Unexpected Arrivals

by Stephie Walls

  “Did something happen to your mom? No one called me.”

  I just shook my head, unable to respond. As much as I wanted to hide my dirty secret, there was no way I could face this on my own. And without being able to go to James, I had no other choice than to tell Dottie. I dreaded seeing the disappointment on her face, though it was less daunting than destroying James’s life.

  I didn’t dare make eye contact when I gestured with my outstretched hand, offering her the explanation for my tears.

  “Oh.” That was the only thing she said. She didn’t yell or blow her top. It was one word, one syllable—that was all Dottie gave me.

  Until she sat on the bathroom floor and leaned against the cabinets that held me up. She patted my knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Children are blessings regardless of the circumstances under which they enter the world.”

  I rolled my eyes up to her, wondering what kind of drugs she’d done while she was out of the house. “You can’t be serious. My life is a total mess. How could I possibly bring a child into this chaos?”

  She pulled tissue off the roll of toilet paper and handed it to me to blow my snotty nose. When I finally cleaned up my face, she said, “What about the father? Won’t he want to help?”

  I proceeded to tell Dottie all about Carp without giving his name or Cora’s. They had both grown up in this town, and I couldn’t risk it getting back to them—not before I figured out what I planned to do. There was so much more to consider than just being a single parent, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it all at this point in my life.

  “I can’t tell you what to do, Chelsea. And I wouldn’t force you to do it even if you told me the boy’s name. However, I think any man who fathers a child has a right to know. You weren’t the only one who conceived that baby, and you certainly shouldn’t be the only one responsible for raising it.”

  I never knew my dad—not even his name. I’d never seen a picture, heard my mom talk about him, nothing. Not a Christmas card, a birthday present, or even a “hello” along the way. But I never missed him because I’d never known anything different. I’d had an amazing childhood, and other than my mom, Dottie was the only family I’d had.

  “I think it would do more harm than good. Plus, I didn’t have a dad, and I turned out okay.”

  “You’re incredible…but, Chelsea, your mom didn’t always have it easy. She worked really hard when you were little, and she struggled at times. Just because you never saw that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. And she knew throughout your entire childhood that she would get sick at some point, leaving you alone. She took a huge risk by not involving the father.”

  “Then why’d she do it?” Despite my asking this question more times than I could count, my mother had never given me anything to go on.

  Dottie’s head dipped and her eyes closed. I could tell she was on the verge of revealing a piece of truth that had the potential to change how I’d viewed everything in my life. I held my breath, waiting for her to speak.

  “All of this happened before I met her, so I can only tell you what little I know.”

  My chest rose and fell dramatically, and my heart raced.

  “She dated a man at work, but he traveled a lot. They had a casual relationship as far as my understanding goes. Your mother cared for him, even if she didn’t love him. They saw each other frequently and talked regularly. When she told him she was pregnant, he finally admitted to her that he was married.”

  I gasped, unable to believe anyone could carry on an affair, even a casual one, and the wife not be aware it was happening.

  “You have to remember this was a different time, Chelsea. Social media didn’t exist, cell phones were relatively new and not widely used. She had no reason to believe he was anything different than what he told her he was.”

  I was speechless. I’d never imagined my mother in some sort of sordid affair. That was the opposite of the person I grew up with. Although, it also made Dottie’s story believable. My mother wouldn’t have slept with another woman’s husband had she known she existed.

  “So what happened? Did his wife find out?”

  “I think he realized what he stood to lose by his wife finding out, and I believe he loved his wife, he just got caught up in something he shouldn’t have. So he offered your mother a lot of money to go away, which your mother refused. To the best of my understanding, he never told his wife, and your mother never spoke to him again. You were never an option for her—she loved you from the second she knew you existed. It wasn’t in her to be part of a scandal either, and she never would have destroyed a marriage that could have been salvaged. I don’t believe she ever spoke of him again. She was determined to do things on her own, and for you to have the best life possible.”

  “If she knew she had Huntingtons then, why wouldn’t she take the money?”

  “She wasn’t sick and hadn’t shown any symptoms at that point. And I think she wanted to keep you pure. In her eyes, accepting money for her silence meant she was ashamed. So she adamantly refused.”

  It didn’t change anything for me, even if it blew me away. My mother was still my rock, and I loved her. I hated that she struggled because she’d refused help, but in the end, it made our relationship what it was.

  “So the guy never asked about me? He never called her to check on me or anything?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. I think it might have been the wakeup call he’d needed, although that’s just my assumption. Your mother believed his image in the community played a part, and an affair would have destroyed him and his family. It wasn’t something she wanted on her shoulders, so she let it go and never looked back.”

  I considered asking if she knew my father’s name, then I realized that at this point in my life, it wouldn’t do any good. Nothing positive could come of me finding him. If his wife still wasn’t aware I existed, all I’d do by locating him was create exactly what my mom had spent my entire life avoiding.

  “Your circumstances are very different than your mother’s, Chelsea. Don’t carry this burden alone. There’s too much at stake.”

