If you miss episode 1 CLICK HERE, episode 2 CLICK HERE, episode 3 CLICK HERE, episode 4 CLICK HERE, episode 5 CLICK HERE, episode 6 CLICK HERE, episode 7 CLICK HERE, episode 8 CLICK HERE, episode 9 CLICK HERE
PJ had predicted that he’d be called when he followed the carefully laid out plan; shockingly, the call came sooner than expected.
Mrs. Grant had invited Daniel to dinner at her house. She’d sounded nice and magnanimous in offering him an opportunity to meet his daughter.
Though he’d sounded cool and detached when speaking with Mrs. Grant on the phone, Daniel was a bag of nerves as he browsed through his drastically lacking wardrobe. So, he’d called PJ.
The door bell of his five bedroom bungalow rang, interrupting his pacing. Daniel rushed to the front door in his socks and boxer shorts.
“You came!” he exulted in blatant relief.
PJ’s eyebrows went up humorously, “Indeed, it sounded life threatening.”
Daniel chuckled self consciously, “Nothing that serious man. I just realized that I have nothing…,” he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “…nothing presentable to wear,” he said ending his speech in a whisper.
“And you say it isn’t life threatening? You could catch pneumonia and die without cloths,” PJ said sagely, causing a burst of laughter from Daniel.
“Jokes out man, I’m serious, you need to take me to where you get your cloths,” Daniel said and gave PJ a once over, as always, his friend was impeccably dressed.
‘I’m serious too,” PJ said with a humorous twitch to his lips, as he rearranged the cloth’s jacket he’d been carrying over his arm. “Besides, what happened to the heap you usually adorn yourself with?”
“It’s not…suitable,” Daniel replied exasperatingly. “Listen, you don’t need to take me there any longer, just give me the address.”
“You think they’d be opened this late?” PJ asked, enjoying his friend’s discomfort immensely. “And I thought you said you weren’t dating any longer, that’s why you don’t need new cloths.”
“PJ,” Daniel groaned tiredly, robbing his eyes. “You’ve made your point okay…just help me.”
“Who’s she?” PJ asked, settling comfortably on Daniel’s couch, not seeming in a hurry to go anywhere. He gave PJ the evil eye and silently wondered why there wasn’t a law urging the strangling of impertinent friends.
“She’s my daughter, PJ. I’ve been asked to dinner at Mrs. Grant’s house,” he replied exasperatingly.
“Hmm,” PJ looked unperturbed by the news. “So, the plan worked. Lucky for you though, I was returning from the dry cleaner’s,” he said and motioned for Daniel to take the cloth’s jacket from his arm.
“Man, are you sure?” Daniel asked excitedly, while hurriedly unzipping the jacket to reveal a freshly laundered, white jumper, with black intricate embroidered designs at the front and cuffs.
“You’re welcome,” PJ said with a derisive wave of his hand.
Minutes later, he was ready to leave; the cloth fit him as though it had been sewn for him. Though PJ was a head taller than Daniel, he had no issues with the length of his trouser, because PJ usually followed the present trend of cutting the length of his trousers an inch above his ankle.
“Thanks man, I’m grateful,” Daniel said, using a finger to adjust the neck of the jumper.
“Man, you look uncomfortable in good clothes,” PJ laughed, standing up to access his friend’s look. “Now, I can point my hand and say ‘that is the CEO of DP publishers’.”
“Gloat all you want, I’m seeing my daughter today,” Daniel said, moving to his front door.
“So, which car are we taking, mine or yours?” PJ asked as Daniel had the door open.
He paused in the act with a flummoxed expression, “I never mentioned inviting you,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Don’t look so perplexed man. It’s a boring weekend and I take entertainment where ever I find it,” he advised and slapped his friend’s shoulder before preceding him out of the door. Daniel shut his gaping mouth, took a deep, fortifying breath and walked out of his house.
They’d taken his Lexus jeep as opposed to PJ’s Honda.
It was a fifteen minute drive from his house to Mrs. Grant’s. And in that time, PJ lectured Daniel on how to carry himself. He preached the advantages of arrogance to Daniel, while he maneuvered the car.
“It’s all you’ve said really necessary?” Daniel asked with a frown.
“It’s your aim to get back your daughter together with your baby mama?” PJ snapped.
“No, no, no, no,” Daniel answered, vehemently shaking his head.
“Then you’re not to be polite to Susan. You dare not give her a yard; the woman will take a mile.”
The advice rang inexorably in his mind. It seemed to increase in volume when he and PJ witnessed his soon to be ex-wife, sauntering over to the dinning table, in an almost, inappropriately clingy dress.
Daniel studiously looked at and fiddled with his phone, but PJ enjoyed the show, and saw Susan frown at Daniel’s bent head. PJ decided she didn’t like being ignored when on an impulse she looped round the table to where Daniel sat. Her long nails scraped his shoulder in what was supposed to be a seductive greeting, but only grated irritably on Daniel’s nerves.
