Chapter 28

Jonathan

“Mr. Statham? Mr. Statham?” My therapist tapped her notebook.

“Yes?”

“Did you hear what your mother just said?”

“No.”

“She said she’s starting to remember some of the past now. Are you ready to sit over here with us so we can discuss that?”

I stood by my floor to ceiling windows and sighed. “Miss Tate, can we please reschedule this session? I apologize, but I can’t give you my undivided attention today.”

“Not a problem...I’ll have my secretary call Angela in the morning.”

“Thank you.” I heard her gathering her things and walking out the door. I felt a small hand on my shoulder and turned to see my mother looking up at me.

“Are you alright?” She tilted her head to the side. “I’ve never seen you like this...You’ve been moping around for weeks.”

“No. I am not alright.”

“What happened?”

“I—”

“Mr. Statham?” Angela stepped into my office. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but you promised that I could go home early since it’s my birthday and...Well, it’s one o’ clock and you haven’t mentioned—”

“I’m so sorry, Angela. I completely forgot.” I walked over to my desk and pulled out a drawer. I lifted a red gift bag up and handed it to her. “Happy Birthday, I really appreciate everything you do. I told HR that you’ll still need to be paid, but you don’t have to come back until Monday. Enjoy the rest of the week off.”

“What? Thank you! Thank you very much! I’ll make sure a temp will be here for you before I go...Oh, and Mrs. Statham,” she said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a new sPhone. “This came in for you yesterday. I had them give you a new number again.”

“Oh! Well, I finally figured everything out dear. I don’t need any more sPhones. I’ll just keep the number I have.”

“Good, because I think seven numbers is enough.” She laughed. “I’ll see you next Wednesday, Mr. Statham. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.” I took my place at the window again and sighed.

My mom put her hand on my shoulder. “Are you going to tell me what happened now?”

“Claire left me...”

“What?” She gasped. “When was this?”

“The day after we all had dinner together...”

“Did she say why?”

“Not really.”

She patted me on the back. “I’m so sorry to hear that...Have you tried calling her?”

I didn’t answer. I wanted to call her every day—to ask if she was still out of her damn mind, but I promised to let her go so I left it alone.

“I’ll take that as a no then,” she said, sighing. “Things happen for a reason, son. Maybe you should date someone your own age next. You had to know it wasn’t going to last a long time with an older woman...She probably had an agenda that you didn’t even know about...”

I moved her hand off my shoulder and glared at her. “Thank you, mother. This is really helping.”

“Oh come on! I know you liked her a lot but—”

“But what?”

“Nothing...Just take it from another older woman: These May-December romances aren’t long-term material. I mean, I liked Claire from the moment I met her. I thought she was beautiful, charming, and hell—I would’ve never guessed that she was forty, but that fact remains. At the end of the day, you two are better off apart. You just don’t know it yet... Would you like to eat lunch with me today? We can talk about this for as long as you need to...”

“Sure. But I don’t feel like leaving my office. Could you get that new Italian restaurant’s menu from Angela before she leaves? We’ll order in.”

“Of course.” She stood on her toes and kissed me on the cheek. She patted my back one more time and headed for the door.

As soon as I heard the doorknob turn, something in me snapped and I spun around. “Wait, mom. One second...”

“What is it? You want Chinese instead?”

“How did you know Claire’s first name the day I introduced you two?”

I didn’t know why I’d never caught that before. I’d been playing our breakup and the preceding weeks in my head every day. I was sure it was nothing, but I needed to make sure.

“What are you talking about?”

I walked over. “The day I introduced you to her...Angela said Miss Gracen over the intercom and you asked me who she was referring to. I said my girlfriend, but before I could tell you her first name was Claire, you reached out and said it first. How was that possible?”

“I don’t know. I guess you mentioned her to me before and I happened to remember, so—”

“No. I didn’t.” I noticed that she was shifting her weight from foot to foot. “I never mentioned Claire to you by name. Ever.”

“Maybe you thought you didn’t, but you—”

“I didn’t. Answer me.”

She didn’t say anything. She just stared at me.

“Answer. the. question.”

“Calm down, Jonathan...I think you’re confusing yourself because you’re hurt and angry right now; you shouldn’t be taking this out on me. I’m going to get that menu so we can—”

“Stop.” I placed my hands over the door, blocking her escape. I looked directly into her eyes and then I saw it—that look of guilt, that look she always got whenever she didn’t want to admit to something.

I narrowed my eyes. “What the fuck did you do?”

“Watch how you talk to me! I’m your mother! You can’t just—”

“What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?”

