Read Online Clean Slate by Holley Trent - Free Book Online Page A

who was far
too accommodating of her, had reminded her of how dead she was. He’d asked if
she was going to stand back and watch from distance when his children were
born.
    No. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t do that again. She wasn’t
going to let Louis steal that from her, too.
    After tucking the bottle back into her toiletry case, she
headed to the back garden where she sat at the small cast iron table she’d
shared so many glasses of wine with Ben in the past.
    Ben. Sweet, funny Ben. The only salve she’d had during all
that time, and now he’d gone off after his brother. She couldn’t blame him. If
she’d had siblings she’d probably want to be close to them, too. She knew Ben, and because of that was
perfectly at peace with him leaving her behind. He may not have known it, but
she’d felt the permanence of his departure in her bones.
    He needed his brother at this point in life more than he
needed his sad sack of a mother. He’d want to be near Jerry. She’d seen their
camaraderie. It was as it should have been—if she’d had both boys in
Belgium with her and not one stolen away and raised overseas.
    She pushed her reading glasses onto her nose and pulled
the cordless phone out of her cardigan pocket. She dialed. It took her three
tries, but she finally got all the digits in and in the right order.
    An answer. “Clara, is that you?” Trinity asked. “You
looking for one of the boys?”
    Clara nudged her glasses off and folded the arms over the
lenses. “You can understand me, yes?”
    Trinity laughed. “Most of the time. Ben’s helping
familiarize me with the accent.”
    “You can…”
    I wish she spoke a
little French or German .
    “…ask him to translate if you need. Would it be well if I
went early?”
    A pause. “Went early? You mean, come here sooner than the
wedding?”
    “Yes. I have time…”
    “Oh! Yes, absolutely. Come whenever you want. Jerry’ll be
so stoked.”
    Stoked? “That is
good? Stoked?”
    “Oh, sorry. Yes. Stoked is very good.”
    Clara wasn’t sure if she was just blowing smoke up her
ass, but she appreciated the enthusiasm all the same.
    “I will fly there on Monday if they let me.”
    “Should be fine. Louis said it was a fully refundable
ticket, so…”
    Louis . She hated
that he’d spent the money. It felt a bit dirty—like some kind of
inadequate pay-off for all he’d put her through, but she’d rather it be his
money than Jerry’s. Louis certainly had enough. That heks he married made sure of it.
    “I will call you. Tell you my plans.”
    “We’ll make up a room for you.”
    She disconnected and put the phone back in her pocket. As
she studied the sky, connecting stars into their respective constellations, she
pondered if Jerry and Trinity would really let her in—wondered what they
really thought about her. Did they think she was weak?
    Well, she was, but would they forgive her for it?
     

CHAPTER NINE
    “Daisy, honey, you look a little bit shell-shocked,” Liz
said as she pushed her phone headset back and turned away from her computer.
    Daisy dead-bolted the front door and shuffled into the living
room, dragging her messenger bag behind her. Long day, and an emotionally
draining one at that. She’d spent so much time “on” at the trade show, smiling
and chatting with strangers, that by the time she and Ben broke down their
display, she had nothing left. The drive home had been blessedly short of
conversation only because she fell asleep somewhere between Raleigh and
Knightdale.
    He didn’t wake her until they were traversing the Chowan
River Bridge and he needed help finding her house in the dark. He’d squeezed
her knee to wake her and she’d looked over at him, face all perfect planes and
angles in the dark, and thought for a one sleep-drunk moment that he was an
angel. Then she wiped the drool off her chin and sat up.
    “Long day, Liz.” Daisy hung her bag’s strap over the coat
hook and heeled off her shoes.
    “Where exactly were