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‘Noted’ He clears his throat ‘One– I’ve been contacted by a social worker in Texas – and asked to pass along a request for you to return the call So to do with a court case? He said it involved confidential information that he couldn’t discuss with anyone but you I don’t suppose you want to let your er in on what that’s about, if you happen to know?’

The blood in ear shift as though it will keepsucked out of the openof my car Brooke said she wouldn’t connect e everything, but I’ive hih reveals his suspicion that I’ critical ‘I’ll e I need to … oversee’

I go fro to dumbstruck when Brooke opens her door Brooke is likethe fact that she always looks as though she could grab a bag and go straight to a club or so the ner clothes around the house She always has Even when she’s drunk – when she was drunk, I correctsince I’ve seen her that way – she was stylish and well groomed A little off, but not by much

It’s not that Brooke looks off

She’s Brooke … froo

Her hair is pulled into a old hoops dangle fro and blue in her very young face

When ere going out, she would occasionally dig through my dresser drawers and take a pair of jeans, and I was content to let her She’d ditch whatever trendy pair she earing – shi out of them while I watched her, breathless – and pullher the same way they fitted rew a couple of years ago

‘Ahhh,’ she’d say, dropping on to my bed ‘Much better’

All I could think about was how to get her back out of the could be one of the three or four pairs she appropriated froh I’iant set of shears or burned them in some sorcerous ritual after we broke up She’s barefoot – her toenails polished blood red – and wearing a plain, fitted white T-shirt

Silent, she gestures for h aroom I don’t remember exactly what her place looked like when I was here last, because I’ve only been here once, and it’s been al And then there are the boxes

Frowning curiously, I turn back to her ‘Moving?’

She nods ‘I’ll need two bedrooms And most of my décor isn’t exactly child-friendly’

She says this as though it’s normal for such sentences to be said between us Or for the phrase child-friendly to come from her mouth, ever

She perches in a black leather chair and I take its twin – these make up the only furniture in the rooin first, pre-e whatever plan she had for the direction of this conversation ‘My ot a call for e what he wanted, but I’m pretty sure it has to do with you – or, you know, River’

She takes a deep breath, staring at the interlocked hands in her lap, and a distinct feeling of unease creeps over me

‘Yes, that’s why I asked you to cohs, and I think, Oh, no ‘I had to tell them’

‘Excuse me?’

‘That you’re his birth father’

My jaw drops ‘What do you mean you had to tell them –’

Her eyes flash up ‘I had to fill out an eighteen-page questionnaire, Reid It asked the ine, and Norman, my attorney, warned me to be utterly truthful, or I could risk a denial before we even got started

‘So I told the father The fact that I was illegitimate because my father was still technically married to Kathryn when I was born The fact that my mother frequently slappedthat I don’t remember the first time she did it I had to reveal my sexual history and experience – all of it My relationships with my stepfathers and stepmothers and my experience with children – which is of course zero’

I shakeyou had to, but that’s not true, Brooke – no one is forcing you to do this’