Action (DNF)

Chapter 45: The Letter

Clay POV

The hotel phone began ringing from my bedside table. For a moment I considered just letting it ring, but seeing as the way me and George ended up after our last phone call, I answered. It was from the hotel reception, and she greeted me quite formally.

“Hello, this is a call from the reception desk of the Greyskete Hotel. Is this Clay Smith from room 1602?” She asked, and I responded with a ‘yes this is’ before asking what she needed. “Oh I don’t need anything sir, it’s just a letter that has been dropped off for you by the front desk.”

“I thought that I told you that if I got any fan mail dropped off for me that it should be redirected to my agent in Florida.” I explained. “Since I don’t want people to-”
“It doesn’t appear to be fanmail sir.” The woman cut me off. “It seems much more professional, and the woman who delivered it didn’t seem like a fan, although it is hard to tell.”

“Oh… alright then.” I responded. “I’ll come down now to grab it from you now. Thanks for letting me know.” Then I hung up and set the phone down before looking over to George. “I need to get something from the reception.” I told him. “Do you want to come down with me, or would you like to stay here?”

“I’ll stay here.” He replied, curling up under the covers immediately and pressing play on the movie.
“Alright.” I shrugged. “I’ll be back in a few minutes then.” I gave him a caring squeeze to the shoulder before leaving.

It was just past 6pm, and most people who would have been coming and going from the hotel would have stopped for today. Every guest would have either gotten home by now from a day of sightseeing, or still be out having a fancy dinner at a restaurant. So there were not many people around as I climbed into the elevator.

After a relatively quick ride down the elevator to the ground floor I made my way to the reception. Like most of the hotel at this time, the reception was quiet. There was only one person standing there who must have been the one to call me.

She looked up from where she was typing on her computer and noticed me, easily being able to recognise who I was because… well… I was me. “Mr Smith,” she greeted respectively with a nod. “Here is the letter that was left for you.” She said while holding up a cream coloured envelope.

“How long ago was it left?” I asked her as I took the letter from her hand. It had nothing written on it except my full name and the hotel’s name and address.
“About half an hour ago.” She stated. “I was busy helping some people and someone came to drop it off with my coworker.”

“He was just about to finish his shift and so I offered to deal with it once I finished with the group and I just finished five minutes ago and called you.”
“Well thank you for calling me about it.” I responded with a grateful nod as I held the letter in my hands.

The woman gave a polite nod as I turned to leave before saying ‘have a good evening’. When I stepped back into the elevator to go back to my room I took a moment to look over the envelope again, trying to figure out who exactly would have sent a letter to the hotel that I was currently staying at.

Most likely it was some kind of fan, despite me knowing that most fans were directed to send fanmail to my agent back in Florida. Somebody must have seen me come in here one night and decided to send it directly to me instead of to my agent first. Whether that was the answer or not I didn’t want to open it until I got back to my room.

With a few quick steps I made it to the door of my room before heading back inside. When I got into the bedroom I saw George laying in exactly the same position that he had been when I left two or three minutes earlier. He was just watching the TV, but took a moment to look over at me when I entered the room.

I settled down on the edge of the bed so that I could read what was written in the letter, and George diverted his attention from the movie over to me before shuffling over so he could read the letter from over my shoulder. After looking over the address one more time I opened it.

Dear Clay,

For the past few months I’ve been trying to contact you about this, reaching out to you on social media however you’ve blocked me so I can’t. I had to write my first letter in years for you, just to prove how committed I am to be able to allow you to get some time to interact with your son.

So it was Monica. She found out what hotel I was staying at and decided to come without my permission so that the child she has while cheating on me could have a father figure. I mean, I felt bad for the child, however I did not want to have anything to do with him or his mother, since I am confident that he is not my biological child.

For now though I just balled my hands up into fists and bit the inside of my lip, taking a moment to glance over at George to see his mouth pressed into a straight line and his brows furrowed as he continued to read what she had written.

I know that not everything that I have said about you on social media has been true, and I am mature enough to admit that, but you can’t act as though you are perfect either. You were treating me terribly even though I was carrying our child, and attempting to constantly ruin my public image.

But, I have decided to move past that for the sake of our son. He deserves to get to know his father Clay, regardless of what you think of me, you can’t let your hatred ruin his life. I have told you this before, he looks exactly like you do.

So, I was hoping that the three of us could meet up sometime in the next week. Just somewhere low maintenance, like a park, or a cafe.where I can introduce you to him. Maybe the three of us could even become a family again and we can…

The letter continued on from there, a long rambling argument trying to convince me to come and meet her… or possibly our… child. I let out a long drawn out sigh as I skimmed over the rest of the contents for any other information, then I looked over at George. He finished reading it after a moment before looking over at me.

“Clay… are you going to go meet her?” He questioned, blinking up at me slowly and for a few moments I considered it, then I shook my head..
“George, you know how you said you might wait before visiting your family?” I questioned, only to get a nod in response. “Would you mind if we did go to visit them sooner rather than later?”
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