Page 37 of Single Mom's Undoing
I see tension gathering in her shoulders. There’s something about the mention of Carter’s father that has her sitting stiffly in her seat, her gaze darkened, and her voice dimmed.
“Not sure,” Jace casually replies. “But I’ll bet Elizabeth is handling the fine art that will be auctioned. There have been a couple of news articles in the local press that mention her involvement.”
“Then what was today’s episode all about?” I ask, increasingly confused. “If the reason she’s here is because of her job, why come bother me?”
Clara lowers her gaze. “Maybe she regrets leaving you and Shiloh. She did say she misses you.”
“Fuck her regrets,” I snap. “She broke her daughter’s heart when she left. She’s not coming anywhere near Shiloh until Shiloh turns eighteen. Should my daughter want to have anything to do with Elizabeth then, I won’t hold it against her. But fuck Elizabeth’s regrets; she made her choice.”
Jace gives me a half smile. “Sooner or later, our mistakes come back to haunt us, don’t they?”
“Marrying Elizabeth was a mistake. But having Shiloh is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She came into my life when I needed her the most,” I say, then look at Clara, my stomach tightening with emotions I’ve worked hard to keep buried deep inside. “You were gone. I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.”
Clara sighs deeply. “You tried to move on; I get it.”
“We all tried to move on,” Jace says. “Carter tried the hardest. But we all failed. That became obvious when you came back.”
“It’s all so complicated,” Clara says. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone the way I did.”
“Fortunately, we’re grown men, and we know how to handle ourselves. That being said, I agree with what Carter told you earlier, Clara. You’re ours. Don’t let anyone push you around.”
“I was just trying to be civil.”
“You can’t be civil to people like Elizabeth,” I say. “Sometimes, the gloves have to come off because it’s the only language she understands. And rest assured, I intend to take this issue to family court first thing tomorrow morning.”
Clara takes another fry and dips it into her favorite sauce. I watch her take a bite, the wheels in her head clearly spinning.
“I wonder if she’s aware of how far you’re willing to push this,” she says.
Jace laughs. “If she isn’t now, she will be soon enough. That’s the trouble with folks in Blackthorn Falls. They tend to underestimate us because we don’t flaunt our capacity to deliver crippling damage—until we deliver it.”
“Elizabeth might think she still has some kind of advantage because she’s Shiloh’s biological mother,” I say. “She must’ve assumed I’d soften up the minute she came back. It’s why she lashed out at you.”
“Where does that leave us, though?” Clara asks softly.
I look at her, somewhat confused. “What do you mean?”
“She means, where does that leave our relationship,” Jace answers for her, his eyes never leaving Clara’s. “Are you going to tell her, Damon, or am I? Or shall we let Carter drive that point home?”
“Elizabeth’s return changes nothing for us,” I say.
Every word seems to land precisely where it’s supposed to, because she gradually softens and leans into me. Her head rests against my shoulder, and we all go back to watching the kids play with Jodie and Carter.
11
CLARA
“Matty is sound asleep,” Jodie says as she comes into the living room.
We get comfortable on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and some cherry sodas, letting a TV series play in the background while we go over the events of the day. It’s something we used to do when I was younger, just kick back and bounce thoughts back and forth.
“At least he had a fun day,” I say with a faint smile.
“You had quite the day, as well, though I did warn you since the day you got back that some folks might get prickly,” Jodie replies. “They just don’t know you the way I do, the way Carter and the guys know you.”
“It’s the twenty-first century, why is it still okay to pick on a woman’s looks?”
“It’s the only thing that some of them know how to do. It’s a knee-jerk reaction. Let’s not forget, Clara, that most of thepeople of Blackthorn Falls never left. They peaked in high school.”
