32. Clutch Situations

32

CLUTCH SITUATIONS

“ T hanks for doing this, Laken,” Jamie said when he walked into her office building on Thursday the following week with Penelope in his arms.

His daughter was in jeans and sneakers, a red fleece jacket with a red backpack filled with some toys and electronics to keep her busy. Her glasses were blue, her blonde hair down but hidden under a pink baseball hat so that he could shield her from the public.

It was the first he’d brought her out since the story was released of her existence.

So far, there were a lot of questions and more “no comments” when asked about his daughter.

When it came to Laken though, he released a statement written by West’s publicist that he and Laken met through the business back in November and have been dating for a few months.

Simple and putting an end to whether Laken was Penelope’s mother or not.

“It’s fine,” Laken said, reaching for Penelope. “We are going to have fun today in the office, right?”

“I’ve never been to an office,” Penelope said, pulling her hat off. “I don’t like this either, but Daddy said I had to keep it on.”

“I like baseball hats,” Laken said. “I’ve got a few. I wear them when it’s sunny outside to keep the sun out of my face. And when I want to be left alone.”

“Daddy said I needed to keep my head down and not look or talk to anyone,” Penelope said with a pout on her face.

He hated doing that, but it was the right thing.

Maybe if he’d started bringing her out more it wouldn’t have been something new for her. But he knew Janelle told her the same thing most times too.

Or at least started to tell her more.

His daughter going to the park now might create a problem, but he’d deal with it when the weather was nicer.

“I love putting my head down and not talking to anyone,” Laken said. “Abby and Lily are here today too. Do you remember them?”

“I do,” Penelope said. “Will they play with me?”

“They’ve got to work,” Jamie said. “I brought you toys. I won’t be more than two hours.”

“We are all going to play with Penelope,” Laken said. “That is their job for the next few hours. I’m the boss, I say so. We might even go down and visit West. Maybe Abby wants to see him with a kid some more.”

He laughed. “I’m not going to tell you what to do.”

“But you’re nervous,” she said. “I know. No one has watched Penelope other than Janelle.”

“I gave her that trip for Christmas. She’s having a ball and deserves it. I thought for sure I’d be fine for the week she was gone, but I got this call yesterday and couldn’t say no.”

Randy called and said another network wanted him to cover a special event. He needed to get his name and face out there more and keep the momentum going.

He’d been told by West that some of the stores had sold out of his product all over the US and more had been shipped last week. That supply and demand was one thing, but having people wait was another.

In his eyes, they just went to his website and ordered it, which had more sales than anyone predicted.

Good thing they had a lot of product in stock and he hated that some of the sponges were out of stock with a longer delivery time, but people still bought them to wait.

None of this would have ever come about if it wasn’t for West.

“As you shouldn’t,” Laken said. “If I wasn’t around, you would have figured it out. If Abby or Lily were ever here, they’d do it. Always call West. He’ll find someone in the building that he trusts for a short period if you can’t take her with you.”

“It’s rarely a problem. Janelle is always around, but I have to learn that it can’t be the case. It’s not like I’ve got family around to lean on.”

Family that hadn’t reached out to him once since everything aired ten days ago.

He knew for a fact they were being questioned. He’d looked up the local news in his hometown and saw it. His parents weren’t saying anything but had mentioned that a lot of product was donated to the church for those in need.

He knew his parents would hand it out accordingly and not to anyone who just wanted it because they couldn’t find it or didn’t want to pay for it.

It was more expensive than regular children’s soap and should be. But it wasn’t so far out of reach that a middle class family couldn’t purchase it to help with their child’s skin.

The funny part was, Nelson had told him that they had an email for feedback and a lot of customers didn’t have severe skin issues but just preferred their child have something natural on their skin and maybe parents were using it themselves.

He was glad it was as big of a hit but knew they’d have to capitalize on it more with themes and new sponges.

No business just sat back, but that was where West and his team would come into play.

“You’ve got a family here,” Laken said. “Give me a kiss and get out of here.”

“Kiss Laken and then me,” Penelope said.

He’d kissed Laken a few times in front of his daughter and she never really said much about it.

He guessed, looking back, there was no set conversation that was needed unless his daughter asked and she was too young to understand enough to do that.

He rushed out the door and walked the few blocks to where his meeting was to take place. He knew it’d be faster than getting a taxi. He’d parked his SUV a few blocks over and walked with Penelope here in his arms. Now he knew why very few drove in these parts.

When he got to his meeting, his agent was already there waiting outside the office.

“I thought you were going to be late,” Randy said.

“Daycare issues,” he said.

“Where’s Janelle?” Randy asked.

“On her cruise. Laken has Penelope.”

“Things are going good there?” Randy asked, “I’m getting a lot of questions.”

“And I know you’re replying that we made a statement.”

Randy had been a bit put out the statement came from West’s office without going through his office or publicist too, but Jamie didn’t have to run every part of his life through those he paid.

“I am,” Randy said. “How is Penelope with everything going on?”

“She’s two. She doesn’t know. Nothing more than today I had to cover her up to get her to Laken, but I made a game out of it. It’s working. I knew this would happen and I’ll figure it out as we go.”

“You’ve always been good in clutch situations,” Randy said. “This is no different.”

“No,” he said. He followed his agent in and sat through the meeting listening to what they were offering him.

Ninety minutes later, Randy had the basic details negotiated. The only thing that sucked was it was going to happen in Texas so he’d be gone for a few days. He was used to only being away from Penelope for one night, maybe two. This could be a little longer.

