Five
The next day, a bit before three o’clock, Nico again found himself driving to the Ad Astra office. He was accompanying Roger and was accompanied by a lot of thoughts.
That morning, Roger had popped his head into Nico’s office as he was deleting the FWD: RE: FWD: FWD funny dogs email from his mother to ask him to book a meeting with Valerie Peng.
He was gone before Nico could point out that after the way yesterday’s meeting had ended, Roger might not be on Valerie’s list of favored conversation partners.
But he was good at his job, so if Roger wanted a meeting, a meeting Roger would get.
When he called, Valerie’s warm promise to get back to callers within twenty-four hours made it sound like a personal commitment rather than empty corporate verbiage.
He left a message, a text, and then an email for good measure, putting Refund question in the subject line to make sure she opened it.
It wasn’t until Valerie sent him a brisk reply two hours later that he realized why he’d been on edge as he’d tried to write Roger’s charity-lunch speaking notes.
He was going to see Valerie. Despite dealing with Roger in the aftermath of the Malcolm debacle yesterday, she’d maintained that brightness he’d first noticed and had flared when Roger started asking those god-awful questions.
Which, Nico thought in frustration, his boss had refused to explain in the car on the way back to the office.
All Roger had said was, “Poor woman. It was a lot of damn bad luck.” He’d paused. “Do you believe in second chances?”
“For what?” Nico asked. “Are you hiring her again?”
“Perhaps.”
That was it. Was a memorial do-over in the works?
Nico didn’t like this. He knew everything about Roger, from his shoe size to the amount he spent on subscription television each month, which had decreased dramatically after Nico found a free service that only played Cheers reruns.
Realistically, when you made appointments for someone’s annual colonoscopy, it was a reasonable expectation to be kept in the loop, whatever the loop was.
As usual, parking was almost nonexistent, and he drove past Valerie’s office and up and down two streets before finding a spot.
Roger squinted at the collection of road signs as Nico killed the engine.
“We may or may not be able to park here between the hours of seven to six, Monday to Friday, but possibly for only two hours, and not for the first two weeks of the month from April to November.”
“It’s also a snow route,” said Nico.
“At least it’s summer.” Roger sighed. “God, I hate driving in Toronto.”
Despite Nico’s attempts to turn the conversation to what they were doing, Roger’s rant on urban parking woes took them to Valerie’s door. “We’re here,” he said.
“We are.” Nico made one last attempt. “Why is that, actually?”
Roger’s only answer was to knock, then walk in.
Valerie stood by the low mid-century wood coffee table in a rainbow-striped dress, clasping her hands so tightly that the skin was bright red.
The apprehension rolling off her made Nico’s muscles tighten in sympathy.
No doubt she was expecting more of yesterday, or worse, like Roger telling her he’d reconsidered that lawsuit Penny wouldn’t stop talking about.
Roger stepped forward, hands outstretched like the lead alien trying to reassure the earthlings he meant no harm. “Ms. Peng, I apologize for my behavior at our last meeting,” he said. “Those questions were out of line.”
Valerie’s posture didn’t relax. “I hope the refund went through without issue.”
“This isn’t about my father’s memorial.”
She looked taken aback. “It’s not?”
It wasn’t?
“This is about you. May I sit down?”
Valerie hesitated, then waved them to the cream leather couch as she took her own seat. Nico liked her shoes, which were red and had little straps across the front that made him want to grasp her ankles in his hands. The thin gold chain wrapped around one made the impulse worse.
What a strange thing to think about a woman he’d barely met.
Roger looked out the window as Valerie’s polite smile grew strained. “Mr. Badgerton?”
“Call me Roger.”
They waited and watched him sweat. “I have an offer for you,” he finally said. “A personal one.”
Valerie’s eyes shot to Nico, and he knew they were thinking the same thing. He had to be wrong. Roger couldn’t possibly be that creepy.
“I’m in uncharted territory here, but once I saw you, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
He hadn’t misheard. Jesus. Nico started to stand, and Valerie was leaning back with her palms held defensively out when Roger said, “I want you to pretend to be my daughter.”
It was almost a relief Nico had assumed wrong until he realized what Roger had said. Daughter? He sat down.
“Sorry?” Valerie’s hands didn’t drop.
“I want you to pretend to be my daughter. I’ll compensate you for your time. It’ll be for the summer at our family cottage in Mariposa and not in any sort of freaky weird way.”
