Period of Adjustment

Chapter 4

When I woke up the next morning, Clementine was looking at more of mine and Brenton's stuff. She found the letters I wrote to him, and asked me to read them to her since she couldn't really understand most of the words I wrote. After I read them to her, I took her upstairs for breakfast. She ended up with a show while she ate because Connor was running around, trying to get ready for work. It was pretty funny since he almost fell down the steps.

After she ate her oatmeal, I took her downstairs to get dressed and braid her hair. She changed from her red and white striped T-shirt and red pajama shorts into a pair of jeans, a purple and blue flannel shirt and black cowboy boots. I braided her hair, and she put on her blue cowboy hat. I took her out to the garage for Connor to watch her while she played on her swing set so I could get a shower and get dressed. We had started working on a 1978 Camaro after we finished the '70 Charger, and he was working on the engine block.

I quickly showered and brushed my teeth and got dressed while my hair dried. I dressed in a pair of shorts, a red T-shirt with a black and white flannel and my black cowboy boots. I straightened and braided my hair before finally finished off with my white cowboy hat. When I went to get her from the garage, Connor was teaching her how to use a wrench. She tried to help me sometimes, but most of the things she tried to help with would either hurt her or make her sick.

I took her upstairs to play while we waited for Brenton. I flipped through pictures of us while she watched tv until he got here. After two hours of waiting, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I said into the speaker.

"Hey. I'm outside."

"Okay. I'm in the living room so you can come in the front door."

"Alright. I'll be up."

"Okay. See you in a few." We hung up. "Clementine, go downstairs, and play with your toys until I say to come up."

"Okay, Mama." She went downstairs just as the door rang.

"Here we go." I opened the door. "Hi, Brenton."

"Hi, Piper." He hugged me and kissed my cheek. "You look good for a mom."

"Gee, thanks. Did you expect me to be fat and have tons of wrinkles and grey hair just because I have a kid?"

"Not the grey hair and wrinkles part. You look like you didn't have a baby."

"Well, I work a lot, and I never really had any help from anyone except Connor and Shayla, so I was always on my feet. She's pretty active and outgoing. She's always outside when Connor and I are working on the garage. She loves to ride horses I hope I can get her one one day."

"Just like her mother."

"Just like Mommy."

"How old is she again?"

"She'll be three on March twelfth."

"Three on March twelfth?" I nodded. "That's means you had her at eighteen?"

"Nineteen." I corrected.

"Did you find out you were pregnant before or after you were in town on your last night?"

"Brenton, are you trying to ask if she's yours?" He nodded awkwardly. "I'll be right back."

I ran downstairs to find Clementine playing with her horses on her bed. I told her to wait for a little while longer. I grabbed the stack of letters off my bed, and ran back upstairs. Brenton was sitting on the couch at the time.

"Here." I handed him the letters. "They all explain a lot, and can possibly answer any questions you might have. They're in order from the oldest to most recent."