She was feeling really upset and he could tell with the way she was fuming all over. Tristan stood there watching her for a while as he was certain he had struck a cord in her. He breathed in a lot of air just to summon the courage he would be needing to talk to her. When he walked away from the door to where Claire was standing in the middle of the house, she angrily turned away from him frowning deeply. Tristan knew that instant that he had apparently made it success to her bad list and it was not going to be funny at all with the way she was glaring at him.
He walked over to her and steered her towards the bed to take her sit. Claire followed him steadily like she was half way through hypnosis and he sat down. Tristan indicated for her to sit as well but rather, Claire remained still standing.
“Have a sit Claire.” Tristan said to her
“No. I prefer to stand.” Claire said admist a sniffle.
Tristan smiled at her and stood up. This was damage control and he was smart enough to know that should she remain standing then they might eventually end up with a really heated argument. He put both his hands on her shoulders and made her sit apologizing for making her sit against her wish. Now, he went on to what he had heard her say about her not being able to read.
“You said you cannot read, how’s that even possible?” Tristan asked Claire
“Yes sir. I do not know how to read because I’m a dummy with no ability to understand what is written.” she said as another bout of tears started flowing.
Tristan reached into his pocket and then handed her his handkerchief which she took. He could still not figure out why the daughter of two geniuses would be unable to read. But then, come to think about it there was this part of the investigation saying she was rarely taken out by her parents which means that perhaps her parents were no different from his father. Her father had abandoned her after all for the woman he was currently living with. He then asked if she had at least passed high school.
Claire looked him over like she was trying to see him for the first time and went on to explain to him that she indeed had no certificate from high school and was however a lost cause. She was hopeless and that was the point. Tristan told her that it was not cool for her to refer to herself as hopeless. He still had a lot of digging into about her to do. The girl had many layers and she would never let anyone in on anything about her unless she gets pushed into letting people know about her. She was practically a moving wall hard to crack. However, he had finally found himself a sport right there at Norman.
He could now see through her eyes, the reason why she had applied instead for the job of a dishwasher rather than something that does with her talent which reminds him of something he failed to do, he asked her if she had ever been to a catering school before to which Claire said no. He was confused and went on to ask how then had she been able to make dishes the way she did.
Claire’s eyes and heart lit up at the sound of that. She wondered if there was a possibility that this was him actually complimenting her cooking. Whether or not it was, she adopted it as a compliment. It soothed her soul. He soothed her soul merely by being present at the moment and not calling her names. Her crying had subsided and she looked up at him to answer his question.
As a growing child, she had all the time indoors. Her mother was never around really and she had grown tired of her nannies after discovering the trick to the kitchen and to what they did in there. She had always been an observant child and the want to be left alone to herself made her always follow her nannies in the kitchen. Then her mother grew tired of having to constantly get her nannies. The woman let her be at the advise of Tom, her stepfather. The man had always noticed Claire’s interest on cooking shows and would most often than not get ingredients for her to practice with.
“You must have had a great relationship with your stepfather then?” Tristan asked
“No. I was an ass to the man. He was just guilty of wanting to bond with me.” Claire said looking down now.
Talk about a bigger ass and perhaps Tristan would boldly point out himself. All his life, he had never given his stepmother a chance or opportunity to prove herself to him and decided to make life hard on all of them with his attitude. If you are thinking he was having regrets, then you are wrong. Tristan was glad he had broken free from all their controls. He left them and he became his own man. Living under his father’s shadow would have meant him living by rules he did not gel with.
However, his basic concern at the moment was Claire and her issues with her ability to read. If she had no idea, then he was certain that unless she wanted to remain a dish washer all her life, then that would be one aspect of her life she would want to work on. Besides that’s to evolution, in a few years to come, even dishwashers would need their certificate if they were going to get gainful employment.
“How would you like I send you back to finish Claire?” he asked her suddenly.
The look in her eyes when she glared at him was frightening. If he did not know better, he would have said she wanted to kill him with that glare.
“No. I pretty much am comfortable the way I am sir.” Claire said
“It’s just for your senior year,” he said again
“And be laughed at, I don’t think so.” she said setting her jaw stubbornly
“No one would dare laugh at you. Not on my watch.” he said firmly
“Yes. Yet on the watch of my mother they made a fool out of me. I’ll pass Tristan.” she said in that lovely voice of her that excited him whenever she said his name.
“Then home school then?” he suggested
“Are you out of your mind. What is so important with me schooling? My father would never hear of it or my step mother. Tristan please, forget it.” she said vehemently.
Tristan could understand what she was thinking and that was far from what he was thinking. He started explaining that he was going to have her tutored at his place with or without her consent. Claire reminded him she was there to work and get paid. He smiled. He was still going to pay her, she did not understand him and neither would anyone. He explained that her job would be to make certain she puts her efforts into learning and the pay would come as incentive to her. However, failure to do so, he would deduct. Claire sighed and reminded him that this was all a total waste of time. She was never going to learn oweing to the fact that she was a dullard no matter how he tries to place it. Tristan smiled and asked if she wanted to make a bet.
“What’s in it for me? I don’t have anything to give except my compliance.” she said
“You get cooking lessons from me and if you keep making me happy in future, you might yet manage the Norman branch.” he said to her
“But there is a manager already.” Claire protested
“He would get another place.” Tristan said.
Claire could not understand this man at all but the bet came with the offer of her dream which she had thrown away. It was almost like he had gone to that bin and had pulled out that dream of her, dusted it up and was handing it to her now on a gold platter. The least she could do was take it. She asked if she could think about it. Tristan smiled and then said no. Her answer had to come that instant. She wanted to say no really for her sake. She had to say no because if she failed just one more person in her life yet again then she would have proven to everyone that nothing could be made out of her and the fact that she was an epic fail. If that becomes the case then what then would she do but there is was his offer. Another thing that was deterring her from saying no. Perhaps then it was high time she fought at least for her dream. So she looked up at him with her answer in her eyes even before she spoke it out.
“Yes.” Claire said.