The Chapter Where A Girl Gets Handouts

Liane’s resolve deflated all at once. “You figured it out?”

Claire nodded. “Yep. It was obvious once I stopped to think about it.”

“I—”

“You’re a liar,” Claire interrupted, “You’re not really here to deliver me a package. It makes sense. You and my dad have a lot in common. You both love plants. You're both afraid of animals. And you both have unquestioning, infuriating faith in the System.”

Claire stood and began pacing in front of Liane.

“How could I not have realized sooner. I can’t believe it. And here I thought I finally had a real human friend. So stupid of me.”

“Claire—”

“Don’t. I don’t want to hear your excuses. You tricked and betrayed me, and I can’t trust you. I hate you.”

“But Aurelia—”

“What about her? You want to blame Aurelia? She helped you come up with this plan, did she? I could see that since she’s so nice, but that just means you took advantage of her. You're selfish and arrogant, thoughtless, rude, disrespectful, uncaring.”

Liane shrank. She had nothing to say. Nothing she could say to refute her. The only thing she could do was wait till Claire revealed the truth to the System and be spirited away to a desert island.

Claire glared at Liane. “And disgusting. I can’t believe you. I don’t even want to know what you two did together.”

“You two?” Liane repeated.

Claire ignored her. “So what, is this some kind of revenge? Hmm? You’re here to harass me and make me feel guilty for not seeing my dad before he died? Well, it won’t work. I don’t care about him. I hate him. He deserved to die alone. He deserved to suffer. Deserved to feel the crushing loneliness that I have to go through every day.” Claire stopped pacing. “He didn’t deserve to have someone like you by his side when I have no one.”

Claire swiftly turned away, wiping her face with her sleeve. Liane recognized a chance. She had no idea what Claire thought was going on, but she realized Claire didn’t yet know the truth. She could make this situation work to her advantage. Step one of her plan to get Claire to undo the restraining order against Liam: make Claire sad, check. Now for step two.

Liane stood up. She approached Claire cautiously, and as gingerly as she could, said, “Claire, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Claire snapped.

“That I don’t understand. Your dad didn’t send me here to harass you or make you feel bad. He loved you.”

“Yeah right. I know he hated me. I’m sure he told you all the horrible things I said to him when I moved out.”

“Trust me when I say, he didn’t, not a single word. He did talk about you a lot, but it was always good things. He told me how great you were, how smart and clever you were, and how much he missed you. He wanted to see you one more time before he died, you know.”

“To tell me he hated me.”

“To tell you he loved you. And to say goodbye.”

“Sure he did. That sounds just like him,” Claire scoffed, “I can’t trust you or anything you say. You’re on his side. You can only see the good in him since you two were together, but I—”

“Wait,” Liane interrupted, “Together? What do you mean by together?”

Claire hesitated. Liane edged to the side till she could see her face. When Liane caught her eye, Claire turned away.

“You’re asking me? You should know.”

“But I don’t. What exactly do you think my relationship was with your dad?”

“Well, you're… you know,” Claire indicated, waving her hand in the air.

Liane shrugged and shook her head.

“You’re… you know! You met him the same way you met me, while delivering packages, right?”

“That’s right,” Liane agreed, readily accepting the handout explanation.

“And you started talking and discovered you had a lot in common.”

“Right. Yeah.”

“And you kept seeing each other.”

“Mhmm.”

“And you fell in love. You’re lovers.”

Liane stared at her daughter, then she started laughing.

Claire sniffed and wiped her face. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

“Sorry! Sorry,” Lianne said while still laughing. Claire glared at her, and she reigned herself in. “Okay. I’m done. Sorry. Ahem! Your dad and I weren’t lovers. I delivered him packages. We talked. That’s all.”

Claire wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve. “That’s all?”

“That’s all,” Liane emphasized, “He was easy to talk to because we had a lot in common, like you said, but we weren’t romantic. I’m not even sure we were friends. It’s obvious to me after meeting you, that he liked talking to me because I reminded him of you. He felt bad about how things ended between the two of you. I know he blamed himself. Sometimes he would look off into the distance and apologize out of the blue. He was apologizing to you. He just wanted to see you again before he died, to make amends with you.”

“I guess that makes me the bad guy then, because like you said, I didn’t go see him, and now it’s too late.”

Liane bit her cheek to stop herself from grinning. Step two, check.

“I’m sorry. That was stupid of me to say. I’m sure you had your reasons for not going, and he loved you all the same. Tell me, what would you say to him if you could see him again?”

“I… I don’t know,” Claire admitted.

Liane eased her way around Claire till they were face to face. Her eyes were puffy and red, still wet with tears. Liane smiled up at her.

“It’s okay. Remember, he loved you no matter what. You could say anything or even nothing, and it would have made him happy. Just being with him, maybe holding his hand, that would be enough.”

Liane cupped Claire’s hand between her own. Claire took a shuddering breath. She returned Liane’s smile.

“Thanks Liane. You’re a good friend. I’m sorry I said all those mean things to you and accused you of trying to trick me and called you a liar.”

“It’s okay. You were just upset.” Liane could feel herself closing in on her goal. With a little prompting, she could get Claire to admit she wants to see Liam again. Time for step three. “So, I know you didn’t get to see him before he died, but if you could, would you do things differently? Maybe just to say goodbye, would you or do you want to see your dad again?”

This was it. Everything had gone according to plan, more or less. She knew Claire better than anyone else ever could. There was never a doubt in her mind that she could do this. All Liane needed now was a ‘yes’ and her happy reunion with her daughter could begin.

Claire peered down at Liane. Her head tilted to one side as she said, “No, of course not.”