Page 23 of The Moment I Knew

Outside the car, some teens walked by, their voices muffled through the glass. I instinctively shifted lower in my seat even though I didn’t know them.

“Hey,” he said, noticing. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I just… I don’t want anyone to see.”

He followed my line of sight, then laughed quietly. “See what? Me giving my kid a tablet? Pretty sure that’s not illegal.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He softened a little. “I know things are tense right now. But you don’t have to be embarrassed about me.”

I didn’t say anything. Because embarrassment wasn’t the right word. Because if I tried to explain, I wasn’t sure where I’d even start.

He checked his watch. “I should get going. Didn’t want to keep you too long.”

“Oh.” It was stupid for me to be disappointed when he’d just given me a bigger gift than I ever would have expected, but I guess I expected him to want to chat for a little longer. I didn’t want his gifts, I wanted his time, but I guess that was what the weekends were for—the times he wasn’t sending me off with Hilary, that was. “Okay.”

“Text me later,” he said. “Let me know how you like it.”

“I will.” I paused before getting out. “Can I see you this weekend?”

For a terrifying moment, I was worried he was going to say no. So far, I’d never come to see him two weekends in a row, and I waited for him to say it was too frequent. But a smile broke out on his face.

“Sure,” he said. He pulled out his phone, opening the calendar app. “You have Friday off, right? Why don’t you stay over on Thursday night and spend the day with me?”

“Don’t you have to work?”

He waved off my concern. “I can take a day off to spend with my daughter.”

I brightened. “You mean that?”

I hated having to meet up with him in secret, but it was worth it if we could actually spend a whole day together.

“Of course. We’ll get breakfast at a pancake house like we used to when you were little and then maybe we can go to the zoo or something. Just us two.”

I leaned across the car to hug him. “Thank you! I can’t wait. Just text me where to meet you, okay?”

I slid out of the car with the boxes hugged to my chest. The cool air hit my face, grounding me. He waited until I’d shut the door before starting the engine. As he pulled away, he lifted a hand in a small wave. I waved back. Only after he disappeared out of the lot did I realize my hands were still shaking.

I glanced around, suddenly realizing where I was and the fact that walking around in public with a brand new tablet in my hand maybe wasn’t the smartest idea. Nobody was looking at me right now, so I opened my bag and stuffed the tablet box in, breathing a sigh of relief when it just managed to zip up over the corners. Then I swung the backpack on my shoulders again, pulled my ponytail out, and started down the street, trying not to feel the disappointment that I hadn’t gone anywhere with Dad. I mean, who was I to be ungrateful? He just bought me a tablet, for goodness’ sake. And he just said he’d spend the whole day with me on Friday. That should make up for the disappointment here, right?

But the feeling still lingered deep in my belly as I walked home. When he texted me to meet up with him, I figured that maybe we would go out to dinner or something. I mean, somewhere where we could go and nobody would see us, which I guess was a little limited, but still. Maybe back to his flat, preferably without Hilary there since she had been there every single time I’d visited him as of late. I thought there would be something more than just slipping into his car, getting a gift, and having to walk home again.

It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t drive me home. I knew that. Mum would flip if she saw his car anywhere near the house, and I didn’t want anybody else to know our secret. But still, it was cold, my backpack was heavy, and by the time I’d walked one block, I was pretty much ready to collapse in bed.

Movement at the corner of my eye made me look up, and I blinked in surprise as I realized it was Cole. For a second, I thought he was waving at me, and then I realized he hadn’t even noticed I was there. The route I took went by the back of the coffee shop. I had never thought about it before. But there he was, throwing the trash in the bin. He closed the lid of the dumpster and started to turn my way, and I quickly ducked my head, hoping that he wouldn’t realize it was me. The last thing I needed was for him to accuse me of stalking him after breaking into his flat on the weekend and then accidentally eavesdropping on him at his school last night.

I held my breath as I hurried by, half expecting him to call my name. But he didn’t. And I felt a weird sense of disappointment at that. As I glanced back and heard the door slam, I saw that he was gone. Maybe he didn’t notice me, or maybe he didn’t want to talk to me. I mean, after all of our encounters, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk to him. I mean, why would he want to make conversation with a spoiled little rich girl, right? The anger from the closet burned bright in me again. I still hated the way he made so many assumptions about me. Although with the way this tablet was now weighing down my backpack, I had to wonder if he was completely wrong about talking about my daddy’s money.

I kept my head down for the rest of the walk, grateful that nobody else seemed to be out. Although that gratefulness went away as soon as I opened my door and heard Mum call from the kitchen, “Imogen, I was wondering when you would get home.”

Crap. Not that I didn’t love talking to my mum. She was great. But I couldn’t open my backpack in front of her. I had to find a way to explain this away if I wanted to use the thing. Part of me was tempted to just return it, tell Dad it was defective or something. But then he would just buy me a new one. And if I tried to return it without telling him about it, then he would insist on seeing it whenever I came to visit him. I was screwed.

“Come here, sweetie, I want to talk to you,” Mum called.

“One sec,” I called, trying to keep my voice light and breezy. I kicked off my boots at the front door, shrugged off my coat, but carried my backpack in my hand as I went into the kitchen. I needed to get this over with now. The longer I tried to hide it, the more likely it was going to come out some other way, and I wouldn’t have an excuse ready.

“I remember you mentioning you wanted to paint your room,” Mum said as soon as I walked into the kitchen. She came over, gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the head, then slid some paint chips over toward me. “I was thinking these colors. I know blue is your favorite, but I couldn’t decide on a shade. What do you think?”