Chapter 32
This had to be some kind of joke. I hadn’t heard the name Bill Rebchuk in years. Occasionally, my mother would mention him to her friends or Rick, but otherwise, he was a ghost. Apparently, a ghost who had come back to life. But I had more pressing questions. Why had he suddenly reached out to me when he hadn’t tried once when I was in Minnesota? Unless there was some small chance he lived in Vancouver? Not likely. Or maybe he had figured out I was dating Jeremy, and he saw some kind of payday? The bigger question was whether I even wanted to call him back.
I was still reeling from my disastrous discussion with Mark. The last thing I needed was to deal with my birth father, the same man who couldn’t bother to be around for most of my life. What I really wanted to do was crawl under my desk and hide for the rest of the afternoon.
“Thanks,” I said to Oliver as pleasantly as possible. I then headed to my office and shut the door behind me. I pulled down the blinds and took in a deep breath. I could handle this, despite the fact my hands were shaking and my heart was beating wildly. I’d talk to Tangi about this when she had a chance, and fortunately, Jeremy was in town for a few more games before his next road trip. I needed support of any kind, because unlike most times in my life, I had no idea what to do next.
I spent most of my day staring at my computer screen and getting nothing done. I’d managed to calm down enough to answer a few emails, but not much more. The clock ticked slowly all afternoon until, finally, I could go home. I called Tangi on the way, asking if I could come over with Chloe. I didn’t imply that it was urgent, but I guess my voice gave it away.
“What is wrong?” she asked, her voice full of concern.
“I’m freaking out. A lot is happening.”
“Come right over. I was going to go to the Kodiaks game tonight, but I’ll let Ethan know that I’m canceling. I don’t think he’ll care.”
I’d forgotten all about the game.
“Go if you want to. It’s fine. I can wait, and this isn’t life or death.”
“I can go to dozens of games. I don’t think it’s a big deal if I miss one. Are we going to need wine for this?”
“Yes, and I’ll pick it up.”
I grabbed two bottles of Riesling on the way home. Chloe was excited to see me, and I took her for a quick walk even though Jeremy had taken her a few hours earlier before he’d left for Graham Place. I gave her dinner and then changed into comfy clothes. The weather had turned a little, and I even smelled snow in the air, but so far it had held off. Even though theoretically it was a lot warmer than Minnesota, the air had a chill to it that went straight into my bones. I needed to get used to that.
I ordered a pet-friendly Uber, and we were off to Tangi’s. Chloe must have been around kids before we adopted her, because she loved Maddy and loved following her around as she crawled through the house. She’d often sit next to her high chair—no doubt hoping food would drop—or lay next to her while she slept in her swing. We’d won the doggie lottery when we found Chloe.
“What happened?” Tangi asked when I walked through the door.
She was holding Maddy, who must have just finished her dinner. She still had on her bib, which looked to be covered in either mashed carrot or sweet potato. Tangi and Ethan had begun transitioning Maddy to solids, and Maddy seemed pretty happy about it.
“Not just one thing. Two horrible things, and isn’t the saying that bad news comes in threes?”
“I certainly hope not.”
While Tangi cleaned up Maddy and her high chair, I pulled out leftovers from the fridge. I had Tangi’s routine down better than she did. She made food on her days off, enough to last the week, as well as freezing meals just in case. Ethan made most of his meals, but had gotten into hiring a private chef who delivered them. A lot of players were doing this now. I grabbed the grilled chicken and mashed sweet potatoes, and made a salad. I also poured a very generous glass of wine, all while telling her what had happened that day.
By her grimaces and frowns, I knew it was as bad as I thought. When I was finally done, we were eating while Maddy played in her bouncy chair. The kid could entertain herself in that thing for hours, and Chloe made sure that she played too. At least she didn’t try to destroy any of the toys.
“I don’t know where to start first. How about with Mark? What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spent the whole day trying to figure out what to do with that asshole. He has me right where he wants me, and I imagine the next step is blackmail. I hate this.”
“Are you asking me my opinion?” Tangi said, her face as serious as I’d ever seen.
“Always.”
“Report the piece of shit. This is going to escalate.”
I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “Then he goes to the press.”
“Let him. He’ll look like a disgruntled ex-employee with an ax to grind. I know you can spin this to make him look like the garbage human being that he is.”
“But I’m also dating Jeremy. No, I’m engaged to him! That’s not in doubt. It will look bad.”
“Who cares? Like every other stink, this will pass too.”
“Or I wait this out to see what he wants next. I don’t think I need to act quickly unless I have to. My gut is telling me to report him, but I need more time to think about it.”
Tangi reached out and squeezed my hand. “Take the time. There is no deadline. The last thing you want is to rush in and be unprepared. Now, I have a feeling there is something else you want to talk about. Does it have to do with Jeremy?”
“No. You’ll never guess who it has to do with. My father called today, totally out of the blue.”
Tangi’s hazel eyes grew wide. “Your dad? What did he say and want?”
