Chapter 35-2

“I’m not going to settle for this!” she shouted. “You and Claire are perfect for each other! How could you just split up like it’s nothing? You don’t understand, Heath. Claire is the girl for you! You can’t just let her walk away!” Heath clenched his teeth and Logan could see his jawline stretch his skin. “There’s nothing more for us to do. Once it’s over, it’s over. There’s no point in pestering her about it. She’s just another woman I dated. There’s nothing different about her from the others. Why concern yourself now?” “But-” “Stop!” Heath shouted, surprising his mother and father, but Logan continued to simply watch his son’s actions in silence. “Just stop it, mom! Claire and I are through! We agreed to stop our relationship and that’s the end of it!” Ava got mad right back. “You came here right when you woke up from a coma to reconcile with her.” Her voice was low and menacing. “I’m not going to let her make the mistake of letting someone like you go when you obviously care about her so much.” “She doesn’t want someone caring.” Heath calmed his voice with effort. “She said I was too clingy, remember?” Logan’s wife trembled with fury before she shook off Heath’s hand. Then she stomped out of the suite. Heath sighed with distress and leaned against the wall. Logan sighed as well before he walked closer to his son. But he didn’t speak. The fact that Claire got annoyed of Heath’s jealousy and want to keep her to himself wasn’t a surprise to Logan. He expected that. And if the two of them truly did love each other, they would accept each other’s faults easily. However…something didn’t make sense. When Claire visited Heath the second time, she looked as if she genuinely loved Heath and would wait for him. Even though he said another woman’s name, Claire seemed like she wanted to stay with Heath. It seemed as if she had forgiven him. So what happened? What triggered her? “What about you is clingy?” Logan asked, acting clueless to the situation. He already knew what would push Claire’s buttons. But he just wanted his son to confirm it. Heath’s lips tightened and he looked as if he wasn’t going to say anything. To Logan’s surprise, Heath pulled out his cellphone from his pocket. Logan stared at it with narrowed eyes, wondering how it got into his son’s hands. “I got this.” Heath held out the phone for Logan and he took it. The image on the phone was of Claire with someone else. Logan couldn’t tell who it was since his face was buried in Claire’s hair, but Claire was obviously embracing the man. She had touched him first before he touched her. The stranger’s hands were still raised to hug her back, but Claire already had her arms around him in a very intimate hug. Just seeing it caused Logan’s eye to twitch. He thought that the only man Claire had cared about was Heath, but it seemed there was another man in her life that he didn’t know about. “Who is this?” Logan asked in a level tone. “Wyatt Simpson.” Heath answered, shocking Logan. “The boy from the golfing family?” he asked and his son nodded in confirmation. “What is he doing in Bishop Lodgings?” “He’s an employee. Claire hired him as help around the daycare.” In truth, Julia had already informed Logan about Wyatt becoming an employee and how he and Claire had immediately hit it off. They became friends easily and Claire was comfortable around him. He didn’t realize that she had become that comfortable. “Did you show her that as well?” Logan asked. Heath chuckled dryly. “When I confronted her about it, she told me it wasn’t anything to worry about. But I wouldn’t drop it and she became annoyed.” “Claire doesn’t like persistent men.” His son didn’t reply. “Is she close to Wyatt?” “She became friendly with him faster than she did with me.” He revealed with annoyance in his tone. “I don’t understand why.” Logan shrugged. “There are some people out there you get along with better with than others.” A bitter look crossed Heath’s face before he stood up from the wall. “Why didn’t you stop mom? It’s embarrassing enough already without her getting involved.” “Sometimes, it’s better to just let women do what they want.” “Does that include Claire’s decision?” One corner of Logan’s lips curved upward. “What do you think?” Heath remained silent and Logan took that moment to observe his son. The situation was still strange. Everything that happened made sense. Logan had seen the possibilities of them happening. The only thing unexpected was the second visit from Claire. What was she thinking when she visited Heath? Unfortunately, Logan couldn’t read Claire’s actions clearly. On the outside, it just seemed as if she truly did visit him out of worry. Take out that event and everything would’ve gone smoothly and logically. “Was she mad when it happened?” Logan asked out of curiosity. When Heath raised a brow, he elaborated, “When she made the decision.” His son shook his head. “It just made me feel even worse.” He answered. “She was…gentle about it. As if she didn’t want to hurt my feelings. I don’t understand.” His emotions were coming out once more. “If she didn’t want to hurt me, why did she break it off? Maybe she really did come into the relationship knowing that I wanted her more than she wanted me.” “You mean she agreed to date you out of pity?” Heath didn’t answer, surprising Logan. He didn’t know Claire had it in her to do that. Though that would explain why she visited him the second time. Pity. She pitied Heath and had visited him because she felt bad for him. It wasn’t because she had feelings for him. After all, he had even called another woman. What if Claire had been glad that there was another woman Heath cared about other than her? What if that was another excuse for Claire? “Did she mention Clarissa?” Heath nodded and Logan felt his eye twitch again, along with the palms of his hands. Not only was his son’s emotions running rampant, but Logan was also getting frustrated from the new information. His son asked, “Who is Clarissa, dad? Do you know?” Logan didn’t hesitate in his answer. “I don’t know.” Revealing the identity of Clarissa wouldn’t help the situation, so Logan decided it was best to keep quiet. He knew about how cruel Claire could be to the men she dated—along with the new discovery today with his son—and he didn’t want Heath to desperately run back to her to give her an explanation about Clarissa. For all he cared, Clarissa could just fade away, along with Claire. If just this would cause her to lose patience with Heath, then their future together couldn’t possibly be any better. Besides, Logan had overestimated her. He thought she would be more…cunning. How disappointing. “You’ll be fine, Heath. Claire’s just another woman. I liked her too, but you’ll forget about her as time passes by.” Logan nonchalantly said before he walked towards the door of the suite. “Should we go grab your mother before she hurts your pride even more?” “Yes.” Heath answered as he followed after his father. Logan walked out the door and didn’t see the smirk spread across Heath’s lips. “We should.”