Chapter 12 - Chloe’s Reckoning
Before leaving Columbus for Pennsylvania, I had one final task to complete.
I drove my Subaru back to the Dublin cul-de-sac.
The moving trucks were already parked in the driveway. Court-appointed liquidators were carefully carrying out the high-end Italian leather sofas, the crystal chandeliers, and the oil paintings Eleanor had amassed over two decades of deceit.
Sitting on the curb, wearing an old winter coat with a duffel bag at her feet, was Chloe.
She looked small. Stripped of her designer wardrobe and her Instagram veneer, she looked like what she truly was: a frightened twenty-six-year-old girl whose entire reality had been exposed as a sham.
I pulled up to the curb, put the car in park, and stepped out.
She looked up at me, squinting against the winter glare. She didn't glare. She didn't demand an apology.
"Hey, Dan," she said quietly.
"Hey, Chloe." I walked over and stood beside her. "Where are you staying tonight?"
"A girl from my old community college classes offered me her spare couch in Grandview," Chloe murmured, pulling her coat tighter around her shoulders. "It's small, and she has two cats, but... it's a roof."
"Did you speak to Mom?"
Chloe gave a sharp, hollow laugh. "She called me collect from the county jail this morning. You know what she said to me, Dan?"
"What?"
"She didn't ask if I had a place to sleep. She didn't ask how I was doing. She told me to go to Dad's brother in Dayton and demand ten thousand dollars to hire a private defense attorney for her. She told me that if I didn't help her get out of jail, I was a traitor just like you."
Chloe shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"I hung up on her," Chloe whispered. "For twenty-six years, I thought she loved me more than anything. But she didn't love me, Dan. She loved having a doll she could dress up with stolen money. The second I couldn't help her, she turned on me just like she turned on you."
"That’s Eleanor," I said softly. "She only loves what people can do for her."
Chloe stood up, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her coat. She picked up her duffel bag.
"I got a job today," she said, a faint glimmer of pride breaking through her exhaustion. "At an administrative temp agency downtown. Filing documents, answering phones. Twelve dollars an hour. I start Monday."
I looked at her. For the first time in her life, Chloe wasn't waiting for a rescue. She was standing on her own feet in the freezing cold, holding a duffel bag, facing reality without an excuse.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out an envelope.
"What’s that?" she asked, pulling back slightly. "Dan, I told you... I don't want any more of your money. I feel sick enough knowing what I took."
"It’s not my money," I said, pressing the envelope into her hand. "This is a letter of recommendation to the Columbus Housing Authority, and the first month’s deposit on a one-bedroom apartment near Grandview that Marcus Vance’s office helped secure for you. It’s paid through January. After that, the rent is your responsibility."
Chloe stared at the envelope, her lower lip trembling violently.
"Why are you doing this for me?" she choked out. "After how awful I was to you? After everything my parents did?"
"Because Margaret Hale raised her son to have a heart," I told her, stepping forward and pulling her into a brief, warm hug. "Work hard, Chloe. Pay your own bills. Make a life you can look at in the mirror without flinching. If you do that... my door will always be open to you."
Chloe wrapped her arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder. "Thank you, Dan. I promise you... I swear to God, I won't let you down."
I stepped back, smiled at her, and walked back to my car.
May you like
As I pulled away from the Dublin house for the last time, I looked in my rearview mirror. Chloe was walking down the street toward the bus stop, head held high, holding her duffel bag, stepping into her new life.
***
