Chương 10
The refrigerator clicked off.
Adrian could hear his own breathing.
“You can call me anything you choose.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He sat against the cabinet.
“Yes,” he said. “You can call me Dad.”
Clara was quiet for so long that he looked at the screen to make sure the call had not dropped.
Then she said, “Okay, Adrian.”
Denise laughed through her tears.
Adrian did too.
The first time Clara visited his house, she counted the stairs herself and found thirty-three.
“You missed one.”
“The step into the sunroom doesn’t count.”
“It goes up.”
“Barely.”
“It counts.”
He conceded.
Elena came in a wheelchair she resented and wore a red scarf over her short hair. Denise pushed her through the front door, refusing help from the house manager. Clara walked ahead, touching nothing, though her eyes moved everywhere.
Adrian had removed several fragile objects from the lower rooms. He had also moved a marble bust that frightened him as a child, though he told no one.
Clara stopped before a formal portrait of Eleanor Vale.
“Is that your mother?”
“Yes.”
“She gave Mom the spoon.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about me?”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“She knew your mother was pregnant,” he said. “I don’t know what she allowed herself to believe after that.”
“Did she want me?”
He felt the adults around him become still.
“I can’t answer for her.”
Clara studied the painted woman.
“She looks like your sister.”
“They looked alike.”
“Is she dead?”
“Yes.”
“Then she can’t say sorry.”
“No.”
Clara moved on.
Children, Adrian was learning, did not always remain inside the emotional moments adults prepared for them. She found the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and announced that he had four kinds of mustard but no chocolate milk.
The house manager left immediately to buy some.
Adrian stopped him at the door.
“One carton,” he said. “Not a case.”
Clara heard.
“How many did he want to buy?”
“A lot.”
“Because you’re rich?”
“Because he panics.”
The house manager, a dignified man named Mr. Shaw, looked offended.
“I do not panic.”
“You ordered forty-eight yogurts when my doctor suggested probiotics.”
“They were on promotion.”
Clara laughed.
The sound moved through the kitchen with such ease that Adrian had to look away.
Elena noticed.
She always noticed.
Later, while Clara explored the garden with Denise, Elena sat in the sunroom, a blanket over her knees.
“You’re doing it again,” she said.
“What?”
“Falling in love with the version of fatherhood where she laughs in your kitchen.”
“I’m allowed to like that.”
“Yes. You also have to like the version where she tells a teacher you abandoned her, wakes you at two because her stomach hurts, refuses to speak to you for reasons she cannot explain, and asks why you didn’t find her until a spoon did.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He poured tea, forgetting to ask whether she wanted any.
She watched him set down one cup.
“You still make only your own.”
He looked at the kettle.
“Sorry.”
“I don’t want tea.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because I’m petty.”
He sat opposite her.
“That’s fair.”
She rested her head against the chair.
“The legal aid lawyer reviewed your lease.”
“And?”
“She said it’s annoyingly reasonable.”
“I’ll take that as praise.”
“We can move Tuesday.”
Adrian nodded.
“You can help carry boxes.”
“I own a moving company.”
“You can carry boxes.”
“Fine.”
“No photographers.”
“I’ve arranged security.”
“That sounds like photographers with earpieces.”
“No media.”
“Clara’s school?”
“What about it?”
“They’ve had calls. Parents are complaining. One father says the attention creates a safety risk.”
Adrian’s pleasure in the afternoon disappeared.
“I can speak to the principal.”
“You will not threaten the school.”
“I said speak.”
“You speak with a legal department behind you.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come to the meeting. Sit beside me. Let me talk first.”
He nodded after a moment.
“You hate that.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The school meeting lasted ninety minutes.
The principal, the district’s student services director, Clara’s teacher, Elena, Denise, Adrian, and two lawyers crowded around a table designed for children. Adrian’s knees touched the underside. Tiny paper planets hung from the ceiling.
The principal was not cruel. That made the conflict harder.
She explained that media attention had disrupted drop-off, that one photographer had followed a family mistakenly believed to be Clara’s, and that parents were concerned.
Clara’s teacher folded a tissue into narrow strips while the adults spoke.
“Eliminating disruption cannot mean eliminating the child who was disrupted,” Elena said.
“No one is proposing expulsion.”
“You proposed remote instruction.”
“As a temporary accommodation.”
“You proposed removing her from her classroom.”
“For safety.”
“Whose?”
The principal glanced at Adrian.
“We cannot ignore the profile of Mr. Vale’s family.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“You ignored Clara’s profile when she was simply the child of a museum gift-shop employee.”
Elena touched his sleeve beneath the table.
Let me talk first.
He sat back.
The student services director said the district needed a written security plan. Adrian offered to fund one for the entire school, then regretted speaking when three faces tightened.
The principal said, “We cannot accept a private security operation directed by a parent.”
“He isn’t trying to direct it,” Elena said. “He’s trying to solve discomfort with money. It’s a habit.”
The teacher coughed to hide a laugh.
Adrian looked at Elena.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They reached an agreement that did not satisfy anyone completely. Clara would remain in class. Drop-off times would be staggered for two weeks. Adrian’s security personnel would stay off school property. The district would request additional police patrols without identifying Clara publicly. A staff member would walk her from the entrance.
Outside, Elena lowered herself onto a bench while Denise brought the car.
“You were quiet for almost eleven minutes,” she said.
“I counted twelve.”
“Growth.”
May you like
He sat beside her.
Parents crossed the parking lot carrying backpacks and poster board. A boy dragged a papier-mâché volcano by its cardboard base. Ordinary life continued within fifty feet of the scandal consuming Adrian’s family.
