he was actually quite the ideal grandchild for a whole afternoon. I was surprised myself. But what happened earlier at May’s lunch could account for that model behavior.”
So it was Peter. Claudia sat down to hear exactly what had happened. She didn’t know if she could take it standing up. “Did he say anything at all? I couldn’t corner him after he met Peter, no matter how much I tried.”
“Did you talk to him before the lunch at all? Prepare him for what it was going to be like to meet his father when he can’t even remember him?”
And just like that, Claudia was thrown on the defensive. Something about her mom’s tone didn’t sit right with her. “I found out only a few days ago from May that Peter had come home to help out with his father for a short time.”
Mona twitched on the couch, facing Claudia head on. “I don’t know what you had expected, but we probably shouldn’t have gone there. He hardly had anything to say to the poor boy. Even the few words he spoke were vague enough to be from a complete stranger. I probably iced half of the food May laid out while I stared him down.”
“Oh, Mom. He is a complete stranger.”
“Don’t ‘oh, Mom’ me. A body has a right to absolutely loathe the boy who left you. And you don’t seem too worried about it.” Her mom stared at her over the tops of her glasses and looked none too happy. “You seem pretty nonchalant, actually, for how much you used to curse him to hell and back.”
“Mom! Let’s not talk about that right now. I don’t want Justin to overhear us bashing his biological father.” Not to mention having Nate in her bedroom. If he’d left the door ajar and listened hard, he could probably overhear every single word.
“Justin said he was going to go straight to his room after the bathroom because he had a project to work on. I told him to go for it, since I didn’t want him to hear you swearing if you were so inclined.” She cocked an eyebrow and tapped a finger on the arm of the couch. “In fact, you don’t look like you’re going to bust a gasket at all. You look fine with my little revelation. Why is that?”
“Peter says he wants to help me out, pay child support, or do anything he can to make up for leaving us and continuing with his life as if nothing happened.”
“No!”
“Yes!” Claudia was mocking her mom and got swatted on the arm for her impertinence.
“I can’t believe he’s still alive after you got through with him. Did he try to sway you at all?”
Man, she must have really been carrying around a grudge if so many people thought she should have taken him apart limb by limb because he was breathing the Pennsylvania air again. “He did try to talk to me—”
“And you cut him down with your razor tongue?”
“Now you sound just like Zoe.” The women of her family were bloodthirsty. “No, I did nothing of the sort. Actually, he apologized for the way he acted when I told him I was pregnant, and for not being here for Justin and me when we were younger.”
“And you believed that tripe?”
“Oh, Mom,” Claudia said again and sighed. She leaned back in her chair. “I have to say, it soothed my ego to finally have him apologize. But do I believe him?” She sighed again and moved her hair off her forehead. “I think it’s convenient for him to look back and regret it. But I doubt it will change anything at all.”
“Just as long as you don’t fall for it—and for him—again, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Mona peeked around the corner. “Since Justin’s still in the bathroom, I guess now is a good time to tell you he has something different to talk with you about.”
“What now? I don’t know if I can handle any more.”
“Oh, it’s nothing bad. But I think you might need Nate for it.”
Yeah, she needed Nate for quite a few things lately. Knowing he was most likely sitting on the edge of her bed right now shot a thrill straight to her core. But she couldn’t show her mom.
And whatever it was with Justin, she would handle it, just like she handled everything else.
Chapter Eight
Nate was indeed sitting on the edge of Claudia’s bed. He tried not to slide off the slippery satin bedspread, and