Chapter 27 #2
“Kellen, I’m in the middle of eating pulled pork from a piece of meat I smoked over the weekend. You should come up to my office. I have another sandwich, if you want some.”
While that sounds delicious, I can’t focus on food right now. “Thanks, but I need your help. Do you know anyone named Emily Martin? I got a cryptic message from her this morning, and I’m going out of my mind trying to think of who she is. I’m thinking maybe she meant to call you instead.”
Matthias chomps in my ear, so I add, “Nice manners there, dude. Do you eat like this with other executives who call you at lunchtime?”
He laughs and says, “No, but you’re my brother, so I’m not exactly going for perfect manners here, especially since I vividly remember you going through a phase as a kid when every time you walked into my room you farted and then laughed your ass off when I complained that you stunk.”
I throw my head back and laugh out loud at that very valid description of me back when I was around eight years old. “Fair enough. Mom and Dad must have been feeding me something weird then because I was the gassiest fucking kid around.”
“It was the apples you were eating by the damn bushel.”
“Oh, yeah,” I say, thinking back to those few months of my life when I decided I only wanted to eat apples. I don’t think I could eat one today if my life depended on it.
He finishes his pulled pork lunch and takes a drink of something before asking, “Okay, what did you need me for? Some person called you? What was her name again?”
“Emily Martin. She called me this morning and left a message with my assistant. All it said was, ‘Please call. It’s urgent.’ How it could be urgent is beyond me. I don’t even think I know this person. That’s why I thought maybe the call should have come to you and not me.”
He hums in my ear as he thinks about what I just said. Then I hear him tap away on his laptop, probably doing the same thing I did with the employee list.
“I already checked to see if she’s a current or past employee of King Industries. She isn’t.”
“Okay. I don’t recall anyone with that name. I’m sure it’s nothing. I bet when you call her back that you find out she got you confused with someone else. I’ve had that happen before.”
That sounds as possible as any other theory. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I just don’t like walking into a situation completely blind. I don’t know why, but this feels off.”
“Off? How?” Matthias asks, his tone of voice changed from happy to hear from me to wary.
I know what he’s thinking. He’s imagining I’m back to my old ways and got myself in trouble again. If that’s the case, he’s forgotten that I’m in love with a great woman and haven’t misbehaved for years.
That Kellen isn’t the man I am today.
“Don’t worry. I promise I didn’t do anything that will bring shame on the family or this company. I’m just feeling weird about this message. That’s all.”
“Well, call the woman and find out what’s going on. And call me back and tell me because now you have me wondering.”
Typical Matthias. He claims he doesn’t give a damn about gossip, but the first chance he gets to hear some, he’s all ears.
“Don’t you have anything more important to do as the CEO of this company?” I joke, chuckling at his eagerness to know the details of what’s probably a nothing situation.
“I do, but just in case this has anything to do with this company, I want to know. So call me and tell me as soon as you find out.”
“Okay, boss. I’ll let you know.”
Tossing my cell phone onto my desk, I turn back to my laptop to find Emily Martin’s number. Even though I still feel like this is strange, I’m sure it’s not going to be anything important. Her idea of urgent and my idea of urgent are likely miles apart.
When I locate her number in my messages, I call her and she answers immediately. Her voice, soft and a little sad just like my assistant described it, doesn’t make me remember her, though.
“Hi, Miss Martin. This is Kellen King. I got a message you called me and said the situation is urgent. I’m thinking you may have made a mistake. I don’t know you or recognize your name at all.”
“Hello, Kellen. Thank you for returning my call. In all honesty, you don’t know me.
We’ve never met, so that’s why you don’t recognize my name.
I apologize for leaving such a strange message with your assistant, but I wanted to make sure you called me back even if I didn’t feel right about saying what I was calling about. ”
Great. In person, she’s even more cryptic than she sounded in her message.
“So, what can I do for you?”
There’s a long pause before she says, “From the way you’re talking, I’m going to assume you don’t recognize my last name. I’m Amelia Martin’s sister.”
She stops, I assume, to give me time to remember who her sister is, but that name doesn’t sound like someone I know either. I begin to tell her precisely that when my memory of Amelia Martin comes rushing back to me.
Amelia, the woman who was leaving for veterinary school a month after I met her. We hung out a few times. Beautiful with long brown hair and blue eyes. She had a girl-next-door thing going on, even though in private she was as freaky as all hell.
All of this runs through my brain in a matter of seconds, giving me some information about why Emily Martin would have called me.
We have someone in common, but I still don’t know why she’d be contacting me.
Her sister and I hooked up a few times right before I met Salem. I haven’t heard from Amelia in years.
“Oh, okay. How is your sister?” I ask, unsure what to say after finding out who Emily is.
“My sister passed away two months ago. She was in a train crash,” she tells me, and I hear the sadness my assistant must have heard when she left her message for me.
Damn. I liked Amelia. She was fun, and I’d never met anyone who loved animals as much as she did. I thought she would be a great vet.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Amelia was a good person.”
I don’t know what else to say. We weren’t close.
We met, had a lot of sex, and had a good time.
Neither of us wanted anything permanent.
She planned to leave for California to go to college out there to become a vet, so she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.
That worked great for me at the time since I didn’t want to be that for anyone.
“Yes, she was. My sister had a good heart. That’s why she wanted to be a vet.”
Even as Emily says that, I get the sense she’s holding back from what she really wants to say. Then again, she’s probably still in mourning, so perhaps she’s just having a hard time.
“Did she finish vet school?” I ask, not knowing how long it takes to graduate from the program she was in.
“Yes, she did. It was hard, especially considering everything, but she finished earlier this year. She was so excited to be starting with an emergency clinic, but she died before she ever could.”
Jesus, that’s awful. Amelia may not have been someone I planned to spend the rest of my life with, but she deserved better than to work all that time to become a vet and never actually get the chance to do the thing she loved.
“I’m sorry, Emily. Amelia was a good person.”
That’s the second time I’ve said that, but I don’t know how else to reply. I can’t tell her anything about what her sister and I did together, so I’m left with bland comments.
“Kellen, the reason I called is because Amelia had a baby. His name is Elias. He’s your son.”
Instantly, my head feels like it’s swimming, like someone has dropped me into the bottom of the ocean and I can’t do anything but silently flail for air. A son? It’s mine? That’s not possible. It can’t be.
“I think you might be mistaken. She would have told me if she had a baby, wouldn’t she?” I ask, not trying to be rude.
Amelia knew who I was and the kind of money I had. It’s not like I ever hid that detail. If she had a baby, she would have come after me for child support, wouldn’t she?
“I don’t know why she didn’t tell you about Elias.
He’s four, and to be honest, he’s the spitting image of you.
I’m his guardian now that his mother is gone, and although she never wanted to tell you about him, I didn’t think my sister was right in keeping that from you.
I think you have a right to know your son, and I think he should know his father.
That’s all I wanted when I called today.
To let you know you have a son and invite you to meet him and be in his life. ”
This isn’t possible. I can’t have a son. I don’t even want kids. How could this have happened?
“Emily, I think there’s been a mistake,” I mutter, not even sure I believe that.
“No, but I understand this has come out of nowhere for you. I know this has to be quite a shock. We don’t want anything from you. That’s not what this is. I just think Elias deserves a chance to know his father. I hope you’ll think about it.”
I don’t know what to say, so I say I will, and the call ends.
Holy fuck, how is this my life?