“Nothing...Can you please move so I can get the menu?”

“No.”

She shook her head and walked past me, taking a seat on the couch. She patted the seat next to her, but I stood still by the door.

“I met her at my gift shop a couple months ago...She bought those sea hooks you got for your birthday from me.”

“And?”

“And nothing...I didn’t put two and two together until we were in your office that day and I remembered that her name was Claire...Is that not okay? Does that make me a bad person?”

I blinked. I was about to drop the subject, but then something else hit me. “Why did Angela say you had seven phones with seven different numbers? You’ve been calling me from the same number since you got out of rehab...”

Her face suddenly turned red and she gasped. “No reason, I—”

“Tell me the truth.”

“It’s not what you—”

“Stop bullshitting me! You said something to her didn’t you?” I should’ve caught this a long time ago...Why didn’t I see this?

“I—”

“I will lock both of us in this room until you start talking.”

She sighed. “I just told her that she was wrong for dating you...that someone her age should know better...And ever since that day I saw her in your office, I told her that she was wrong every chance I got...”

“I want the details.”

“Please don’t make me—”

“Now.”

She swallowed. “At first I was just calling her...and then I...” She stopped every few sentences, telling me how she called Claire every day and left threatening voicemails, how she sent her mean emails with photo shopped pictures, how she asked Angela to get her a new phone with a new number every Monday so the calls wouldn’t be traced to her own phone.

“And me and Vanessa—”

“Vanessa was in on this too?” I balled my fists.

She nodded. “She was the one who told me that Claire was only after you for your money so...We hired a private investigator to dig up some dirt on her past and I used it against her...I even hired an investigator in Pittsburgh to follow her ex-husband and his new wife around so I could throw that in her face...I thought she was using you...I thought—”

“Did I ever ask what you thought? Did I ever say, Mother, tell me what you think about Claire?”

“No...”

“No? Are you sure?” I wasn’t going to hold back anymore. “Or is that something else you don’t remember?”

She began to cry.

“Do you want to know why the answer is no? It’s because it doesn’t fucking matter what you think and it never will. I don’t need—”

“I was only trying to protect you! I didn’t know that —”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know, a lot of shit you can’t seem to remember lately. But since we’re sharing stories now, let me help you out. Let me tell you exactly why what you think will never matter to me: You were never there when I needed you to be. Ever. You let me, a fucking kid, take care of a toddler while you and my father were out doing god knows what. You showed up high to everything I had at school—you were so fucking high you made me drive the car to the store when I was eight! But you don’t remember that do you? You don’t remember how you never did shit for us—how we had to beg you to come back with food, or how you left us in a trailer that damn near killed us. You still have yet to even apologize for that because you don’t want to own up to being the horrible fucking mother that you are. ”

“I was on drugs! I’ve apologized over and over and you just keep dragging this out because—”

“Get out.”

“Please just lis—”

“Get. Out.” I pulled the door open and walked over to my desk. I was done with her.

Sobbing, she slid her purse strap over her shoulder and headed for the door. She twisted the doorknob and slowly pulled it open.

“Wait.” I sighed.

She looked back with tears in her eyes. “Yes?”

I glared at her, tempted to say “I never want to hear from you again. Stay the hell out of my life,” but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. 

As furious as I was with her, I was now even angrier with Claire. She didn’t even think to tell me about everything that had gone on; she’d simply used my mom’s behavior as an excuse to take the easy way out.

“Take a seat.”

“No...” She wiped her face and sniffled. “I don’t care how mad you are at me, you’re not going to treat me like—”

“SIT DOWN, mother.”

She moved away from the door and walked over to my desk, plopping down on a seat. 

I took a deep breath. “You and I are going to talk, without our therapist. You’re going to be completely honest with me and I’m going to be completely honest with you. Once we’re done talking, if nothing good comes of it, we’re going to go our separate ways...I want you to know that I’ll always take care of you and give you whatever you need, but we don’t have to pretend like this relationship is something worth salvaging if it’s really not. Can you—”

“I want to be a part of your life regardless of this conversation. I don’t think it’s fair for you to write me off like I’m some type of—”

“Was what you did to Claire fair to me?”

“No...” She sighed. “And I’m sorry, but I—”

“I said ‘if’ this isn’t something worth salvaging, so you better be completely honest with me. Are you willing to do that?”

“Yes...”

“Good. Give me one second and we’ll start.” I picked up my phone and called executive affairs. “Milton, get me the proper paperwork to impeach a member of the board. I want it within an hour and I’ll be exercising clause seventeen to make the impeachment effective immediately.”