“Oh, that’s good,” said Valerie. “I’m glad it’s the normal fake-daughter way, like regular people do. What a relief.”
“I know how it sounds but you’ll understand better when you hear the full story.”
“After that intro, you have my attention.” Valerie waved to the crossed-out calendar with a crooked smile that vanished as soon as it appeared. “I’ve got time.”
“It’s fairly unbelievable.” Roger laughed but so bitterly no one joined him. “I recently found out I have a daughter I had no idea existed.”
Nico couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
A secret child? From a man who insisted on eating instant oatmeal for 365 breakfasts of the year?
Roger legitimately enjoyed doing the ironing, thought no good music had been made after 1994, and had Nico order a lifetime supply of his favorite black socks when they were discontinued.
He hadn’t been on a date since Nico had known him.
“A secret daughter,” said Valerie, so slowly Nico could tell she was trying to buy herself time to formulate an appropriate response. “That’s not what I was expecting. Wow.”
“Yeah,” said Roger. “I have trouble believing it myself.”
Valerie looked between Nico and Roger, and Nico tried to appear as if he had a clue of what was going on. “I’m afraid I don’t understand where I come in.” She looked suddenly earnest. “If this is some kind of therapeutic role play, you need a professional.”
“No, no.” Roger sounded horrified. “Not at all. I’m fairly sure my father paid off my old girlfriend’s family so they would leave town and break contact with me, but that one of my siblings knows where she and my daughter are.”
“Is this a joke?” she demanded.
“God, I wish.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, that’s the story. I was barely nineteen.
” Nico had never heard such nostalgia and loss from Roger.
“Yvette was a year younger and worked in the local restaurant in Mariposa where our cottage was. Her family was seasonal workers.” Roger ran his hands along his pants.
“I always thought romance movies were unrealistic because no one could instantly fall in love. I was wrong. When I saw Yvette, it was like I already knew her.”
“What happened?” Nico was the one to ask, and he found his eyes lingering on Valerie’s hair. It had ruby facets that sparkled when she moved.
“Yvette brought fries to our table and I touched her hand accidentally when I took the plate. She had clear gloss on her nails that made them shiny.” Roger spread his fingers. “That was it. I was a goner.”
Nico felt profoundly uncomfortable with the intensity of this dreamy and sentimental Roger. Valerie, on the other hand, looked ready to swoon. She put her hand on her heart. “Soulmates. Then what happened?”
“I asked her out later and she said yes.” Roger laughed. “We saw each other every day that summer and never ran out of things to talk about. All I wanted was to make her happy. I was in love. Then I ruined it.”
Valerie’s small smile made Nico’s heart jump. “You were nineteen.”
“Old enough to know better. Yvette had been acting strange for a few days, distant and quiet.” Roger rubbed his forehead. “She’d been avoiding me. I knew something was wrong, and instead of asking, I freaked out and assumed she was going to dump me. We had a fight.”
Valerie tilted her head and boom went Nico’s heart again. “A big one?”
“I told her I never wanted to see her again. I was an utter and complete asshole.”
“Oh. Oh no.”
Roger looked pained. “Yeah. It was a lie and I felt horrible all night. I decided to see her the next day—this was before cell phones, and she didn’t have a landline—but my brother Peter was in a bad car accident. I was at the hospital for two days straight until he was out of danger.”
“She was gone when you went to look for her?”
“The whole family had left.”
“No one knew where?” Nico asked. Why had Roger not come to him first to find a solution, or at all?
That stung but Nico made sure to keep his face neutral, a skill he’d learned from years of living with Stefanie.
She could zero in on vulnerabilities like they were chum, and all of it was fodder for her ceaseless teasing.
Roger shook his head. “The restaurant owner paid them out in cash and didn’t ask questions.
I might have found her if I’d started looking right away, but my pathetic ego took over.
I was mad she chose her family over me and all the dreams we talked about.
Without a goodbye, like I didn’t matter to her. ”
“But she was pregnant?” asked Valerie.
“Yeah, and I had no idea.” Roger ran his hand through his hair. “She must have been terrified. I don’t blame her for not telling me. We’d only been dating two months and I was a sheltered and entitled rich kid. We’d also kept our relationship a secret, which doesn’t foster a lot of confidence.”
Valerie rubbed her chin so hard it turned red. “How do you know she had a kid if you never met again?”