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“Must’ve flipped the darn thing onto silent again.” A pause. “Ah, right. I see the problem now. Buckley noticed Chas was missing? Guess there’s a first time for everything.”
“You’ll have to explain,” I told him.
“The short answer is that Buckley’s an asshole.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“In eleven years, he hasn’t changed. Back then, he reversed his car into my truck and denied he’d done it. The prick had a dent in his bumper, and the paint on my fender matched his damn Mercedes. Darn. I meant ‘darn.’ I don’t swear when I’m around Chas.”
“What does a decade-old dented bumper have to do with anything?”
“Because in those days, I was young, and I was stupid, and I figured the best way to get back at him was to bang his wife.”
“You…what?” I struggled to process his words, and even Hawk’s eyes had widened. “Are you saying that…you and Clarice…”
“She’s not always as uptight as she appears.” He must have taken in my expression. “Yeah, it surprised me too.”
“How did you meet her? I mean, going from a vehicular accident to an affair is a big step.”
“Not really. I did yard work at the Farber house—still do—and even before Buckley backed into my truck in the driveway, I knew how lonely she was. He was never there, just left her to raise Charity while he played golf or whatever.”
All the little pieces began to click into place. Chas’s rebellious nature. The way Charity had Buckley’s nose and chin and Chas looked nothing like him. Even Chas’s miraculous conception—Charity had taken three gruelling rounds of IVF, while Chas, it seemed, had only taken a romp with the landscaper.
“She’s your daughter.”
“I was scared shitless—damn…darn, I mean ‘scared stiff’—when the test came up positive. We both were. I was only twenty, and Clarice wasn’t much older.”
“So you decided to pretend she was Buckley’s?”
“He wanted another kid anyway. He’d been pushing Clarice to go through IVF again, and she said it was awful—injections, hormones all over the place, doctors fishing around inside. Buckley never wanted to believe that he was the problem, so letting him think she’d conceived naturally seemed like the best solution.”
“Best solution for who? For you?”
“For everyone. I was a terrified kid sharing an apartment with two other guys. Clarice was living in a five-bedroom McMansion in a good neighbourhood, no money worries whatsoever. She was never going to leave Buckley. Hell—heck—I couldn’t even afford the medical insurance so she could give birth safely, and Chas’s health was the most important consideration. We came to an arrangement—she’d let Buckley think he was Chas’s father, and I’d get two visits a month.”
“Why didn’t you just make a clean break?”
“Because she’s my daughter. You don’t have kids, do you? I realise that being a parent isn’t for everyone, but I love my little girl.” He glanced over at the riding ring, where Chas was getting ready to climb onto a champagne-coloured pony. “I guess she’s not so little anymore.”
“Buckley’s never asked questions? Never wondered why the landscaper was taking his daughter to the petting zoo? You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
“It’s one of Chas’s favourite places. And no, Buckley’s never been around enough to notice or care. He likes to brag that he’s a father, but he doesn’t understand the true meaning of the word.”
“What about Charity? Does she know?”
“She’s always busy doing some activity or another. I hear she’s quite good at playing the violin.”
“And Chas has never slipped up? Mentioned you in front of Buckley?”
“Oh, sure she has, especially when she was younger. Clarice just told Buckley that Chas has an imaginary friend named Eddie.”
Oh. My. Goodness.
I could absolutely believe that Buckley was that dumb, but at the same time, the story was unbelievable. Clarice had spent a decade lying to all of us, maintaining the illusion of a perfect wife while sleeping with the landscaper and hiding her daughter’s parentage. Clarice’s initial reaction when I’d told her Chas wasn’t in her room made sense as well—she hadn’t been so concerned that her daughter was missing, more freaked out that Buckley had noticed.
“Are you and Clarice…you know…still together?”
Eddie laughed. “No, aw, heck no. The pregnancy gave us both a wake-up call. We couldn’t keep playing with fire, and when it came to making a choice, she picked financial security over fun. We stayed friendly, though. If she’d left Buckley, I’d have stood by her, no question, but the final decision was hers.”
