Chapter 21
Twenty-One
On the way back down the trail, hand in hand, their pace serene, Tai glanced down at her, then forward again. Claire waited for him to say whatever had just come into his head, but he didn’t.
“Thoughts?” she said.
“A question.” He hesitated again, then said, “I’m used to not having a family. I’m so used to it, I never thought to ask about yours. But you also never bring them up, unlike most people I know, so I’m thinking…wondering if your family’s hard too.”
“Hard? No. Absent, that’s all. Neutrally absent.”
Another glance at her, then away. A wrinkle formed between his eyes.
She gave his hand a tug. “Really, Tai, it’s nothing to worry about. I think about my family probably less often than you think about yours.”
“Okay, but how is absence neutral?”
“Long story short, my dad couldn’t decide if he wanted to be a father or not.
When I was ten, he finally decided not. My mom’s a relic, and that’s a whole other level of flaky when it comes to parenting.
She was fine while I was a kid, but her attention span is exactly two decades long.
When I turned twenty, it was like a switch flipped in her brain: freedom!
I haven’t seen her in about ten years. And neither of my parents kept in touch with their own families, so I don’t have the typical vampire network of great-great-grand-whoevers. ”
Tai slowly shook his head. “Your mom should want to know you.”
“Well, she doesn’t. She’s past three hundred now, and honestly, she might not remember she has a child. I’m only half-kidding.”
“And you’re fine with it?”
Of course she was fine. No point in being anything else. “I’m admirably independent.”
He gave a low hiss.
“You don’t get to be mad for me when I’m not even mad.”
“Not sure it works that way.” They reached the base of the cliff and re-entered the marked trail before he spoke again. “Until you were ten, what was he like? How often did you see him?”
He probably thought she had deep feelings on the topic of her father, given he certainly did about his own, but she didn’t.
Also…maybe it was truer than she realized when she first said she’d rather hear about him than talk about herself.
But it was Tai. He wanted to know her, and he’d let her know him today in a way no one else did.
And most important, Claire was safe with him.
Weird that her brain felt the need to remind her of that last one right now.
“You know how some people never grow up emotionally? Like, they function fine in society, have a job and an apartment. They have friends and romantic relationships. On paper, they look like an adult.”
“Sure,” Tai said. “But they’ve also got no idea how to deal with it when things don’t go their way.”
“Exactly. That’s my dad. He didn’t take no for an answer—not without a lot of pouting, cajoling, guilt-tripping, et cetera. If he was really invested in getting his way, he’d eventually just bulldoze over what you wanted and if it bothered you, it was your problem for being ‘too serious.’”
“Yikes,” Tai said.
“Uh-huh. So yeah, I loved him, the way every kid loves their parent. He was super spontaneous and a lot of fun. I missed him when he took off for wherever. But I also knew the score, you know? This is Dad. This is how things go when I’m with Dad.”
“How old were your parents when they met?”
“He was fifty-three, and she was two hundred sixty-one. I think he wined and dined her for a while before she said yes to a relationship. I’m also pretty sure she kept her age to herself the first year they were together.”
“Is Vanderlaan his name or hers?”
The perceptiveness of the question, asking more than its surface, plucked her heart as if it were a whole set of guitar strings, and Tai’s fingers had just found the perfect chord.
She reached back toward him, and he laced his fingers with hers as they continued single-file down the side of the mountain.
The foliage was overgrown here, the space for one person likely cleared over time by deer and other animals consistently plodding through.
“I have her name,” Claire said. “They didn’t get married or”—more importantly—“bloodbound. Well, obviously not bloodbound. If they had been, he wouldn’t have left us. Couldn’t have.”
Tai squeezed her hand and kept hold of it even as she took a small leap over a boulder that jutted out from the steep path. He leaped after her, and then they reached the bottom of the incline and the marked trail.
“I know you’re fine with it now,” Tai said as they ambled back to her car, “but I’m sorry you didn’t have anybody more reliable as a kid.”
“I learned a lot from it. I learned not to base my worth on whether Dad made it to my birthday party or not. I really am independent, Tai, and it’s something I like about myself.”
“The feather tattoo,” he said.
“Exactly. So no regrets. It’s their loss.”
He stopped in the middle of the path, drew her close to him, and kissed her. “Definitely their loss.”
