Chương 8
Claire looked around the table.
“It wasn’t.”
Elise asked, “What are you asking this board to do?”
“Nothing for me.”
Margaret laughed softly.
“Of course.”
Claire looked at her.
“I mean that literally. I am not here to protect Daniel’s job.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Claire continued.
“I’m here because my name, my company, and my finances were brought into this. I want the record corrected. Cormorant Maritime is not a Whitmore household asset. My prior loan to the company was fully documented and repaid. I had no knowledge of Northshore.”
Elise nodded.
“That can be reflected in the minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Margaret said, “And the video?”
Claire looked at her.
“What about it?”
“You struck me.”
“Yes.”
Several people shifted.
Margaret appeared surprised.
Claire continued.
“I should not have done it.”
“You assaulted me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
She kept her eyes on Margaret.
“You kicked my chair backward while I was sitting in it. You grabbed my wrist. I hit you. I am not going to erase my part because yours came first.”
Margaret’s lips parted.
“You expect me to apologize?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
Claire thought about it.
A month earlier she could have answered.
Respect.
Acceptance.
Peace.
Family.
Now each word felt too vague to be useful.
“I want you to stop having access to me when you’re angry.”
Margaret frowned.
“You don’t get to come into my home. You don’t get to come onto my boat. You don’t get to speak to me through Sophie. You do not get unsupervised time with Sophie until Daniel and I agree you can.”
Daniel turned.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
“This is not a negotiation in this room.”
“She’s my daughter too.”
“Yes.”
Margaret smiled faintly, seeing an opening.
Claire saw it.
So did Daniel.
He closed his mouth.
Claire continued.
“You can disagree with me later. Privately.”
Margaret’s smile vanished.
There was something almost sad in that.
She had spent years surviving by locating the crack between two people and pressing.
For once, Daniel refused to provide it.
The board removed Daniel as president that afternoon.
Not because of Claire.
Not because of the yacht.
Not because of the slap.
The vote concerned his undisclosed Northshore investment, his inaccurate personal financial representations to the board, and his use of trust-linked credit in a transaction he had been advised to avoid.
He remained a shareholder.
He kept his trust interests.
He lost the office.
Claire learned the result from Melissa in the elevator.
“How do you feel?” Melissa asked.
Claire watched the floor numbers descend.
“Hungry.”
“That’s either emotional avoidance or good health.”
“Can it be both?”
“Yes.”
They ate noodles in a small restaurant two blocks away.
Claire spilled broth on her blouse.
Melissa handed her a napkin.
For five minutes they talked about nothing connected to the Whitmores.
Melissa’s neighbor had installed motion-sensitive lights that activated every time a raccoon crossed her driveway.
Claire listened to a detailed description of the feud.
It was wonderful.
Then Daniel walked in.
Claire saw him before Melissa did.
He had taken off his tie.
He stood near the entrance uncertainly.
Melissa turned.
“I can make him leave.”
Claire wiped her blouse.
“No.”
Daniel approached.
“Can I sit?”
Claire looked at Melissa.
Melissa took her purse.
“I suddenly care very deeply about buying toothpaste.”
“You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do.”
She left.
Daniel sat across from Claire.
For a while, neither spoke.
The restaurant was busy. A delivery driver argued quietly with the cashier about an order number. Two college students shared dumplings at the next table. Someone dropped a spoon.
Daniel stared at Claire’s soup.
“I got fired.”
“I heard.”
“I’ve never been fired.”
“You’ll survive.”
“I know.”
Claire looked at him.
He winced.
“Sorry.”
She almost smiled.
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
“I deserved it.”
“Probably.”
“I’m angry anyway.”
“That sounds normal.”
“I’m angry at my mother.”
“Also normal.”
“I’m angry at you.”
Claire nodded.
Daniel blinked.
“You’re not going to ask why?”
“I can guess.”
“You said you weren’t there to protect my job.”
“I wasn’t.”
“That hurt.”
“I know.”
He let out a breath.
“Okay. Fair.”
Claire waited.
“I’m mostly angry at myself.”
She said nothing.
Daniel looked toward the window.
“I kept telling myself I was protecting everybody.”
“From discomfort.”
“Yes.”
“You’re good at that.”
“I was.”
Claire looked at him.
“Past tense seems ambitious.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
A server arrived.
Daniel ordered coffee.
When she left, he said, “I told my mother she won’t see Sophie alone.”
Claire stared at him.
“She lost it.”
“I imagine.”
“She said you were controlling me.”
Claire gave him a look.
Daniel laughed.
It surprised them both.
He covered his mouth.
“Sorry.”
“No. That was funny.”
He lowered his hand.
“I told her it was my decision.”
Claire’s smile faded.
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“Because I said it first?”
“Partly.”
“That matters.”
“I know.”
She waited.
Daniel corrected himself.
“I understand why it matters.”
Better.
He looked exhausted.
“What happens now?”
“With your job?”
“With us.”
Claire looked at the table.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
“I’m staying at the apartment in the city.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll come up Sunday for Sophie.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want me in the house?”
“No.”
His face tightened.
“Okay.”
Claire stirred her soup though she was no longer eating it.
Daniel said, “I love you.”
She looked at him.
“I believe you.”
That appeared to hurt more than if she had said nothing.
She was sorry.
She was also done cushioning every consequence.
Six weeks passed.
The video remained online.
Interest faded.
Another scandal replaced it.
Then another.
Claire never released photographs of her bruises.
Margaret’s attorney sent two aggressive letters and then stopped.
The yacht’s insurer requested statements. Claire provided hers. Margaret declined to pursue a formal complaint once her own attorney received the witness accounts.
The broken champagne flute cost forty-eight dollars to replace.
Claire laughed when Elena told her.
May you like
She had expected more.
“Everything on that boat costs too much.”