“Hi, Daniel, it’s been a…,” Stacy walked in at that moment and Daniel lunged out of his seat, almost toppling the high back chair in his haste to get to his daughter. Susan stumbled backwards, instantly flashing Daniel’s back a scowl, before returning to her side of the divide.
PJ sipped from his glass of water and thought happily, that no club would have provided such life entertainment. He almost groaned when Stacy walked into the room, because her timing denied him of Daniel’s imminent explosion at his wife’s touch. He had seen the anger pulse ticking at the side of his friend’s neck.
Father and daughter hugged for the longest time, it was only the grand entrance of Mrs. Grant that broke the pair up. Daniel grinned like an idiot while leading his daughter to a seat beside him.
Mild greetings where exchanged between Daniel and his mother in-law, while the maid graced the center of the table with platters of appetizing food.
Dinner started out pleasant enough, considering the present circumstance. PJ knew for a fact that Daniel would’ve loved to have an opportunity to vomit his hatred for his estranged wife, but he couldn’t, because his mother in-law was being solicitously polite.
And Mrs. Grant, having always regarded herself as the consummate hostess, sipped her wine and opened the lines for conversation.
“So, Daniel, I don’t need to ask how the publishing business is going, accolades for your work echo through out the city,” Mrs. Grant said amiably.
Daniel returned her smile with a polite mouth twist, which couldn’t be fully described as a smile. He nodded, took a sip of wine and replied, “Yes, Mrs. Grant, business is booming. And that is only…,” the sound of his phone cut off his speech.
He immediately attended to it, frowning to show that what ever it is was serious and urgent…it was a text from PJ, telling him to keep up with the arrogant attitude.
After nodding, and pretending to send off a reply, he looked up. “Sorry about that,” he said not looking sorry at all. “I was saying that success is possible from hard work, God’s blessings, and of course, friends like Paul.”
“Hmm, I agree. I’ve been wondering how Kasim publishers took the fact that their first ever best selling author was going solo,” she asked this with a benign smile.
He shrugged with a confident smile, “I had a direction; as my friend would say, ‘a long term plan’, and it was time to move on. Besides, Kasim would never have known about me if Paul here hadn’t knocked me down the night your daughter disappeared with my daughter.”
He had said it softly enough, but the words were still aligned with anger. Daniel reached out and touched his daughter’s cornrows when she looked up at him with the same look she had as a kid when her mother would pick a fight.
Mrs. Grant cleared her throat primly, “An unfortunate but fortunate situation, don’t you think?” she asked with a sly smile.
Daniel bristled as though slapped in the face, his frown was ferocious and directed at the elderly lady, “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, fortunate about missing five years of my daughter’s life,” he shouted suddenly.
“It’s alright man, it’s past,” PJ said, patting his friend on the back but secretly wishing he let lose his anger.
But Daniel wasn’t such a man; he immediately regretted his outburst and apologized. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Grant…”
“No, no, no,” she hurriedly interrupted, with her solicitous smile. “Oh my, it is entirely my fault, my comment was grossly inappropriate. I should be sorry.”
Daniel nodded, seeming appeased, but Susan wasn’t. She smarted for being ignored all through the conversation and was ready to explode when she exploded. “And with your obvious prosperity, you’ve still not cured yourself of stinginess. You shamelessly got a sub-standard phone for your daughter that you’ve not seen in a while.”
At her declaration, Stacey choked on her juice; Daniel cleared his throat and patted his daughter’s back to help her breath. He ignored Susan and her accusations and asked, “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Yes, daddy,” she nodded.
Never once looking at Susan, he continued, “So, what are you up to this days, what class are you in now?”
Stacey’s smile was bright enough to light a dark hole. “When school reopens, I’ll be in senior secondary one,” she announced proudly.
Daniel gasped with obvious pleasure and widened eyes, an attitude he’d normally exhibited when his daughter was little. She giggled as a result, instantly crowning his effort.
“So soon? You’re twelve, I thought you’d still be in the juniors?”
“Don’t you remember daddy, I skipped a class in nursery school.”
“Oh, that’s true, I recall that wondrous episode,” Daniel replied and tenderly pinched her cheek.
She giggled again, “I skipped primary five again, so I got into secondary school two years early,” she said proudly and beamed at her father’s obvious pleasure.
“That’s my girl,” Daniel enthused.
“Impressive,” Mrs. Grant said with a smile, while her own daughter looked bored, rolling her eyes upward.
“Brilliant, if I might add,” PJ added.
Daniel seemed really excited, PJ was sure he’d forgotten about the rest of them at the table.
“So, what are your hobbies, any thing?” Daniel asked his daughter.
Stacey nodded shyly, “I like to write,” she said in a small voice, like she was afraid her hobby wouldn’t be acceptable.