Now that Penelope was out in the open though, maybe he could bring Janelle and Penelope with him.

He was walking back to Laken’s office when his phone rang and he noticed it was his mother calling.

He looked around to see if he could find a place to talk. He answered and then walked to the park not that far away and stood against a tree away from people.

“I’m good now,” he said. “I needed to find a quiet place. Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” his mother said. “I hate to ask you this.”

“Ask me anything,” he said. “Never worry about that.”

“We ran out of the soaps you sent. I didn’t realize the need. I was careful of who to give it to, but we could see the skin issues on people. I guess I never paid a lot of attention to it. Some of the parishioners were asking for my recipe since you said you got it from me.”

He ground his teeth. “You didn’t give to them, did you? I’ve got a patent on it.”

“No,” his mother said. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Good,” he said. “I can send you more. It’s fine.”

He’d only sent a few cases of it. Not a lot when you consider people might want to use it daily, but most times you wouldn’t need to if it was mild enough of an issue.

“Thank you,” his mother said.

That’s it. Nothing more.

He knew damn well if he didn’t say anything else his mother would just hang up on him.

“Does Dad know you’re calling?” he asked.

“I told him I was. He didn’t say not to,” his mother said.

He ground his teeth. “You can’t do anything on your own?”

“It’s not that,” his mother said.

“How much are you being bothered by what is going on?” he asked. He knew she wouldn’t say and he wanted to know. Why not torture himself over this and get it over with?

“We actually aren’t,” his mother said. “At first a lot of people had questions, but there were more comments over the fact that we raised you well to step up and be a great father and put your child first.”

His mouth opened and closed. “You needed other people to say that to you,” he said.

His mother sighed. “I don’t need the lecture, Jamie. I get enough of that from Deanna.”

“Deanna is defending me?” he asked. His sister should, but he’d never ask her to do that. His sister didn’t have a problem accepting help.

She didn’t take a lot but enough of the right things. His niece and nephew had college funds set up in their names already and he’d send them all good gifts for birthdays and holidays. He figured it was more than his parents accepted.

“She is,” his mother said. “We aren’t getting judged like your father feared.”

“Because it’s all about that, isn’t it?” he asked. “Dad always hated to have eyes on him and be judged for what I did. My actions aren’t your actions and you guys could have easily said that at any point. But instead you just hid behind having this hatred for me.”

“We don’t hate you,” his mother said. “I’m not sure why you would ever think that.”

“You don’t approve of anything I do. You don’t stand up for me. You judge me just like you fear other people are doing to you.”

His mother was silent on the other end. “I didn’t realize you felt that way.”

He knew if his eyes could pop out of his head and land on the grass at his feet it would happen. “Where have I ever said anything that made you think that I didn’t feel that way? I know I’ve said it that you guys have never been there for me. That you put the church before me.”

“Your father has an obligation to those he leads,” his mother said.

“What about the children he has?” he asked. “Doesn’t he have an obligation to them too?”

“He does,” his mother said. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Don’t do it if you don’t mean it,” he said. “It’s been over thirty years. I’ve lived like this for a long time, I can continue to.”

He hung up after that and went to get his daughter.

When he walked into Laken’s office, Penelope came running to him to show the pictures she’d colored. His girlfriend didn’t look frazzled in the least.

“You’re back early,” Laken said. She looked at her watch. “Or maybe on time, but it didn’t seem that long.”

“I take it things went well?”

“Piece of cake,” she said. “And I didn’t even have to give her a piece of cake. But she did have some fruit that Abby went to the cafeteria to get. She never left the office. I’ve got my own bathroom as you know.”

“I’m glad it worked out,” he said.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Why are you so sad? Want me to bring Penelope next door to Abby?”

“Could you?” he asked.

She picked his daughter up and dashed next door and returned. “What’s going on?”

He filled her in on his mother’s call.

“As you can tell, it went as well as everything else does with them.”

“No,” Laken said. “It went better, but you’re not seeing that.”

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“Your mother called you asking for something. She told your father beforehand and he didn’t say no. Even when it was all done, your mother said she’d talk to your father when last time she said she’d spent years trying to avoid the fights.”

“So?” he said.

“Jamie. That’s their olive branch in their way. You’re stubborn and so are they, but one of you has to give. They aren’t going to change.”

“So you mean I have to?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “You don’t. You just have to accept these interactions and them for who they are if you want them to have a part in your daughter’s life. You put her first all the time and that is what you need to decide now.”

His head went back and forth. “I guess you’re right. It’s not as if I see or talk to them much.”

“No. Take this as a first step. Their fear was judgment by those they serve. That is on them for putting so much stock in it. But maybe not much different than you putting so much stock in how your parents feel about you too.”

“I don’t know why I never thought of that before,” he said.

“Because you’re not as smart as me,” she said, laughing.

He reached for her. “I’ll let that pass.” He hugged her tight. “I love you. I guess I need you in my life more than I thought.”

“Remember that,” she said. “And give it time with your parents. To me this is a step. See what happens when your mother talks to your father. If nothing comes about it, it’s still better than it was weeks ago. Right? They asked you for something. Even if it wasn’t for them, they did it.”

She had a point. Even at Christmas his father didn’t ask him to help those families in need. Jamie had to all but do it on his own and would have if his father hadn’t gone with him to pick things out.

“They did,” he said.

“Just like you asked me to watch Penelope this morning. It was hard, wasn’t it?”

“No,” he said. “Not in the least. Nothing with you is hard and I don’t think it ever will be.”