She no longer minded that he had asked the question.
In fact, it was kind of nice to know that he knew.
But the shortcomings of her own parents were nothing compared to the death of his mother and the cruelty of his father.
She hated Tai’s losses more than she could ever put into words.
There was one thing she could do for him, though, and she would.
Something she should’ve done months ago.
Claire had pulled up Ryker’s phone contact and sent her call before she remembered he might not even be in Virginia right now.
“Hey, Claire.”
“Hey, are you in Tennessee?”
“Yeah,” Ryker said. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” Claire said. “I mean, yes. But no. You’re with Leslie?”
Stupid question. He was in Leslie’s hometown, and it was five in the morning.
“I’m here,” Leslie said from the other side of the phone. “What’s going on?”
“It’s about Tai.”
Leslie’s voice pitched upward. “Oh no, is he okay?”
Claire could hug her friend for caring so much about the man she loved. “He’s okay, but we talked through some big things tonight, and I just needed to…” To interrupt their post-honeymoon time in Harmony Ridge. “Gosh, you’re right. This isn’t an emergency. Never mind, we’ll talk when you’re home.”
Before she could hang up, Ryker said, “Claire, wait.”
Claire shook her head at the phone in her hand. Her finger hovered over the screen, ready to end the call.
“We have time,” Ryker said.
“And now we’re curious,” Leslie said with a little laugh.
Claire took a breath and let it out, then set the phone down. “Um, first, Leslie, do you know about his family?”
“I know they suck,” Leslie said. “And I know he lost his mom way too young—unfortunately the only one who didn’t suck.”
Ryker’s voice came from farther away than it had a few seconds ago. “I’m glad he told you, Claire. Thought it would take him longer, but I’m glad it didn’t.”
“It was rough on him, talking about it.” Claire sank down on the couch and propped her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands, and stared down at the phone out of habit.
“So now I want every last relative to spend the next few centuries walking on tacks. And I want his dad to…” She pressed her palms to her suddenly burning eyes.
“I guess I’m not ready to talk about his dad. ”
“Sounds like he told you everything,” Ryker said.
“He did. And I can’t stand it.” Claire pushed to her feet and paced in front of the couch. “I don’t want him to be alone.”
“He isn’t,” Leslie chimed in. “He’s got the three of us. And Ryker’s family too, and his colleagues at the foundation.”
“He could have more. He should have more. I want to bring him to our get-together on Tuesday night, re-introduce him to the group. But I want to know y’all’s thoughts before I invite him, in case it’s a terrible idea for some obvious reason I’m missing.”
“I think it’s fantastic,” Leslie said. “Ryker?”
Silence stretched over the call. Claire stood still in the middle of her living room, couldn’t pace while she tried to imagine what giant problem she’d overlooked.
“Claire,” Ryker said at last, “I’ve spent the last three years wishing for this.”
“I can confirm,” Leslie said. “It’s eaten him up, having you two at odds.”
Oh… “Really?”
But of course it had. Ryker’s friendship with Tai ran so deep. For years he’d held Tai’s secret and honored Claire’s friendship despite the two commitments clashing head-on every time one friend called the other an arrogant liar.
“Gosh, Ryker,” she whispered. “You’ve been stuck in the middle, and I never even thought…about you.” Only about her own hurt and anger.
Ryker gave a soft laugh that cracked a little. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not. I’m really sorry.”
“I guess it hasn’t always been okay,” he said. “But we’re good, Claire. Apology accepted, and y’all getting together… Somehow I never saw it coming, you two dating, but it’s obvious now.”
“And you think it’s a good idea, bringing him in?”
“It’s great. I’ve always felt like Tai belongs with all of us, if he’ll just open up.”
“He can get there.” Look how far he’d come in a single day. Look how the hope had lit his eyes, buoyed his voice when he talked about all he’d learned from Peter.
“I love it,” Leslie said. “Our group can be his family.”
“That’s what I want for him.” Claire blinked back a few stupid tears. “Anyway, that’s…that’s what I had to tell you. Sorry to barge in on your evening, but it felt important.”
“We’re glad you called,” Ryker said.
“Absolutely,” Leslie said. “I always look forward to seeing y’all, but now I really can’t wait.”
When they hung up a few minutes later, Claire tapped her way straight to a text.
Do you have plans Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.?