“PJ, did you hear that?” Daniel asked with widened eyes.
“I did, bro,” PJ replied with a pleased smile.
“We’ll be the first to publish a consummate teenage book,” he proclaimed exuberantly, while patting his daughter’s shoulder. Stacey had an uncertain smile while she stared at her father.
“So, what do you write about?” Daniel asked, staring at his daughter expectantly and nodding to her encouragingly when she seemed hesitant to speak.
“I write about the places that…”
“For God’s sake, please stop!” Susan exclaimed in exasperation. “Nobody really wants to hear about your childish scribbles. It isn’t proper conversation for the dinning table.”
Mrs. Grant was appalled at her daughter’s behavior, her expression said so. Daniel’s anger was palpable, even while his hand instinctively comforted his daughter. PJ was just shocked at the lady’s crass attitude; Stacey bowed her head sadly and was close to tears.
“What?” she asked innocently when she discovered everybody at the table stared at her with different degrees of disgust.
Daniel shook his head; his wife had not changed a bit. She still needed to be the center of attraction. “So, Susan, as a connoisseur of dinning table worthy conversation, please enlighten us,” he said sarcastically with his hands palm up.
Susan sat up perkily, clearly excited to be drawn into conversation. “First of all, I most say, that is a lovely design you got on. Which of the labels made it?”
Daniel frowned with concentration on his phone, not giving any sign that he’d heard Susan’s question. “Paul, please remind me to call the printing press repair guy tomorrow.”
“Oh, ok. I thought he’d already serviced our machines?” PJ asked, understanding Daniel’s game.
“Julius at Kasim’s needs his help,” Daniel said, and then, like an after thought, he looked at Susan.
“What were you saying, Susan?” he asked, not looking remotely interested.
“I was saying that…”
“Mrs. Grant, would you mind terribly if I were to have a few private minutes with my daughter?” Daniel asked, snubbing Susan, whose mouth was now open like a fish out of water.
“Now look here, young man…,” Mrs. Grant bristled, she seemed affronted for her daughter’s sake.
“Thank you…for your kindness,” he said, interrupting her smoothly and standing, dragging his daughter from her seat. He nodded at the flummoxed woman and walked out with Stacey.
PJ watched the show and had a convulsive inclination to applaud his friend. Since he couldn’t do that, he savored the shocked expression on mother and daughter’s faces. The dinning table was silent for about a minute before PJ pretended awkwardness and thanked the hostess for the fine meal, before making his way out.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” Mrs. Grant said disbelievingly.
“That’s not the Daniel I know,” Susan said in a pained voice.
“Indeed,” her mother concurred.
Then Susan’s expression turned fierce, “But, the one I know is in there somewhere and I’m going to get him,” she whispered determinedly.
“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING about, bro,” PJ exclaimed joyfully when he got outside. He was purposefully ignoring the presence of Daniel’s daughter beside the Lexus. Even when Daniel widened his eyes at him, a signal to stop his exuberance, he ignored it too and hugged him.
“You are the man!” he enthused inexorably, while slapping his back in a congratulatory fashion.
“Get in the car, PJ. I was talking with my daughter,” he impressed urgently, before PJ let go of him.
“Nice to finally meet you, Stacey,” PJ said before punching Daniel on his shoulder and walking towards the gate.
“Are you leaving?” Daniel asked in shock.
“I need a smoke,” he replied, walking backwards.
Daniel frowned, “Since when do you smoke?”
“Since now,” he replied with a grin. “Meet me outside when you are through,” he called over his shoulder and disappeared through the gate.
“He doesn’t want to impose,” Stacey said sagely.
Daniel sighed wearily, “I realize that now.”
“I like your friend,” she said with a smile, “He’s fun.”
“I like him too, sweetheart. I’m afraid to ask if you have any friends.”
“Then don’t ask,” Stacey said impetuously.
He stared at his daughter with regret, all those years lost. “I’m truly sorry, Stacey.”
“You’ve said that countlessly. I would rather like to know what happens to me now.”
Daniel frowned, “How do you mean?”
“Soon, I’ll officially become a kid from a broken home, when the divorce is final, what happens then?”
“Stacey,” Daniel whispered, feeling sorry for putting her through the stress of breaking up a family that never was.
“I wish I wasn’t, but it has to be done. You are the only good thing that came out of that marriage,” he whispered fiercely while hugging her.
“But, they’ve taught us about the disadvantages of single parenthood in school,” she said worriedly.
Daniel shifted her from his torso to see her face. “Listen, I can confidently tell you that there have been some success stories in single parenting. And we will be added to that demography.”
“I’m just scared that I’ll become a textbook example of a child from a broken home. Daddy, I’m already exhibiting the traits, I lied about the phone you gave me,” Stacey cried.
