Page 19

Wow, I need to calm down. My mind is whirling a million miles a minute.

A knock at the front door shakes me out of my blissful contemplation. I hear Clark’s footsteps thudding across the living room floor. I sure hope he’s not going to answer the door naked.

Moments later, I hear him rushing up the stairs. He bursts into the room, a tense look on his face, and starts scrambling to get his clothes on.

“Everything okay?” I ask, sitting up.

“Fine,” he replies, but I can see he’s lying. “Just stay upstairs for a minute, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He slips his T-shirt on and runs out of the room, his footsteps shaking the house as he goes back downstairs. The sound of the front door opening causes my stomach to tense up. Who would be stopping by at this time of night? And why would Clark be worried about it?

More importantly, why would he lie to me?

The only clothes I have are the ones I wore when I came over, but they’ll have to do. I quickly slip into my skirt and button up my blouse as I step out of the bedroom. Once I’m in the hall, I can hear the sound of voices. One of them is female.

“I said I’d give you a few days to make up your mind. It’s time, Clark. Are you going to step up? Or do I need to get other people involved?”

Slowly, I creep to the top of the stairs. From this angle, I can see Clark standing at the door. There’s a woman beyond him, but she’s hidden in shadow.

“You need to leave, Karen!” he hisses. There’s an aggression in his voice I’ve never heard before, and it shakes me. And the fact that he knows this woman, whoever she is, causes my stomach to tense up. Slowly, I make my way down the stairs.

“I always had more faith in you, Clark,” the female voice continues. “Never thought you’d be just like all the other men out there—”

Her voice stops as I reach the bottom of the steps, and I see a face peek out from beyond Clark. It’s a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with messy hair and a pair of cut-off jean shorts that barely cover anything.

“Oh, you have company,” she muses. “Hi, I’m Karen.”

Clark turns, and when he sees me, his entire expression drops. “Maisy, I told you to wait upstairs!” he whispers.

His words dig into me like tiny little daggers. This isn’t the Clark I know. Why is he behaving like this? And who is this woman and why is she here? My lips start to tremble. Something’s off about this situation. And when Karen steps past Clark, I see she’s holding something that snatches the breath from my lungs.

A baby. A tiny sleeping baby all wrapped up in her arms.

“Clark didn’t tell you he was a father, did he?”

“Karen—”

“Or why he left his last teaching job?” she continues. “Yeah, he got me pregnant after a one-night stand and then decided to bail. It took me a while to track him down.”

I search for words but find nothing. My eyes move to Clark, begging for an explanation. For a look of comfort. For anything that will help me get my feet under me. But he won’t even look at me. He’s looking at her.

“Karen, get out of here now,” Clark growls, his voice coiled like a line about to snap. There’s a tension in his body that’s almost frightening. Like he might do something violent.

My heartbeat is unsteady, like a train about to go off the rails.

Look at me, Clark. Look at me!

I’m shaking all over. This can’t be happening…can it? And not tonight, after I just gave myself to him.

Karen steps past Clark and into the house. There’s something vulnerable about the way she moves but also something so sure of herself. She stares at me, and I see something in her eyes that shakes me. Sympathy. She feels bad for me.

“You’re one of his students, aren’t you?” she asks. My heart skips a beat. “I bet he told you how special you are, how smart. I bet he offered to take extra time out of his day for you—”

“That’s it, I’m calling the cops,” Clark snaps, moving past me to grab his phone.

“Don’t let yourself become just another number on his checklist,” Karen whispers, stepping closer. “He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care about his son.”

I look down at the tiny sleeping baby as he squirms slightly, letting out a tiny little gurgle.