24. Hayden
Chapter twenty-four
Hayden
I know it wasn’t right to take my anger and frustration out on Addie. Yes, it is her mother who is causing all of this strife, but she’s nothing like Rosalinda. She didn’t ask for this trouble.
In fact, I know wholeheartedly that she’s on my side—the side that is fighting to restore and uphold her grandfather’s legacy.
So, I text her later that night and ask if she and Luna will join us for dinner tomorrow.
She’s reluctant at first, and I can’t say that I fully blame her. But after some light begging, she finally agrees.
Yes!
After getting home from an incredibly taxing day, I meander over to the kitchen and announce to Betsy, my housekeeper, that we’re going to have two guests joining us for dinner tomorrow night.
She’s cleaning something in the sink, but she turns around with a smile on her face when she’s finished.
“Let me guess, it’s Addie and that adorable daughter of hers, isn’t it?”
Daughter of ours. I want to correct her, but I don’t. Instead, I just confirm that she’s right.
With that, she claps her hands and jumps up and down. “I’m so happy to see some new female energy in here, Hayden! It’s certainly doing you some good.”
Yeah, yeah. I wave her off, but also agree.
Their presence has made me see the whole world differently. But just as soon as I start to let myself get carried away with any thoughts and feelings of grandeur, my cellphone rings for the bazillionth time.
Rolling my eyes, I excuse myself and answer it.
***
The next day is somehow even worse than the day before, and I got caught up in the office after hours on a call.
“Lionel, please try to hurry,” I request on the drive home.
“I’m doing my best, sir. But there must’ve been an accident or something. Traffic is incredibly backed up.”
Ugh. My phone is dead from overuse, and I can’t seem to find a charger anywhere. Otherwise, I’d call Addie and apologize for my tardiness.
But when I finally arrive home, I find that she and Luna are already there.
They’re both sitting on the living room floor and gazing down at scattered puzzle pieces.
“Hello, hello,” I say, trying to sound as jovial as possible—which is darn near impossible given the painful pounding in my head.
“Hey,” Addie responds, her aqua eyes raising only momentarily to meet mine.
Luna, on the other hand, grins widely at the sight of me, and she rushes over.
This is the first time since I’ve seen her in the flesh after Addie finally admitted to her paternity. And while her hug feels different this time, it still isn’t enough to pull me out of my funk.
After releasing her, I spot my drink cart in the corner of the room.
Ah. The Macallan 15. I recently received it as a gift, and it’s practically calling my name.
I pour myself a glass and offer one to Addie, but she refuses.
“Listen,” I mumble once I’ve taken my first delicious sip. “I’m so sorry that I was late.”
She rises to her feet now and walks over with her arms folded. “It’s fine, Hayden.”
“No, no.” I shake my head. I remember how important punctuality was to her and was to her grandfather.
She comes a little closer and puts her hand on my shoulder. “No, it’s really okay. I understand all the stress you must be under right now.”
I chuckle. Tell me about it. Then, I down another big gulp of the brown liquor.
Moments later, Betsy comes out and announces that dinner will be served shortly.
“It smells so good,” Addie comments. She’s wearing a pink sweater with dark blue jeans and has her hair up in a messy bun.
“What is it?” Luna asks.
Her mother hoists her up under the arms and holds her on her hip. “I’m not sure, baby. But what are we going to say once the meal comes out?”
“Thank you so much for preparing us this food.”
As she speaks, Addie mouths the same words along with her.
“Very good. And we say thank you, even if we don’t necessarily like it because?”
“Because nobody needs to do anything for us.”
Addie grins and tickles Luna’s belly. “Exactly. And that’s why we are grateful for each and everything that is given to us. Yes?”
Luna nods.
“Very good.”
I’m not sure that I will ever stop being in awe of the incredible mother that she is.
Soon, Betsy returns while carrying an immaculately carved turkey on a silver tray.
“Dinner is served!” she exclaims with a smile.
“Is there somewhere Luna can wash up?” Addie asks upon following her to the dining table.
“Of course!” After placing the meal on the large table, she offers Luna her hand, and the two of them prance back out.
“So . . .” Addie sits down and smooths a cloth napkin across her lap.
“So, what?”
She brings her elbows up onto the table and then leans her chin against her clenched hands.
“Well, how is everything going—”
Before I can answer, Luna bursts back on the scene with a little trinket in her hands.
“What is that, baby?” Addie inquires.
“I’m not sure. I found it in a room upstairs.”
Upon further inspection, I see that it’s my old View-Master. One of those plastic binocular doohickeys that you put circular “film” into and then flip a switch to see each individual frame.
She continues to click through until she grimaces. “What the heck is that?”
Addie takes a turn but seems similarly disgusted and perplexed.
“Let me see.” I bring it up to my face and see a wrinkly Star Trek character. “Oh.” That makes me laugh for what feels like the first time in days.