Her father shook his head, refuting the idea before he even spoke. He squatted in front of her to be leveled with her eyes.
“Stacey, sweetheart, forget that,” he demanded, shaking her chubby body. “I am willing to be a stable and good father to you. We can make this work, I’ll even marry a wife, if you so desire,” he joked.
He got the reaction he was looking for; she giggled, as such, the worrying frown left her brow.
“You aren’t even the dating kind,” she pointed out with a chuckle.
Daniel tickled her to her utmost shock and squeal. “You’re so precocious, I like it. But what do you know about dating?” Daniel asked with a mock frown.
“Nothing,” she said breathlessly, still giggling because her dad’s fingers still threatened to tickle her. “…except mom is always saying it to grandma that you aren’t the dating kind, and that she’s going to fight you for custody.”
“I know, baby, I know. And I’m ready,” he pronounced.
~*********~
“I’m not ready!” Daniel muttered worriedly as he paced the length of his office the next day. PJ grunted at his declaration but didn’t seem the least bit interested in his friend’s angst as he typed conscientiously on his phone.
Daniel paced in front of PJ seat, and just then noticed that his friend and partner wasn’t perturbed about his worry.
“How can you be looking at your phone right now? You did hear what I said, right?” he snapped at his calm friend.
PJ slowly looked up with an exasperated expression. “I refused to look at you because your movement is dizzying. I’ve not had a bite to eat all day, so I can’t risk dizziness,” he explained in a reasonable tone that did nothing on Daniel’s nerves, he still paced.
“But you heard me though,” Daniel insisted.
“The first hundred times, Daniel, be specific.”
He stopped pacing to gather his thoughts. “I know how Susan thinks. She’s not fighting for custody because she overly loves Stacey; she’s doing it to get back in the marriage.”
PJ looked interested, “Continue,” he prodded.
“I need to show her that I’ve moved on.”
“If she didn’t get that last night, then she must be an airbag,” PJ declared frankly.
“She is,” Daniel concurred. “If she finds me still unattached, she’d presume I still have the hots for her.”
“And she’d naturally want to fill the vacuum,” PJ helpfully pointed out.
“Exactly, but I can’t allow that…”
“Because she’s a mean bitch,” PJ supplied again.
“Exactly, so the only way to stop her is to have a…woman,” Daniel declared uncomfortably. He would be. He’d not had any sensual relationship with the fairer sex since his wife; Susan had cured him of that. Fairer sex indeed, they were all monsters as far as he was concerned.
“Come again,” PJ said after a while of silence, he seemed not to believe what he’d just heard.
“I said I’ll need a woman,” he repeated, clearing his throat almost shyly. This was dangerous territory he was about to wade into, but he’d do anything for his daughter.
PJ nodded in satisfaction that he hadn’t been mistaken after all; his friend had actually meant what he’d said. He grinned widely, “Welcome back to the game, bro,” he said when he stood and hugged a confused Daniel.
“I know just the place for your need.”
It turned out to be an escort service.
Daniel had refused to even step out of the car, but PJ coaxed him out. They met with the man in charge, and he was granted the opportunity to speak with a few of the scantily dressed girls.
As escorts, they were open to whatever suggestions the customer wanted. They were used to posing as girlfriends, fiancées, sometimes, wives of customers. So what Daniel was requesting for wasn’t strange.
The fact was, Daniel was a very conscientious fellow, if he was going to lie, he had to do it perfectly. Since the presence of a woman in his life wasn’t for emotional purposes, he asked the girls questions pertaining to taking care of an adolescent girl from a broken home.
None of them could give him an answer, some even got angry at the questions. One of them was bold enough to tell him she wasn’t looking to be his wife, just his escort for a day or two, and would charge a little extra if he needed a happy ending.
To say the least, Daniel was disappointed. On their way out, the man in charge apologetically told him he ran an escort service not a university.
PJ laughed at the man’s subtle barb at Daniel. “But wait o, Danny boy, I saw the girls that sat with you, how could you not have been able to choose one? They were all beautiful,” he pointed out.
“Because they couldn’t answer my simple question,” Daniel started the car and begun reversing.
“…about the psychology of a twelve year old girl from a broken home? Come on, Daniel, be real. The need for a woman was just for appearances.”
“And appearances have to look genuine to be believed, or it would just be a see through picture,” Daniel countered.
PJ shook his head at the absurdity of the situation. “See, man, there is no way you are finding a beautiful lady, ready to mock date you and just happens to know about the psychology of a twelve year old. I don’t see that happening; it’s impossible,” PJ concluded looking out of the window as they drove off.
Daniel knew his friend was a bit miffed, he appreciated his help but he wasn’t going to change the way he did things for his sake. He liked his life arranged and precise, but he also liked PJ’s clutter, so he tried to diffuse the charged atmosphere.
