Claire sat at her desk going through a few books and making sure she had everything ready for the next day.
Monday was going to be another busy day and she had no intention of starting it in a rush.
Her work clothes were already laid out.
Her teaching bag was packed with her lesson plans and everything else she would need tucked inside.
She had learned her lesson after waking up earlier that evening with her neck stiff and her cheek pressed against the sofa cushion.
She hadn’t even realized she had fallen asleep.
If Ryan hadn’t called her phone, she probably would have stayed there much longer.
After waking up, she’d gotten herself together and realized she was hungry.
Ruby was already gone, so there hadn’t been much choice.
She had gone out to the nearby restaurant and grabbed something quick before coming back home.
Back in the quiet of her space, Claire turned another page of the book in front of her.
She needed to prepare for Sophie’s lessons but her mind kept drifting back to that afternoon.
To Sebastian’s cold voice saying, “She’s dead.” The words echoed in her head, followed by Sophie’s angry cry: “There’s no mommy in this house!”
Claire’s chest tightened again.
She knew what it was like to grow up without her parents.
She knew how a careless comment could hurt more than people realized.
For Sophie, it must have been even harder.
At least Claire had been older when she lost hers.
Then there was the woman in the black SUV.
Claire frowned slightly as she remembered the brief encounter.
The woman had looked at her for just a few seconds before rolling the window back up without saying anything.
Was she a relative?
Someone important to Sophie and her father?
She couldn’t help wondering who the lady was.
The words on the page began to blur.
Claire sighed, reaching for the small case on her desk.
She opened it and pulled out a pair of thin, wire framed glasses.
Her eyes had a habit of misbehaving at night, especially after a long day.
She put them on and the text became sharper.
Around eleven o’clock, the front door burst open followed by Ruby’s familiar off-key singing.
“I’m hoooome!
Did you miss me?”
Claire rolled her eyes and continued to go through the notes.
Ruby’s footsteps approached and stopped outside her open door.
“Working?” She asked as she peeked in.
She leaned against the doorframe, swaying a bit.
The faint sweet smell of wine clung to her.
“Just training my eyes,” Claire replied, not looking up from her book.
Ruby sighed dramatically.
“I’m so tired.
And I have to tell you something important.
Remind me after I’ve changed, okay?”
“Okay,” Claire replied as Ruby disappeared to her room.
A few minutes later, her stomach rumbled again.
The fast food hadn’t been nearly enough.
She pushed her chair back, heading out to the living room and sinking onto the sofa.
“Ruby!” she called.
Ruby’s door opened and she walked out, yawning and stretching.
“Hungry right?
Let’s see what we can cook.
I know that’s what you want to ask for.”
Claire snorted.
“Just get whatever done.”
Ruby dragged her feet into the kitchen and opened the cabinets and fridge one after another.
Claire watched her movements with a calm expression.
Somehow, Ruby always knew what to do in a kitchen even when Claire was still trying to figure out what could be made with what they had.
Claire’s eyes brightened suddenly as a thought flash through her mind.
“Hey,” she called out.
“You said I should remind you.
You wanted to tell me something.”
Ruby paused and turned to look at her with a strange expression.
“I did?
You sure?”
“Yes, when you came in.
You said you had something important to tell me.”
Ruby’s brows furrowed in concentration.
Then her eyes widened and she turned her attention back to what she was doing.
“Oh!
Right!
I wanted to ask you how the place you went to this afternoon went.”
Claire sighed, leaning her head back against the cushions.
So that was it?
She had thought it might be something serious.
“That’s what you wanted to tell me?” she asked in a flat tone.
“When you said you had something important to tell me, I thought…
I don’t know.
That Ryan had finally broken up with you or something.”
***
(The next day)
The school bell had barely rung when Claire found herself standing beside the black sedan that would take them to the house.
Sophie had been quiet during the ride, staring out the window as if Claire didn’t exist.
When they arrived, the driver got out and opened the door.
Sophie jumped out before he could even step aside and ran toward the front door without looking back.
“Miss Anderson,” Chloe’s gentle voice called from the doorway.
“Sophie needs to change and have a snack before lessons.”
Claire nodded.
“Thank you.
I’ll set up in the study.”
Thirty minutes later, Claire had arranged the materials on the study desk when Sophie finally appeared now wearing a simple cotton dress.
She jumped into her chair without a word.
“Alright, Sophie,” Claire began, keeping her voice pleasant.
“Let’s start with these multiplication problems.
Can you solve this one for me?”
Sophie stared at the page but said nothing.
Her expression was blank as if Claire were speaking a foreign language.
“Sophie?
Can you hear me?”
Still nothing.
Claire tried again, pointing to the problem.
“If we have three groups of four apples, how many apples do we have in total?”
Sophie stood up suddenly and walked toward the door.
“Sophie, where are you going?” Claire asked while trying to maintain her calm.
“Bathroom,” the girl replied without turning back.
Claire waited.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Finally Sophie returned, not to her seat but to the bookshelf where she began examining the titles.
“Sophie, we need to continue the lesson.”
The girl turned slowly.
“I needed fresh air.
The room feels stuffy.”
Before Claire could respond, Sophie was out the door again.
This time Claire followed and found her in the hallway looking at a painting on the wall.
“Sophie, we need to go back to the study.
Now.”
The girl sighed dramatically with a shrug.
“I was just exploring.
This is my house, you know.”
They returned to the study and Claire decided to try a different approach.
“Alright, let’s try this reading exercise instead.”
Sophie slumped into her chair, glaring at the page.
Claire pointed to a passage and asked her to read it aloud.
Instead, the girl yawned while stretching her arms wide.
“I’m so tired,” Sophie whined.
“I can’t learn when I’m this tired.
I can’t wait for Dad to come home.
Maybe when Auntie Belle comes, I can ask her to call him so he won’t forget to help me get the ice cream as usual.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
She knew exactly what this brat was doing.
Testing boundaries, trying to provoke a reaction.
Just as she was about to redirect her attention again, Sophie began to hum softly.
Then she started singing in a voice loud enough to be distracting.
“My grandma has a purple nose, she keeps it in a jar.
She says she only lost it once, but I know where it are.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“Sophie, please be quiet.”
“I’m not doing anything!” She protested though her singing was growing louder.
“My grandma has a purple nose, she sneezes out a shoe.
Yesterday she sneezed out two, and one belonged to you.”
That’s when something inside Claire snapped.
Her hand came down hard on the table, almost making Sophie jump from her chair in shock.
“Quiet,” she said through gritted teeth, her eyes burning red with frustration…