The Question Claire Could Finally Answer
Chapter 17 - The Question Claire Could Finally Answer
A year after the restaurant confrontation, Noah asked Claire the same question again.
“Do you love Dad?”
This time she did not redirect him.
“Yes.”
Noah nodded as though confirming a theory.
“I knew it.”
Eli looked up from his cereal.
“Are you getting married?”
Claire nearly laughed.
“One question at a time.”
That evening Adrian took her to the same Italian restaurant.
The same table was available.
Claire stared at it.
“Seriously?”
“I thought we could replace the memory.”
They sat where the twins had sat between them one year earlier.
Adrian placed a folded paper on the table.
Claire froze.
He smiled.
“It’s not a DNA test.”
She opened it.
It was a handwritten list.
Things I promise not to do.
Disappear.
Let fear make decisions for us.
Pretend the past didn’t happen.
Assume love fixes everything without work.
At the bottom he had written:
And I promise to keep choosing this family, if you’ll let me.
Claire looked up.
“You practiced that.”
“For weeks.”
“It shows.”
He laughed.
May you like
Then she kissed him.
This time she did not step away.