“She doesn’t have to be beautiful,” he suggested in a small voice but loud enough for PJ to hear. It too a few minutes, but the laugh finally came.
The story continues
Though he’d sounded cool and detached when speaking with Mrs. Grant on the phone, Daniel was a bag of nerves as he browsed through his drastically lacking wardrobe. So, he’d called PJ.
The door bell of his five bedroom bungalow rang, interrupting his pacing. Daniel rushed to the front door in his socks and boxer shorts.
“You came!” he exulted in blatant relief.
PJ’s eyebrows went up humorously, “Indeed, it sounded life threatening.”
Daniel chuckled self consciously, “Nothing that serious man. I just realized that I have nothing…,” he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “…nothing presentable to wear,” he said ending his speech in a whisper.
“And you say it isn’t life threatening? You could catch pneumonia and die without cloths,” PJ said sagely, causing a burst of laughter from Daniel.
“Jokes out man, I’m serious, you need to take me to where you get your cloths,” Daniel said and gave PJ a once over, as always, his friend was impeccably dressed.
‘I’m serious too,” PJ said with a humorous twitch to his lips, as he rearranged the cloth’s jacket he’d been carrying over his arm. “Besides, what happened to the heap you usually adorn yourself with?”
“It’s not…suitable,” Daniel replied exasperatingly. “Listen, you don’t need to take me there any longer, just give me the address.”
“You think they’d be opened this late?” PJ asked, enjoying his friend’s discomfort immensely. “And I thought you said you weren’t dating any longer, that’s why you don’t need new cloths.”
“PJ,” Daniel groaned tiredly, robbing his eyes. “You’ve made your point okay…just help me.”
“Who’s she?” PJ asked, settling comfortably on Daniel’s couch, not seeming in a hurry to go anywhere. He gave PJ the evil eye and silently wondered why there wasn’t a law urging the strangling of impertinent friends.
“She’s my daughter, PJ. I’ve been asked to dinner at Mrs. Grant’s house,” he replied exasperatingly.
“Hmm,” PJ looked unperturbed by the news. “So, the plan worked. Lucky for you though, I was returning from the dry cleaner’s,” he said and motioned for Daniel to take the cloth’s jacket from his arm.
“Man, are you sure?” Daniel asked excitedly, while hurriedly unzipping the jacket to reveal a freshly laundered, white jumper, with black intricate embroidered designs at the front and cuffs.
“You’re welcome,” PJ said with a derisive wave of his hand.
Minutes later, he was ready to leave; the cloth fit him as though it had been sewn for him. Though PJ was a head taller than Daniel, he had no issues with the length of his trouser, because PJ usually followed the present trend of cutting the length of his trousers an inch above his ankle.
“Thanks man, I’m grateful,” Daniel said, using a finger to adjust the neck of the jumper.
“Man, you look uncomfortable in good clothes,” PJ laughed, standing up to access his friend’s look. “Now, I can point my hand and say ‘that is the CEO of DP publishers’.”
“Gloat all you want, I’m seeing my daughter today,” Daniel said, moving to his front door.
“So, which car are we taking, mine or yours?” PJ asked as Daniel had the door open.
He paused in the act with a flummoxed expression, “I never mentioned inviting you,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Don’t look so perplexed man. It’s a boring weekend and I take entertainment where ever I find it,” he advised and slapped his friend’s shoulder before preceding him out of the door. Daniel shut his gaping mouth, took a deep, fortifying breath and walked out of his house.
They’d taken his Lexus jeep as opposed to PJ’s Honda.
It was a fifteen minute drive from his house to Mrs. Grant’s. And in that time, PJ lectured Daniel on how to carry himself. He preached the advantages of arrogance to Daniel, while he maneuvered the car.
“It’s all you’ve said really necessary?” Daniel asked with a frown.
“It’s your aim to get back your daughter together with your baby mama?” PJ snapped.
“No, no, no, no,” Daniel answered, vehemently shaking his head.
“Then you’re not to be polite to Susan. You dare not give her a yard; the woman will take a mile.”
The advice rang inexorably in his mind. It seemed to increase in volume when he and PJ witnessed his soon to be ex-wife, sauntering over to the dinning table, in an almost, inappropriately clingy dress.
Daniel studiously looked at and fiddled with his phone, but PJ enjoyed the show, and saw Susan frown at Daniel’s bent head. PJ decided she didn’t like being ignored when on an impulse she looped round the table to where Daniel sat. Her long nails scraped his shoulder in what was supposed to be a seductive greeting, but only grated irritably on Daniel’s nerves.
“Hi, Daniel, it’s been a…,” Stacy walked in at that moment and Daniel lunged out of his seat, almost toppling the high back chair in his haste to get to his daughter. Susan stumbled backwards, instantly flashing Daniel’s back a scowl, before returning to her side of the divide.
