders excitedly. “Uncle Sebby even let me paint his.”
“What?” I widen my eyes, shocked. “He did?”
“Yup. Because he was in trouble,” she whispers.
I smirk, wondering what my brother could have done to warrant a punishment from Claud. “What did he do?”
She looks over her shoulder, then leans into my ear. “He yelled at a little boy on the playground and made him cry. It was very mean.”
“Excuse me, little one, that was between me and you,” Sebastian says as he enters my office.
She laughs loudly. “Oops.”
One thing my brothers and I have come to realize is you can’t do anything without the others knowing. Claud is a blabbermouth when it comes to her uncles,just like her mom.
“Hey, angel, can you go out to reception and hang with Lauren while I talk to your Uncle Seb quickly?”
“Okie dokie, artichokie,” she says and gives me a thumbs-up.
Claud leaves her nail polish on the desk to torture me, then skips out of the office.
“Sebastian,” I warn.