  I couldn’t begin to consider destroying Carp with this information right now. I was swimming in the similarities between me and my own mother’s history, and it was frightening how alike they were. But right now, I couldn’t think about James or Cora. I had to figure out what I wanted to do before I ruined anyone else’s life.

  11

  James

  I’d have a migraine soon if I didn’t stop beating my head against the desk.

  “You promised me, James.” Her tears broke me.

  I’d been trying to get to France since I left my parents’ house in August. However, the stars hadn’t aligned, and I’d done everything in my power to send the moon into retrograde. We’d been bombarded with new clients. The two investors we’d hired turned into four, and somehow, we still couldn’t keep up. I hadn’t been to Sideways Shots since I’d gotten home because I’d worked every waking moment in order to clear a few days in my schedule. Oddly, I hadn’t heard from any of the people at the bar either, but I guessed that was how the whole “casual” thing worked.

  “You keep getting my hopes up only to tell me you can’t come. It’s not fair. Why can’t Neil make do without you for a few days?” Wails had turned to whimpers, and I couldn’t take it.

  Every fiber of my being yearned to comfort her, hold her, kiss her forehead, and protect her. I couldn’t do shit from thirty-five hundred miles away, and she’d chosen that. That wasn’t a decision we’d made together or one I’d even been consulted on—even still, a little piece of me died every time she shed a tear of unhappiness.

  “Baby…” I didn’t even care that it had slipped out. I was exhausted, there was most definitely a bruise forming on my forehead, and I still had another five hours of work at minimum before I could walk out the door. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was already four thirty and dropped my head again.

  “I miss you, James. I want t
o see you. You promised you’d come.”

  “Cora, sweetheart, I’m trying my best. I swear, I am. Did something happen today that has you so upset?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you tell me what it was?”

  “You delayed another trip.”

  I couldn’t help the chuckle that formed in my chest and rose through my throat and out of my mouth. She was so fucking cute, and I was miserable without her. It had been over seventeen months since I’d seen her other than the picture that flashed on my screen when she called. She refused to FaceTime, declaring it heightened the anticipation of seeing each other in person. I bet she regretted that shit now.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn a five-year-old held the phone on the other end of the line. “I’m—hell, I don’t know.”

  She sniffled, and I stifled the urge to laugh again when Neil popped his head in my office. I covered the phone when he didn’t leave. “Give me five.”

  He nodded and walked off.

  “Cora, you know I miss you, too. I promise, before I go home tonight, I will book a flight.”

  “Non-refundable?”

  I chuckled, “Yeah. Non-refundable.”

  “Okay.”

  “I have to go deal with Neil. I promise when we talk in the morning, I’ll have dates for you.”

  With that pledge, I hung up and dealt with Neil and a hundred other fires that needed to be put out. By the time I pulled up flights, it was after ten, and I hadn’t eaten since noon. The last thing I wanted to do was think about traveling, but at the end of that grueling flight stood Cora—so I’d endure.

  I’d told Neil what my plans were, and he agreed; I just had to go. There wasn’t going to be a break in the schedule, and there was no such thing as a good time. He knew how desperately I missed her, and I loved him for encouraging me.

  Chelsea called in the midst of my travel planning, but I sent her to voicemail. My brain was too fried to do more than one thing at a time, and I had promised Cora I’d have an answer for her tomorrow. Chelsea would understand. Hell, she’d probably book it and set the itinerary for me if I told her what I was up against. She’d been bugging me for weeks about when I was going, but I’d put her off the same way I had Cora. She wanted me to be happy, and she chastised me regularly for not realigning my priorities. It was one of the things I appreciated most about her—she was selfless and wanted the best for those she knew.

  I’d wondered if a friendship with another woman would ever work. I wasn’t sure anything platonic could really exist between two people, especially two people who’d had sex—albeit, very bad sex that we laughed about afterward—but sex nonetheless. However, she’d proven there was nothing else there, no ulterior motive, no desire to try to keep something going between us other than friendship. Even Cora’s skepticism over Chelsea waned the more she learned, until she’d started asking about Chelsea’s mom, Janie, and even Dottie. Then again, that was who Cora was, too—loving and nurturing.

  I barely remembered driving home, much less getting into bed, but I couldn’t wait to call Cora. We’d made tentative plans more times than she’d let me forget, and until now, I’d yet to book a flight—this was set in stone. And I’d already started counting down.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, babe.” I shouldn’t let the pet names flow so freely; however, they’d felt right last night, and she hadn’t stopped me or corrected it, so I was going with it.

  “You’re awfully chipper this morning.”

  “I made you a promise.”

  “Do you have dates?” Her voice went from casual to animated in seconds.

  “How about Christmas in Paris?”

  “Seriously?”

  “I bought the ticket last night, so I hope that works for you.”

  “Non-refundable?”

  I laughed heartily while I answered. “Yeah. So if you don’t want to see me, I either just wasted two grand, or I’m going to hang out with the pigeons in the park.”

  “They like bread crumbs.”

  “Are you feeding me to the birds?”

