Period of Adjustment

Chapter 3

Later that night, I pulled everything out that had to do with Brenton while Clementine was in the bath. I figured she would ask about him when she older, so I kept some stuff from when we were together. Rian knew about it, and she okay with it because she knew this day would come. She figured Clementine would hunt him down one day when she got older. Even though Rian and I have only had some kind of relationship in the last two years, neither of us pressured Clementine to call her anything other than Rian.

Since Connor was the only male in her life, I figured Clementine would be calling him "daddy". That never happened because she automatically knew him and Shayla have been together forever. When me and Clementine were with Connor, no one really assumed that they were related. Everybody knew that she's my daughter because she looks just like me. Some people thought she was some medical thing between me and Rian since they both have blue eyes. Everyone else figured Shayla and I were sisters since she looks more like me than Clementine despite being half a foot taller than me with brown hair and eyes.

I'm kinda glad Clementine asked about Brenton since he's coming for a visit. At the same time, I'm not because there's a chance she'll start calling him "daddy" before I even get the chance to tell him. I figured he would come here, and expect us to get back together. I wouldn't be surprised if he walked out the front door the second I told him he has a kid.

Right now, all I can think about is how happy me and him were before Clementine was even a thought. That would probably change if we got back together so me, him, and Clementine would be a normal family. We couldn't be normal. We would be far from it. A lesbian with a guy that she had a kid with after almost three years of him not possibly even thinking that there could be a chance that she exists. His parents had him when they were in high school, and they got married after he was born. They're more of a normal family than the three of us could be.

"All bathed, Mommy." Clementine told me as she walked back into our room from the bathroom.

"Your clothes are on your bed, sweetie." I said as I came across a picture of me and Brenton sitting in my barn.

Brenton and I took that picture when we were freshman. Even at fifteen, I was always dressed like a cowgirl. I just didn't wear shorts as often as I do now. My hair was a couple inches shorter than it is now, and I had a braid resting on each shoulder under my white cowboy hat. I had my blue and white flannel shirt tucked into my blue jeans, which were also tucked into my black cowboy boots. My huge pistol-shaped belt buckle was clearly visible between my hips.

Even though Brenton was from Alabama, he didn't look or act the part. He always acted more like a yankee than a country boy. In the picture, he was wearing a pair of jeans, a red T-shirt and sneakers. He was sitting on a hat bail while I was sitting on my horse. I had a small black horse that I named Mango since she always tried to eat my shirts whenever I used mango scented body spray. She ended up dying when I was a sophomore because my idiot cousin decided she "needed to be put out of her misery". Yeah, my family members aren't exactly the brightest.

"All dresses, Mama." She jumped up on my bed. "What are you looking at?"

"A picture of me and your daddy." I handed her the picture.

"Hey, that's the man I met when we were making Rian's cake."

"Yeah. Brenton is your dad."

"How come he's not here with you and me and Uncle Connor and Aunt Shayla?"

"He wanted to come with us, but couldn't. We were both too busy for him to come visit, and I never got the chance to tell him that we have a baby."

"Am I anything like him?"

"You have his eyes and his smile, you love to eat and play video games, and you're so overly adorable just like him."