Chapter 4
I messaged him my edits right to his phone.
He looked them over and nodded.
"You really know your way around business contracts," David said.
"I've been doing this for five years, kind of have to be," I replied.
David put his phone away and looked at me. "Ms. Claire Jennings, if you don't mind me asking, did you used to work for one of Horizon Group's downstream companies?"
I took a sip of my coffee.
"Something like that. Just a small company. I'm not there anymore," I said.
"Which one?"
"Brightwave Media."
David looked a little taken aback.
"Eric's company?" he asked.
I raised an eyebrow.
"You know him?" I asked.
"I've met him a few times," David said. "He's one of the sales guys who works with us."
I just stayed quiet, not bothering to explain.
David seemed to catch on to something, his eyes lingering on me for a moment.
"Epicurean Studio the founder's identity has never been made public, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Got it," he said, nodding, and didn't ask any more questions.
But after that day, the way he looked at me changed. There was something new in his eyes.
It wasn't out of sympathy.
And it wasn't just curiosity, either.
It felt like he was reassessing who I really was.
We wrapped up the contract after just two rounds of talks.
It was a 4-million-dollar annual deal, plus a bonus. If the joint products pull in over 15 million dollars in a quarter, the share goes up from 15% to 22%.
Oliver was so hyped that he treated the whole studio to a barbecue that very day.
"Chef Claire, we're gonna hit 30 million dollars in revenue this year!" Oliver said, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Yeah," I replied.
"You know, the Horizon Group brand team spent half a year trying to dig up who you really are. They all thought you were some old gourmet, like a retired food critic in her forties or fifties."
"Oh."
"Bet they were stunned when they found out you're only twenty-eight."
"Doesn't matter."
I put my phone away and headed to pick up Lily from preschool.
On the way, Sophie called me.
"Claire! Guess what?" she blurted out.
"Keep it down," I said.
"Monica's pregnant! Eric just sent out cash in the department group chat. He said they're celebrating two big things at once!"
I hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road.
Two big things at once.
First, the new marriage. Second, the new baby.
When Lily was born, he didn't even bother to post about it on social media.
"Claire? Are you okay?" Sophie sounded worried.
"I'm okay," I replied.
"Don't feel bad..."
"Seriously, I'm not upset," I said as I started the car. "Tell him congrats for me."
"You!" Eric started.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you," I said, my tone light.
I hung up.
Lily came out of preschool, a little red flower badge pinned to her backpack, her teacher's way of saying she did great today.
"Mommy! I got first place for my drawing today!" Lily shouted, her face lighting up with excitement.
I crouched down and scooped her up in my arms.
"That's awesome! What do you want to eat?" I asked.
"Strawberry cake!"
"Alright."
I took her hand and walked her to the car.
At four years old, Lily didn't know what divorce or being abandoned meant.
All she knew was that her mom was always there to pick her up from preschool every day, and that was all she needed.
Once word got out that Monica was pregnant, my phone blew up.
Everyone was suddenly all over me, acting like they cared.
But the one who really got under my skin was Mrs. Lawson, my ex-mother-in-law.
"Claire, Eric and Monica are having a baby. If you ever have trouble taking care of Lily..." Mrs. Lawson started.
"Trouble? What trouble?" I cut her off.
"Well, I'm just saying, if you ever get remarried, your new husband might not want to raise someone else's kid. If that happens, you can just let Lily stay with us."
"That's not happening."
"Just let me finish."
"Mrs. Lawson," I cut her off. "Lily might have your last name, but she's staying with me. I've got full custody. It's right there in the legal papers, plain as day. So you really don't need to worry about her anymore."
There was a long pause on the other end.
"Is that any way to talk to your elders? I'm her grandma." Mrs. Lawson snapped.
I hung up.
And then I blocked her for good.
That night, Sophie came over and found me sitting alone on the balcony.
"Were you crying?" she asked.
"No," I said.
"Your eyes are red."
"Just did a set of sit-ups."
Sophie didn't call me out on it. She just sat down next to me.
"Are you hiding something from me lately?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" I replied.