  “Nah, but it does get cold here in December.”

  “Like New York cold?”

  “No, it’s not that brutal. Oh my God, James. I can’t believe I get to see you in—wait, what date are you actually arriving?”

  “December twenty-second.”

  “Eeep. How long do I get to keep you?”

  I never thought those words would be so appealing or that I’d hear Cora squeal like a child.

  “Forever if you’ll have me, but I fly back out on January second.”

  “Ten days?” She totally skipped over forever. “Really? How will Neil breathe without you around to force air into his lungs?”

  “I haven’t told him how long I’ll be gone.”

  She erupted in laughter, and it was the greatest gift she’d ever given me—next to her love. “He’s going to Hulk out on you.”

  “I doubt he’ll turn green and have muscles popping out everywhere. Plus, he encouraged me to go. He thinks it will be good for us.”

  “How is having you gone good for Neil?” The way her voice dropped half an octave when she was confused brought a grin to my face. The nuances that were Cora were endless, and I missed every single one of them.

  “Not good for him…good for us—me and you.” My laughter died, and I held my breath while waiting for her response.

  “James…” My name was nothing more than a whisper on her lips.

  I didn’t push it. I’d hinted at where my thoughts were—it was no secret I’d never wanted her to leave—and if flying to France didn’t prove to her I still loved her, then maybe my presence there would.

  “So, promise me you’ll take some time off, and when I get there, you’ll show me around like a tourist. There’s only one place I’d like to go on New Year’s Eve, so leave that day open. Although, feel free to fill in the rest with whatever you want to do or see.”

  Luckily, Cora didn’t ask what I had in mind, and instead, just prattled on about the places she’d meant to explore since she arrived but hadn’t been able to because of her work schedule. It wouldn’t matter if every one of them sucked; hearing her excitement made them appealing. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could rekindle my love affair with Cora Chase in Paris, yet now that the opportunity had arisen, I couldn’t fathom a better place.

  ***

  It wasn’t uncommon for Chelsea and me to play phone tag for a week at a time, still, she hadn’t read or responded to my texts in a couple of days. When I called today, I half expected to get her voicemail, but she picked up on the last ring. And immediately, I knew something wasn’t right.

  “Chelsea, what’s wrong?”

  There was a long pause, and her deep inhale wasn’t a sign of good things to come. Even though I didn’t want to pry, if something had happened to her mother, I should be there for her the way she always was for me. I couldn’t replace her mom—I could, however, keep her from feeling alone.

  “My mom has pneumonia. I’m sorry I haven’t answered your calls. I’ve been in Tampa. I’m still here—well, at the hotel. Dottie stayed with her.”

  “Pneumonia’s treatable, though, right?”

  “For lots of people, yes. For someone with late-stage Huntingtons, it’s more likely a death sentence.”

  Hearing her cry was almost as bad as listening to Cora. And in both cases, I wasn’t anywhere near able to help them or comfort them. Chelsea might as well be in Paris with Cora in terms of distance. I didn’t know anyone who’d lost a parent. The closest thing I’d ever experienced was Cora’s grandfather passing away, but they weren’t close, and she hadn’t even gone to the funeral because of school. I was in unchartered territory.

  “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” There wasn’t; it just seemed right to offer.

  “Tell me something good. I don’t want to think about this right now.”


  I was hesitant to tell her I’d finally booked a flight to Paris. I hated to come across as insensitive—like I was gaining someone I loved while she lost the same. “Umm, I had an Egg McMuffin for breakfast, and they accidentally put two eggs on it.”

  She giggled on the other end. “Not really what I had in mind, although I’m glad to hear you were able to complete the egg heist of the year from the golden arches.”

  “It may not seem like much, but that extra protein put a pep in my step. They even upsized my coffee for the extended wait in the drive-thru.”

  “What are you going to do with all that good fortune, Carp? You should go out and buy a lottery ticket right away. Luck like this doesn’t come along often.”

  “I’ll get one for you while I’m at it.”

  There was a slight lull, though nothing uncomfortable. I wondered if she was thinking about winning the lottery like I was and what she’d do with that kind of money. However, before I could ask, she shot out her own question.

  “I wanted to talk to you about something.” We both said the words, almost verbatim, at the same time.

  “You first,” she insisted.

  I couldn’t imagine what she had to talk to me about, but her tone had been serious, and I wondered why she didn’t go first. Maybe it had to do with her mom and putting it off as long as possible was preferable.

  “I finally booked a trip to Paris.” The words raced out as though I’d be burned with their touch if they lingered on my lips too long.

  “Oh.”

  That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected. Before I could say anything else, she spoke again.

  “Carp, that’s wonderful. When are you going?” Her excitement didn’t seem genuine, but I couldn’t say for sure. She could have just been expecting something else.

  “Not until the end of December. I’m going to spend New Year’s there.”

  “That’s great. How long are you staying?”

  “Ten days. You don’t sound interested; we can talk about this another time.” I tried to give her an out. I’m sure it was hard to be ecstatic for me with what she was dealing with in Florida.