PJ sipped from his glass of water and thought happily, that no club would have provided such life entertainment. He almost groaned when Stacy walked into the room, because her timing denied him of Daniel’s imminent explosion at his wife’s touch. He had seen the anger pulse ticking at the side of his friend’s neck.
Father and daughter hugged for the longest time, it was only the grand entrance of Mrs. Grant that broke the pair up. Daniel grinned like an idiot while leading his daughter to a seat beside him.
Mild greetings where exchanged between Daniel and his mother in-law, while the maid graced the center of the table with platters of appetizing food.
Dinner started out pleasant enough, considering the present circumstance. PJ knew for a fact that Daniel would’ve loved to have an opportunity to vomit his hatred for his estranged wife, but he couldn’t, because his mother in-law was being solicitously polite.
And Mrs. Grant, having always regarded herself as the consummate hostess, sipped her wine and opened the lines for conversation.
“So, Daniel, I don’t need to ask how the publishing business is going, accolades for your work echo through out the city,” Mrs. Grant said amiably.
Daniel returned her smile with a polite mouth twist, which couldn’t be fully described as a smile. He nodded, took a sip of wine and replied, “Yes, Mrs. Grant, business is booming. And that is only…,” the sound of his phone cut off his speech.
He immediately attended to it, frowning to show that what ever it is was serious and urgent…it was a text from PJ, telling him to keep up with the arrogant attitude.
After nodding, and pretending to send off a reply, he looked up. “Sorry about that,” he said not looking sorry at all. “I was saying that success is possible from hard work, God’s blessings, and of course, friends like Paul.”
“Hmm, I agree. I’ve been wondering how Kasim publishers took the fact that their first ever best selling author was going solo,” she asked this with a benign smile.
He shrugged with a confident smile, “I had a direction; as my friend would say, ‘a long term plan’, and it was time to move on. Besides, Kasim would never have known about me if Paul here hadn’t knocked me down the night your daughter disappeared with my daughter.”
He had said it softly enough, but the words were still aligned with anger. Daniel reached out and touched his daughter’s cornrows when she looked up at him with the same look she had as a kid when her mother would pick a fight.
Mrs. Grant cleared her throat primly, “An unfortunate but fortunate situation, don’t you think?” she asked with a sly smile.
Daniel bristled as though slapped in the face, his frown was ferocious and directed at the elderly lady, “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, fortunate about missing five years of my daughter’s life,” he shouted suddenly.
“It’s alright man, it’s past,” PJ said, patting his friend on the back but secretly wishing he let lose his anger.
But Daniel wasn’t such a man; he immediately regretted his outburst and apologized. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Grant…”
“No, no, no,” she hurriedly interrupted, with her solicitous smile. “Oh my, it is entirely my fault, my comment was grossly inappropriate. I should be sorry.”
Daniel nodded, seeming appeased, but Susan wasn’t. She smarted for being ignored all through the conversation and was ready to explode when she exploded. “And with your obvious prosperity, you’ve still not cured yourself of stinginess. You shamelessly got a sub-standard phone for your daughter that you’ve not seen in a while.”
At her declaration, Stacey choked on her juice; Daniel cleared his throat and patted his daughter’s back to help her breath. He ignored Susan and her accusations and asked, “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“Yes, daddy,” she nodded.
Never once looking at Susan, he continued, “So, what are you up to this days, what class are you in now?”
Stacey’s smile was bright enough to light a dark hole. “When school reopens, I’ll be in senior secondary one,” she announced proudly.
Daniel gasped with obvious pleasure and widened eyes, an attitude he’d normally exhibited when his daughter was little. She giggled as a result, instantly crowning his effort.
“So soon? You’re twelve, I thought you’d still be in the juniors?”
“Don’t you remember daddy, I skipped a class in nursery school.”
“Oh, that’s true, I recall that wondrous episode,” Daniel replied and tenderly pinched her cheek.
She giggled again, “I skipped primary five again, so I got into secondary school two years early,” she said proudly and beamed at her father’s obvious pleasure.
“That’s my girl,” Daniel enthused.
“Impressive,” Mrs. Grant said with a smile, while her own daughter looked bored, rolling her eyes upward.
“Brilliant, if I might add,” PJ added.
Daniel seemed really excited, PJ was sure he’d forgotten about the rest of them at the table.
“So, what are your hobbies, any thing?” Daniel asked his daughter.
Stacey nodded shyly, “I like to write,” she said in a small voice, like she was afraid her hobby wouldn’t be acceptable.
“PJ, did you hear that?” Daniel asked with widened eyes.
“I did, bro,” PJ replied with a pleased smile.
“We’ll be the first to publish a consummate teenage book,” he proclaimed exuberantly, while patting his daughter’s shoulder. Stacey had an uncertain smile while she stared at her father.
“So, what do you write about?” Daniel asked, staring at his daughter expectantly and nodding to her encouragingly when she seemed hesitant to speak.
