* * *
Claire picked up speed as she broke away from Jasper’s parents and Linc. Uppermost in her mind was escaping the polo grounds and getting to her daughter. The decisions she needed to make could wait until she held Honey in her arms once more.
“Claire!” Everly Briggs was bearing down on her. “Where are you going? I thought we were going to meet up so I could get you the money we owe you.”
“I have the receipts here. Can you mail me the check? I need to leave.”
As she extended the folder to Everly, Claire glanced over her shoulder, looking for the Patmores. But she didn’t see Jasper’s parents. Maybe she’d given them the slip. She sure hoped so. The thought of them following her to Linc’s house alarmed her.
“Is something wrong?” Everly made no attempt to take the folder from Claire. “You seem upset. Has something happened?”
“My address is on the paperwork.” She’d secured a PO Box when she’d first arrived in Charleston and had all her mail sent there.
“Did you and Linc have a fight?”
“What?”
“I saw him a few seconds ago and noticed that he looked angry. Did you fight about how much time he spent with Landry Beaumont today?” Everly’s green eyes gleamed with interest. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you.”
Claire stared at the woman in dumbfounded silence. “I’m not jealous.”
“Because you think he’s going to pick you over her?” Everly laughed, and it wasn’t a nice sound. “That’s never going to happen. You’re not in her league.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
It was hard always being treated like she wasn’t good enough. First, her mother had walked out on Claire. Then her father chose his new family over her. Maybe there was something wrong with her, because she’d become embroiled in a relationship with Linc knowing she was even less suitable than his former fiancée.
“And it doesn’t matter,” Claire continued. “Linc and I aren’t involved.”
“Who do you think you’re kidding?” Everly leaned in and pinned Claire with a malicious stare. “I watched the two of you together and saw exactly what’s going on. You’re sleeping with him.”
Claire recoiled, wondering how such a fun day had gone to hell so fast. She was opening her mouth to deny Everly’s claim when they were interrupted by a familiar voice.
“There you are,” Jasper’s mother said. “Don’t think you can get away so easily.”
“Who are these people?” Everly demanded, assessing the Patmores with a frown. “Did you invite them?”
“No.”
“How did you get in here?” Everly continued.
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Doug Patmore said, “but we had tickets.”
Seeing this answer wasn’t going to satisfy Everly, Claire decided the sooner she got Jasper’s parents out of there, the better. Rather than argue with them any further near witnesses, Claire once again broke off and headed in the direction of the parking lot. As she expected, the Patmores were hot on her heels.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Doug demanded, panting a little as he caught up with her.
“Away from you.” But as they reached the parking lot, Claire slowed down so she could ask the question uppermost in her thoughts. “How did you find me in Charleston and how did you know where I would be today?”
“A woman called us and said you’d moved here,” Sharon said.
Doug nodded. “She said you’d taken up with some ballplayer and were living with him.”
“What woman?” Claire demanded, gripping her car keys as her blood ran cold. Who would go to all the trouble to do something like that?
“She didn’t give us her name, but she said she was from Charleston and had met you at a party.” Jasper’s father looked disgusted. “Is that what you’ve been doing since you’ve been here? Neglecting our granddaughter while you go out carousing at night?”
“The only party I’ve attended was one I catered recently. I was working, not carousing.”
Claire thought back to Bettina’s party. Was it possible that one of the guests had suspected something was going on between her and Linc and decided that she needed to be out of the picture? That was crazy. No one in their right mind would consider Claire competition. But what other explanation could there be? And how would anyone have known how to find Jasper’s parents? She hadn’t told anyone his last name. Would someone have gone so far as to have her investigated? If so, it was a despicable thing to do.
“What about the baseball player you’re shacked up with?” Doug asked. “Is he doing drugs and partying? What sort of environment is that for our granddaughter?”
If she wasn’t used to their harassment, these sorts of accusations might’ve shocked Claire. But it wasn’t much different from what they’d thrown at her in San Francisco and reinforced why she’d left. Even though she’d told herself that it was difficult for grandparents to take custody of a child away from its mother, she didn’t trust that the system always worked the way it was supposed to. Nor did she have the means to fight a lengthy battle against Jasper’s parents.
“He doesn’t party,” Claire said. “And where I’m living is none of your business.”
“I’ll bet he has money,” Jasper’s father said, his eyes narrowing to slits.
She shook her head. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Maybe you don’t want to lose your meal ticket.”
“My meal ticket?” Until Jasper’s death, Claire hadn’t had any contact with his parents and everything since then had been negative, but this was beyond anything she’d expected. “What are you talking about?”
“Seems to us that you have a sweet situation here.”
What was he trying to get at? Claire looked from Doug to Sharon and back again. The disgust on their faces set something off. Shame flooded her. She wasn’t the horrible person they imagined, but there was no question that she’d been sleeping with Linc and behaving recklessly.
“Give us our sweet baby,” Sharon said, “and we’ll leave you be.”
“She’s not your sweet baby.” Fury burned away Claire’s confusion.
