Chapter 30

There was a lull in the phone calls coming in and I was taking the time to fill out the forms needed to get my licence as a caterer. Fortunately I already had the training the city required. There was a knock on my door and I froze. Then I relaxed and giggled at myself. I didn’t need to fear things like that anymore, I reminded myself and changed my status to ‘Away’ to answer the door. I looked through the peephole and saw a woman standing outside. I let the security locks on as I unlocked the door and opened it a crack.

“Yes?” I asked. The woman looked flustered.

“The elevator isn’t working,” she informed me.

“I’m aware, and so is the building's owner. It has been like that since I moved in,” I said. Wondering why she had knocked on my door to tell me this.

“Whatever. I need to speak to Simon,” she told me.

“There is no one here by that name,” I told her as my heart sank.

“What do you mean? You're his wife, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m not married to anyone,” I told her and went to shut the door. She put her hand against it, she didn’t put any strength behind it. I could have closed it, but something in the gesture made me hesitate.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble or drama. But I need to speak to Simon,” she said. Her hand went to her stomach and my eyes followed the movement. The roundness of it told me why she needed to speak to my ex husband.

“I’m sorry. I would help you if I could. But I don’t know where he is. I haven’t spoken to him since before our divorce. But if you’ll wait for a moment I’ll write down his mothers address and phone number for you,” I told her.

“Thank you,” she said. I could hear the relief in her voice.

“Is it okay if I close the door while I write it down?” I asked.

“Sure. I understand, as a single woman you can’t be too careful these days,” she said.

“If you need me, just knock and I’ll come straight away,” I told her before shutting and locking the door. I walked to the kitchen and scrolled through my phone to get Mandy’s information. I wished I could be there when Mandy had to face the results of her precious son’s activities. Then I paused. Hunter would like to know about a grandchild. I was sure about that. I walked over to the door and opened it as far as the security bar allowed me. “Here,” I said, handing her the note with the information.

“Thank you.”

“Please just know that Mandy isn’t exactly nice,” I warned her. She shrugged.

“I guess Simon inherited it from someone, the piece of shit,” she said. I smiled.

“Yes, I guess so. Look, would you mind leaving your name and number? I might be able to get you in contact with someone better,” I asked.

“Sure,” she agreed. I handed her my phone and she added her contact info. “Thank you for this,” she said, waving the note I had written. “And congratulations on the divorce.”

“Thank you. And congratulations on the baby,” I said. She left and I closed the door. The emotions inside me were bubbling like a sea of lava. There was a time I had begged Simon to have a child. He had said he didn’t want any and especially not with someone like me. The old pain came to the surface. Not that I would have wanted a child with him. Looking back I was grateful there were no kids around to see what I went through. But it still hurts. Then there was Hunter. I would have to tell him. I could have given the woman his contact information, like I had done with Mandy. But I didn’t want her to show up on his doorstep. I thought about it as I got back to work. After some soul searching I realised I was afraid the woman would replace me. Which was silly in so many ways. First of all, I didn’t have a place that she would take from me. But I was afraid that the time and interest Hunter had been giving me, he would give her now. She was carrying his grandchild. Of course she would be more important than someone that was merely his son’s ex-wife. I hated the way I felt and I promised myself that I would tell him everything the moment he got here. It would only be an hour away. The child the woman was carrying would come into this life with Simon as it’s father and Mandy as it’s grandmother. The least I could do was to give it to Hunter as a grandfather to make up for the otherwise shitty lineup.

I was packing up my laptop after getting off work when Hunter texted me that he would be at my place in ten minutes. He kept giving me heads up so I wouldn’t be alarmed that someone was at my door. I should tell him there was no need for that. But today's event made me hesitate. It had to be something about this apartment, some bad energy or something. It drew in trouble. Didn’t people use sage to clean bad energies? Or was it oregano? I knew it was some of the commonly used herbs. But with how my luck was at the moment, I would just end up burning the apartment down to the ground. Maybe with my new job and my business I could afford to rent a new place. Somewhere with a doorman, or at least a locked front door. There was a knock on the door and I pulled myself out of my head and opened the door for Hunter.

“Hi,” he said. He looked happy today with a soft smile on his face and his honey eyes sparkling. I couldn’t help but to return the smile, even though mine was stiffer.

“Hello. Do you have time to sit down and talk for a couple of minutes?” I asked.

“Sure, we are in no hurry,” he said and stepped inside, shutting and locking the door behind him. Then he took in my face and his smile fell. “What’s wrong?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Nothing’s wrong, per se. I just have something to tell you,” I said as we sat down. He now looked serious and studied me intently. “I had a visitor today,” I started.

“Was it an Asian man?” he asked. I was so surprised I lost my train of thought.

“N-no. Why would it be an Asian man? That sounds oddly specific,” I wanted to know.

“Never mind. I interrupted you. Please continue,” he told me. I looked at him, trying to decide if I should press the matter. Something told me there was more to it. But I decided I could return to it once I told him what I had learnt.

“It was a woman, a blond, white woman with brown eyes I think. If that matters,” I added. He gave me a small smile.

“It probably doesn't,” he said.

“Anyways, she asked about Simon, and she looked to be pregnant and implied Simon was the father. I gave her Mandy’s information. Mostly because I like the idea of Mandy having to handle the situation,” I confessed. “But I also got her information. Her name is Amber,” I said, handing over a note where I had written down Amber’s name and the phone number she had given me. I expected Hunter to excuse himself to go and call her. Instead he looked up at me with a frown.

“Did you ask her how she found you?” he asked.

“No. I probably should have, shouldn’t I?” I said, feeling like an idiot.

“You should have,” he agreed. “Hana. Simon never lived here, right?” I nodded. This was my place, my sanctuary and I had gone through several steps to make sure Simon didn’t know where I lived. “I only found you because I have a department specialising in finding information about people and they dug up your maiden name and Clair used it to find your address. I wasn’t surprised that Aksakov found you. His resources are almost as good as mine. But a random woman you never met before? She shouldn't know how to find you,” Hunter told me. As I followed along in his reasoning, I understood how unlikely it was that Amber could have found me without any assistance.

“I need to start thinking about things like this,” I sighed.

“I’m sorry. In a perfect world you wouldn’t need to think about this at all.”

“It’s okay. It’s what I get for not trusting my gut instinct when I was dating Simon,” I said before I could stop myself. I flinched. “Sorry,” I told Hunter.

“Don’t be. I see what kind of a man my son is,” he said. I nodded, but to myself I thought that he didn’t know the worst of it. And he didn’t have to. There was a long silence.

“Aren’t you going to call her?” I asked. I looked from me down to the note and then back to me and shrugged.

“I will put some of my men to look into it. I know she might carry my… my grandchild,” he said. It sounded like he was reluctant to say the word ‘grandchild’. I smiled at him, was he self conscious about his age? “But I don’t think.” He stopped mid sentence and looked at me.

“Oh, no. If I can be honest about Simon with you, you can do the same,” I told him.

“I was going to say that I don’t think it would be the first child he has created judging by how he has lived,” he said with a sigh. It stung. It shouldn’t have, but it did. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I am, or I will be. Why did you think Amber was an Asian man?” I asked.

“You’re not going to let that one go, are you?” he asked.

“No.”