Page 52 of Until Daddy

Jamison was planning on coming to her apartment. He did most nights.

She would bring up the subject of the protest and just see his reaction. Then she’d decide if she was going to tell him her intentions of going or not.

Just as Carissa finished unboxing the newly arrived supplies, her phone rang. Without looking, she swiped to answer, figuring it was Jamison.

“Hey, Daddy.” She smiled into the receiver.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry. I was looking for Carissa McAllister?” An older woman’s voice came through the phone.

Carissa’s smile fell and she stood up straighter, as though the woman could see through the cell phone.

“Hi, yes, this is her—I mean she. I’m Carissa.”Very suave.

“Oh, good. I was afraid I’d miss you again. This is Valarie Newton, we’ve been playing phone tag for a few days.”

The woman who had been friends with Jamison’s mother. Carissa sat on the rolling stool.

“Oh, yes, hi.” She did her best to sound calm, but she couldn’t help but feel the rippling of her stomach. This woman could know where his mother was. She could have answers for him that his father had never bothered to give.

“You were calling about Katrina Croft.”

“Yes. My Da—uh, boyfriend, Jamison Croft, is her son.”

There was a long silence before Valerie spoke again. “Does he know you’re trying to contact her?”

Carissa debated telling her a lie, afraid that she wouldn’t tell her anything if she knew the truth.

“No. It’s sort of a surprise.” She paused. “His father told him Mrs. Croft walked out on them, said that she didn’t want to be a mother anymore. Or something along those lines. I’ve met Mr. Croft, and he seems like a man who cares more about winning than he does about his own son.”

A heavy sigh came through the phone. “You have that part right.” Another sigh. “Katrina never wanted to leave Jamison behind, but that man—that bastard—refused her any visitation. He made her sign away her parenting rights. He was a controlling asshole when they were married, when she told him she wanted a divorce, it only got worse. I don’t know what he held over her, but whatever it was, it was enough to make her sign the papers. One day she was married and a mother, the next, divorced and was never to see her son again.”

Carissa had already guessed something along those lines had to have happened. From what Jamison did tell her of his mother, there had been no signs that she wasn’t happy as a mom.

Her alarm on her phone beeped. She needed to head home if she was going to be ready when he came over for dinner. She was cooking for him.

“Do you know where she is now? Have you kept in touch with her?”

Another dark silence stretched out. “No. I’m sorry, I haven’t spoken with her since she left town. She never gave a forwarding address. She only told me she was moving to Indiana, I think she had distant relatives there.”

“Oh.” Carissa squeezed her eyes closed. “Well, at least I can tell him this much. His mother didn’t just abandon him.”

“No. It broke Katrina to walk away. I think that’s why she left Chicago. Please, feel free to give Jamison my number, I’d love to talk with him, maybe we can find her. I’ve worried about her over the years.” Sadness tinted Valerie’s voice.

“I will. Thank you for calling back. I really do appreciate it.”

Barron Croft didn’t care who he destroyed so long as he won. Well, he wasn’t going to win the shelter. Carissa would see to that.

* * *

She’d burnt the rice.

Carissa stared at the pot brimming with over-cooked rice, much of which had burnt onto the bottom of the pot.

Just as she was getting ready to throw the whole pot away into the trash, Jamison walked into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pointing to the pot she now held over her head and aimed at the trash can.

“I burnt the damn rice. Again.” She lowered her arms. “I’m going to buy one of those rice cookers. I can’t do it the old-fashioned way and besides, we shouldn’t be eating rice anyway. Too many carbs.” She tossed the pot into the open garbage can and put her hands on her hips.

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