“I write about the places that…”
“For God’s sake, please stop!” Susan exclaimed in exasperation. “Nobody really wants to hear about your childish scribbles. It isn’t proper conversation for the dinning table.”
Mrs. Grant was appalled at her daughter’s behavior, her expression said so. Daniel’s anger was palpable, even while his hand instinctively comforted his daughter. PJ was just shocked at the lady’s crass attitude; Stacey bowed her head sadly and was close to tears.
“What?” she asked innocently when she discovered everybody at the table stared at her with different degrees of disgust.
Daniel shook his head; his wife had not changed a bit. She still needed to be the center of attraction. “So, Susan, as a connoisseur of dinning table worthy conversation, please enlighten us,” he said sarcastically with his hands palm up.
Susan sat up perkily, clearly excited to be drawn into conversation. “First of all, I most say, that is a lovely design you got on. Which of the labels made it?”
Daniel frowned with concentration on his phone, not giving any sign that he’d heard Susan’s question. “Paul, please remind me to call the printing press repair guy tomorrow.”
“Oh, ok. I thought he’d already serviced our machines?” PJ asked, understanding Daniel’s game.
“Julius at Kasim’s needs his help,” Daniel said, and then, like an after thought, he looked at Susan.
“What were you saying, Susan?” he asked, not looking remotely interested.
“I was saying that…”
“Mrs. Grant, would you mind terribly if I were to have a few private minutes with my daughter?” Daniel asked, snubbing Susan, whose mouth was now open like a fish out of water.
“Now look here, young man…,” Mrs. Grant bristled, she seemed affronted for her daughter’s sake.
“Thank you…for your kindness,” he said, interrupting her smoothly and standing, dragging his daughter from her seat. He nodded at the flummoxed woman and walked out with Stacey.
PJ watched the show and had a convulsive inclination to applaud his friend. Since he couldn’t do that, he savored the shocked expression on mother and daughter’s faces. The dinning table was silent for about a minute before PJ pretended awkwardness and thanked the hostess for the fine meal, before making his way out.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” Mrs. Grant said disbelievingly.
“That’s not the Daniel I know,” Susan said in a pained voice.
“Indeed,” her mother concurred.
Then Susan’s expression turned fierce, “But, the one I know is in there somewhere and I’m going to get him,” she whispered determinedly.
“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING about, bro,” PJ exclaimed joyfully when he got outside. He was purposefully ignoring the presence of Daniel’s daughter beside the Lexus. Even when Daniel widened his eyes at him, a signal to stop his exuberance, he ignored it too and hugged him.
“You are the man!” he enthused inexorably, while slapping his back in a congratulatory fashion.
“Get in the car, PJ. I was talking with my daughter,” he impressed urgently, before PJ let go of him.
“Nice to finally meet you, Stacey,” PJ said before punching Daniel on his shoulder and walking towards the gate.
“Are you leaving?” Daniel asked in shock.
“I need a smoke,” he replied, walking backwards.
Daniel frowned, “Since when do you smoke?”
“Since now,” he replied with a grin. “Meet me outside when you are through,” he called over his shoulder and disappeared through the gate.
“He doesn’t want to impose,” Stacey said sagely.
Daniel sighed wearily, “I realize that now.”
“I like your friend,” she said with a smile, “He’s fun.”
“I like him too, sweetheart. I’m afraid to ask if you have any friends.”
“Then don’t ask,” Stacey said impetuously.
He stared at his daughter with regret, all those years lost. “I’m truly sorry, Stacey.”
“You’ve said that countlessly. I would rather like to know what happens to me now.”
Daniel frowned, “How do you mean?”
“Soon, I’ll officially become a kid from a broken home, when the divorce is final, what happens then?”
“Stacey,” Daniel whispered, feeling sorry for putting her through the stress of breaking up a family that never was.
“I wish I wasn’t, but it has to be done. You are the only good thing that came out of that marriage,” he whispered fiercely while hugging her.
“But, they’ve taught us about the disadvantages of single parenthood in school,” she said worriedly.
Daniel shifted her from his torso to see her face. “Listen, I can confidently tell you that there have been some success stories in single parenting. And we will be added to that demography.”
“I’m just scared that I’ll become a textbook example of a child from a broken home. Daddy, I’m already exhibiting the traits, I lied about the phone you gave me,” Stacey cried.
Her father shook his head, refuting the idea before he even spoke. He squatted in front of her to be leveled with her eyes.
“Stacey, sweetheart, forget that,” he demanded, shaking her chubby body. “I am willing to be a stable and good father to you. We can make this work, I’ll even marry a wife, if you so desire,” he joked.
He got the reaction he was looking for; she giggled, as such, the worrying frown left her brow.
“You aren’t even the dating kind,” she pointed out with a chuckle.