“I didn’t talk to him. He called while I was in my meeting with Mark. I don’t know if I should call him back,” I said, sipping my wine. Good thing I wasn’t driving, because I was already pouring my second glass.
“What do you think he wants?”
“No idea. He’s never come around asking for money, not that we had any to give him. But maybe he heard about Jeremy, and he thinks it’s a payday for providing some sperm three decades ago.”
“What is your gut telling you do to?” she asked, clearing away our dinner plates.
“I’m definitely curious. A huge part of me wants to call him, but what if it’s a Pandora’s box?”
“I know I’d call him only because the curiosity would get the better of me. But that’s me.”
“I want to go back on holidays.”
After my third glass of wine, I was feeling a bit tipsy, but still had my wits about me. I was getting sleepy, though, and I had work in the morning. Tangi plied me with two full glasses of water before I left to ward off a hangover, and by the time I got to the condo, the water had gone through me, and I raced for the bathroom. Once I’d solved that problem, I stared at Chloe. She was staring back at me.
“Do I call him?”
She didn’t answer.
Maybe it was the wine, but I found myself fishing out the number Oliver had given me. Without thinking, I called Bill Rebchuk. It didn’t occur to me that it was after ten back in Minnesota, not overly late, but he didn’t answer. I got his voicemail and should have hung up, but I left a message instead. No turning back now.
I didn’t expect him to call me back that night, so I leaned back on the sofa and closed my eyes. The day had been so awful, and I just needed some rest. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Jeremy was coming through the door, and Chloe had gone to greet him. I rubbed at my tired eyes and asked how the game went.
“We lost.”
Right. Icing on the cake. And hopefully the third bad thing to happen. “Damn,” was all I could muster for a reply.
“How was your day?” he asked, kissing me on the forehead.
He probably didn’t want to know, but I told him all about Mark. I’d never seen him so angry, and like Tangi, he wanted me to report Mark. And just like with Tangi, I told him I needed time to think about it. I couldn’t make decisions when I was angry.
“But it gets worse,” I said. “My father called. Out of the blue, the asshole.”
The shock on Jeremy’s face was a bit strange, as if more confused than surprised. “What did he say?” he asked.
“Nothing. I left a message.”
Jeremy sat beside me and took my hand in his rough one. He let out a deep breath. I had no idea what was going on with him. He certainly couldn’t ask me to marry him again.
“So, listen, don’t get mad.”
My back was immediately up. All the effects of the wine were long gone. “What did you do?” I asked, suddenly lucid.
“I thought I was helping.”
My stomach was doing somersaults. “What did you do?” I repeated more angrily.
“I wanted to know more about your dad. I wondered if maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy and that your mom had driven him out of your life. It happens all the time. I hired a private investigator to find him. It wasn’t that hard. And when I was in Minneapolis last month, I arranged to meet him.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, yanking my hand away. “Why would you do that? He clearly hasn’t wanted anything to do with me, so why look him up? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wanted to make sure you weren’t missing out on a father. I should have minded my own business.”
By the tone of his voice, that said it all. “You confirmed he’s a piece of shit.”
He looked at me and frowned. “Pretty much. I’m sorry.”
I wanted to scream, but a budding headache was warning me against that. “And you have no idea what he wants?”
“Not a clue, but I doubt it has to do with a happy family reunion.”
I was so angry about everything that I wanted to cry. Instead, I got up, went into the kitchen for a glass of water, and marched back to Jeremy. “After the day I’ve had, I need some sleep. I plan to take a sleeping pill because all I want to do is forget all of this for a few hours. I’m sending my staff an email to say that I won’t be in tomorrow. You are sleeping in your room. Alone. Chloe is coming with me.”
He didn’t argue.
I got the sleep I needed, but I was a bit groggy in the morning. I checked my phone, and it was after nine. I’d had a decent sleep. I slowly sat up and yawned a few times. I looked around for Chloe, but she was probably with Jeremy. I could hear his voice softly from the living room. Was he talking to Chloe? No, he was on the phone.
I reluctantly got dressed and walked toward the living room. I stopped when I heard Orla’s name.
“You’re being unreasonable. Orla, we had an agreement, an agreement you insisted on.”
I froze in place, my heart picking up beats. What was this about? I inched closer, hoping not to alert Chloe. She’d easily give me away.
“Look, you blow us up like this, I’ll tell my own truths. This goes both ways,” he said quietly but with venom in his voice. I’d never heard him so angry, and when Orla was finished saying whatever it was, she was saying, he lashed out some more. “This is to sell some fucking books! You will take me and Lex down for some money? I should have never trusted you. You’ll hear from my lawyer.”
He hung up, and I stood there a moment longer. The headache that had threatened to come on the night before was now hitting me hard. I took the last steps into the living room, and Chloe yipped with happiness. Jeremy whirled around to face me, shock marring his face. There was no use drawing this out.
“You better tell me the truth, Jeremy. And this is your last chance.”