Getting home that morning and looking like hell was not what Claire would have wanted but there was little or nothing she could have done to stop it. She managed herself from the bus stop and began walking home like a puppy drenched in the rain. Claire was rather too exhausted and as she made the huge task of trying to get home, she could only pray for a miracle in the person of Jake. She continued moving slowly but then her miracle came but not in the person of Jake. She smiled as she heard the horn and the familiar face smiling at her. It was Beckham.
“Miss Willows, I’m headed to your place,” he said.
“It’s Claire actually,” she said as she came into the car and sat beside him.
She wondered what the man was going to do at her place or had her father suspected she had grown angry and left. If that was the case, then it was something he had to stop. There was no way possible she would suddenly leave especially when Miller was still home. She followed the man as he drove to her place and they happened to have passed Jake’s car on the way although he had not seen her. If he had, she could not really tell.
Getting home, she entered as soon as Martha opened greeting the older woman.
“Oh darling you found her,”Martha said as she hugged Claire
“I guess fate found her,” Beckham said
“Darling?,” Claire asked
“Oh, Beckham is my husband Claire. Remember he brought you the first time you came,” the woman said dragging her in.
Claire could not believe her ears that she was basically surrounded by the people she knows. She had just began following Martha into the kitchen area when the woman noticed the bandage on her leg and then looked at the hand she was holding to see the plaster. This was rather something else to the woman who began demanding to know what had happened the previous day. She could not believe Claire had an accident and would not tell them what had happened to her the previous day while they had been busy worrying their eyes out.
“Accident?,” that was Mister Willows from up the stairs.
The man had refused going out that day as he would have to work from home following the absence of Claire from home. He had not been sure when he heard the voices downstairs. He was certain his name other family members would have gone to work which means that unless Martha was bringing her friends over then it meant Claire was in the house. He had to leave his study immediately and went to the stairs area and happened to have entered just when Martha was talking about Claire having an accident. He had not expected that would be the case actually and had been worried through the night.
Claire began speaking saying there was nothing like that and that she was absolutely fine with no worries. The man would not listen and quickly came down the stairs to the place she was standing. As Claire would not tell him the truth and Martha seemed tongue tied, he decided he would look her over. He caught sight of the plaster on her hand and then the dressing to her leg. He demanded that she tells him what happened to her but Claire maintained her sob story that nothing had actually happened. Mr Willows could understand what it was that might be going through her mind and it was probably related to the fact that he had not been really close to her all along. At least the wound looked like it was well taken care of but Claire looked pretty much exhausted. He demanded that she goes up and freshen up while Martha gets her breakfast ready.
Claire walked away and began to manage the stairs gradually. She was doing her best to hide the fact she was in serious pain from her father and eventually managed to make it to her room. As she entered, she was met by a meow from the cat and walked over to the poor thing. It must have missed her all through the night and possibly really hungry. He walked over to her and Claire bent over and raised him up with a smile and little effort. Her leg did hurt really and she went over to check his bowl. Someone had been nice enough to give him food and she did not want to begin imagining who that someone would be. She sighed and dropped on her bed, laying down as her mind did a little down turn through memory lane. She still could not believe Tristan had taken it upon himself to dress her wound. It still felt like a dream, a really good one she could not believe had ended. The way she had felt while he had been taking care of her was something she had not really expected. She tried her best to hide her emotions but it was not easy. For some reasons, Claire felt like something tingling was caressing her skin and he sure had been gentle with her.
She had her mind beginning to get to an unknown place and needed to shake her head out of that cloud. She had for some reasons wished they had shared a kiss. Claire got up quickly from the bed and walked into the bathroom to wash her mouth. She sure must have been emitting really bad odor when she was speaking to him. Claire tidied up really well and then went to catch a little rest. Unfortunately for her, sleep would not come and she had managed to keep on yawning. A knock on her door got her up swiftly. She had expected to see Martha but was shocked that it was her father standing there with a food tray.
“May I come in?,” he asked her.
Claire whom had been trying to collect the meal from him smiled and shifted. She walked over to her bed just as he closed the door behind him using his leg. He came over to sit beside her as she climbed the bed, setting the food before her. He explained that he was well aware that Claire would not approve of him spoon feeding her but certainly not trying to stop him from watching her eat. Knowing there was nothing she could do about it, Claire nodded and had a really hard time eating. If only he knows what he was doing to her with the way he was looking at her, then he would have gone out of the room. She had no idea what she would do that would portray her as really dumb before him. It was enough already that she was dyslexic and that being dumb. She took longer than usual to finish the food and the man began playing with Miller who was trying hard not to play nice.
Her salvation came when his cellphone rang all of the sudden. He listened for a while and then apologized saying he had something really important to attend to. She nodded slowly, and watched as he left the room. Claire had no idea what she was going to classify him as at the moment. Whether as a father or a sympathizer. However she discovered she had lost her appetite and sat down there watching outside her window. Her phone which she had finally remembered to get some life into began ringing. It was Jake and he had called in to check on her. Claire finished the call and went to drop off her plate just as her father was leaving the house. She came down to Martha who looked at her in a way she could not understand.
The woman noticed she had not finished her food and asked if Claire was really fine and the girl said she was only tired. Claire set down her plate, washed it and excused herself to go get some rest. She walked back to her room only to discover she had left her door wide open. That explains how exhausted she was.
Claire entered the room and closed the door behind her. For a moment or there about, she laid down trying to get some sleep but oddly something seemed amiss in the room. She tried to think about it but could not. Claire stayed there for a while trying to get some sleep into her eyes to no avail. Her mind could not think straight until then she heard people talking outside. It was her step mother’s voice. It was now or never, Claire had to sleep.
“Claire!!!,” the woman suddenly shouted.
Claire jumped up from the bed as it dawned on her what had been missing from the bed. It explained a lot actually. The quietness and lack of the extra breather in that room. Miller must have gone out of the room when she left the door open. She came out of the room quickly swearing in her head what she would do to the cat. The woman saw her first and walked over to her grabbing her by the shoulders.
“What accident were you involved in?,” she demanded like she was actually worried. But Claire knew better, the woman had two of her friends with her and obviously they were admiring the stepmother and stepdaughter relationship between the two.