Daniel tickled her to her utmost shock and squeal. “You’re so precocious, I like it. But what do you know about dating?” Daniel asked with a mock frown.
“Nothing,” she said breathlessly, still giggling because her dad’s fingers still threatened to tickle her. “…except mom is always saying it to grandma that you aren’t the dating kind, and that she’s going to fight you for custody.”
“I know, baby, I know. And I’m ready,” he pronounced.
~*********~
“I’m not ready!” Daniel muttered worriedly as he paced the length of his office the next day. PJ grunted at his declaration but didn’t seem the least bit interested in his friend’s angst as he typed conscientiously on his phone.
Daniel paced in front of PJ seat, and just then noticed that his friend and partner wasn’t perturbed about his worry.
“How can you be looking at your phone right now? You did hear what I said, right?” he snapped at his calm friend.
PJ slowly looked up with an exasperated expression. “I refused to look at you because your movement is dizzying. I’ve not had a bite to eat all day, so I can’t risk dizziness,” he explained in a reasonable tone that did nothing on Daniel’s nerves, he still paced.
“But you heard me though,” Daniel insisted.
“The first hundred times, Daniel, be specific.”
He stopped pacing to gather his thoughts. “I know how Susan thinks. She’s not fighting for custody because she overly loves Stacey; she’s doing it to get back in the marriage.”
PJ looked interested, “Continue,” he prodded.
“I need to show her that I’ve moved on.”
“If she didn’t get that last night, then she must be an airbag,” PJ declared frankly.
“She is,” Daniel concurred. “If she finds me still unattached, she’d presume I still have the hots for her.”
“And she’d naturally want to fill the vacuum,” PJ helpfully pointed out.
“Exactly, but I can’t allow that…”
“Because she’s a mean bitch,” PJ supplied again.
“Exactly, so the only way to stop her is to have a…woman,” Daniel declared uncomfortably. He would be. He’d not had any sensual relationship with the fairer sex since his wife; Susan had cured him of that. Fairer sex indeed, they were all monsters as far as he was concerned.
“Come again,” PJ said after a while of silence, he seemed not to believe what he’d just heard.
“I said I’ll need a woman,” he repeated, clearing his throat almost shyly. This was dangerous territory he was about to wade into, but he’d do anything for his daughter.
PJ nodded in satisfaction that he hadn’t been mistaken after all; his friend had actually meant what he’d said. He grinned widely, “Welcome back to the game, bro,” he said when he stood and hugged a confused Daniel.
“I know just the place for your need.”
It turned out to be an escort service.
Daniel had refused to even step out of the car, but PJ coaxed him out. They met with the man in charge, and he was granted the opportunity to speak with a few of the scantily dressed girls.
As escorts, they were open to whatever suggestions the customer wanted. They were used to posing as girlfriends, fiancées, sometimes, wives of customers. So what Daniel was requesting for wasn’t strange.
The fact was, Daniel was a very conscientious fellow, if he was going to lie, he had to do it perfectly. Since the presence of a woman in his life wasn’t for emotional purposes, he asked the girls questions pertaining to taking care of an adolescent girl from a broken home.
None of them could give him an answer, some even got angry at the questions. One of them was bold enough to tell him she wasn’t looking to be his wife, just his escort for a day or two, and would charge a little extra if he needed a happy ending.
To say the least, Daniel was disappointed. On their way out, the man in charge apologetically told him he ran an escort service not a university.
PJ laughed at the man’s subtle barb at Daniel. “But wait o, Danny boy, I saw the girls that sat with you, how could you not have been able to choose one? They were all beautiful,” he pointed out.
“Because they couldn’t answer my simple question,” Daniel started the car and begun reversing.
“…about the psychology of a twelve year old girl from a broken home? Come on, Daniel, be real. The need for a woman was just for appearances.”
“And appearances have to look genuine to be believed, or it would just be a see through picture,” Daniel countered.
PJ shook his head at the absurdity of the situation. “See, man, there is no way you are finding a beautiful lady, ready to mock date you and just happens to know about the psychology of a twelve year old. I don’t see that happening; it’s impossible,” PJ concluded looking out of the window as they drove off.
Daniel knew his friend was a bit miffed, he appreciated his help but he wasn’t going to change the way he did things for his sake. He liked his life arranged and precise, but he also liked PJ’s clutter, so he tried to diffuse the charged atmosphere.
“She doesn’t have to be beautiful,” he suggested in a small voice but loud enough for PJ to hear. It too a few minutes, but the laugh finally came.
The story continues
For more stories and articles follow us on
whatsapp: 07033971287
twitter: @skilo9ja or @emalexx
Instagram: @official_emalexx
Whatsapp group: Skilo9ja Story Villa
twitter: @skilo9ja or @emalexx
Instagram: @official_emalexx
Whatsapp group: Skilo9ja Story Villa