“Maybe, let’s just let Hayden take that,” Addie suggests.
“No problem.”
From there, I carve the bird, hand significant portions off to our guests, and then sit down to enjoy my own array of light and dark meat.
“Mom?” Luna asks, looking quizzically at her food.
“Yes, baby?”
“It isn’t Thanksgiving, right? Because I had to go to school today, and I didn’t get to watch the parade.”
She and I exchange a look and both chuckle.
“No. You can have turkey on any day, Tunes.”
Luna looks shocked. “Really? We only ever have it during Thanks—”
“Here, try some of the cornbread,” Addie insists while piling a piece onto the plate.
This seems to keep the kid quiet for a bit, but then she launches into an entire monologue about her new friend, Paige.
“She just moved in, like me, but she’s from Pittsburgh. That’s far away. Right, Mom?”
“Yes. It’s on the other end of the country.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, since we’re the new kids at school, we decided that we have to be best friends.”
Addie swallows before explaining, “That’s not exactly true, you know. I mean. Of course, you can be friends with her. But you don’t have to be.”
Luna seems to ignore this sound wisdom, and she just continues to go on and on about Paige from Pittsburgh.
“She’s really nice, she has really pretty blonde hair, and she has over seventy-five Barbie dolls. Can you believe that, Mom?”
Addie shakes her head. “No, I can’t. That sure is a lot.”
“Paige told me her mom and dad had to buy a whole separate suitcase just to fit them all and take them on the plane.”
“Wow.”
Then, Luna’s shoulders slump over, and she starts simply fiddling around with her food.
Catching onto this, Addie asks, “Everything okay over there?”
“Yeah. It just always makes me a little sad whenever another kid talks about their daddy, that’s all.”
I feel a pinch in my throat, and the hand on my thigh bunches up so tightly that my knuckles start turning white. The thoughts of anger and regret rage on in my mind.
Why haven’t we told her yet? Why didn’t I ever know? We could’ve been a family all of this time. Ugh. This is just about the last thing I need right now.
It’s clear that Addie feels uncomfortable too. And after looking at me with squinted eyes, she tries to hurry the conversation along.
“Um, does Paige also like fish?”
Both of their sights dart to the tank that separates the dining area from the living room.
“Oh, my gosh! Why didn’t I notice that before?” The young child asks to be excused before giddily shuffling over to it.
“That should buy us some time,” Addie says with her mouth full. I already assumed she wasn’t going to want to talk anymore about the giant elephant in the room. And she affirms that suspicion when she asks, “So, how are the investigations going?”
Like my phone, my brain is fried from overexertion, so I just tell her that I don’t want to talk about business over dinner.
Instead, I just cut off another forkful of meat, shove it in my mouth, and slurp it down with another drink of whiskey.
“Be that as it may, I want to tell you before I forget that I’ve got a call into Randall, but he hasn’t returned it yet.”
Since she hasn’t taken any of my hints, I’m starting to get increasingly irritated. So, I down the rest of the liquor, and bark, “Well, if you wanted to speak with him, maybe, you should’ve come to the meeting yesterday. Trust me, he was all ears and ready to gab then.”
Addie looks away from me after that and sighs.
Betsy comes in later and clears our dinner plates, and then she announces that she’s made strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
“That’s Luna’s favorite,” Addie whispers.
But her excited response already told me that. She abandoned the fish altogether and started buzzing next to her mother.
“I’m so excited!”
“I know, sweets. But just try to calm down a little.” Quite literally, Addie has to put her hands on Luna’s tiny shoulders to keep her from hopping up and down.
I’m glad she’s excited, but the rambunctious energy is all a little too much for me right now.
To make matters worse, as soon as Betsy comes back through the swinging doors, Luna rushes over, collides with her, and knocks the pitcher of lemonade off of the serving platter.
As if in slow motion, it flies through the air, ricochets off the table, and then smashes perfectly onto my phone.
Dammit!
The cracked screen tells me all I need to know.
Addie stands up and pulls Luna back by the chest, hugging her close. “I’m so incredibly sorry, Hayden. I’ll pay for the damages.”
The heat inside my body is boiling, and I know that I’m going to explode at any minute if they don’t get out of my sight.
“It’s fine,” I say through gritted teeth. “But I think dinner is over now.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“No! I want cheesecake!” Luna protests.
Addie continues to fight with her and tries to corral her towards the door, but she refuses.
“Mom! You said I could have some!”
When I’ve finally had enough, I bang my closed fists against the wooden table and exclaim, “Enough! For God’s sake. That’s enough!”
Both females before me retreat and look at me in horror.
I want to stop myself, I really do, but I can’t.
“Now, if you could’ve just stayed still for five more seconds, you wouldn’t have made this stupid mistake!”
In response to my booming voice, Luna cowers before running out.
Before following after her daughter, Addie throws me a glare.