A few moments later, the elevator doors opened and she exited the car.  She took half a dozen steps and stopped before the receptionist station in the open part of the hallway. 

A red-haired woman in her mid-twenties sat behind the desk, typing away at her computer.  She looked up as she noticed the blonde teen approaching.  “Hello, Clare,” the woman said with a pleasant greeting.  “How are you?”

“Good, Melissa,” Clare Harper replied. 

Melissa Waters was one of the newer members of the company.  The woman was hired about four years ago after Mrs. Daley retired.  Mrs. Daley had been with the company since its inception.  Clare had first met Melissa at one of the Christmas parties, and she often made it a point to chat with her whenever she called or stopped by.

“Is my father around?” the teenager asked

Melissa shook her head.  “No, Clare, he isn’t.”  She saw that this bit of information caused the young teen to frown slightly.  “Sorry, but you just missed him.  He left about ten to fifteen minutes ago.”

“Did he have a meeting with a client?” Clare asked

Melissa shook her head again.  “No meeting,” she said, “or at least he didn’t take his briefcase with him.  Usually for meetings he’ll have that or a few design tubes under his arm.”

The blonde wrinkled her nose.  “I probably should have called first.  I was hoping to surprise him for lunch.”

Melissa typed something on the keyboard and a small grid with times along the left column popped up on the screen.  “I checked his calendar for you; he has nothing scheduled until later this afternoon.”  She turned back to Clare.  “He had been having a rough morning, working out some designs, and was in one of those moods of his.”

Clare nodded.  “Yes, I’m all too familiar with those.”

“However,” Melissa continued, “he then got a phone call just prior to his leaving that seemed to perk him up a bit.  When he left, he actually had a smile on his face and said he would be back after lunch.”

“Oh,” Clare said.  “So, he didn’t say who he was going to lunch with or where?”

Melissa shook her head.  “No, he didn’t,” she replied.  “I would assume he was meeting the woman who called though.”

Woman? Clare thought.  I wonder who that could be.

“Melissa, is okay if I go leave him a note?”

“Sure, Clare,” the receptionist replied.  “Go right ahead.”

“Thanks,” the teen said.  She then went down the hallway to where her father’s office was.  Once there, she moved around to his desk and sat in his leather chair. 

I should at least let him know I came by, Clare thought. 

She looked about and spied a pencil in a cup on his desk.  The cup was made of white ceramic with the words “World’s Best Dad” painted on one side.  She had given him that for Father’s Day when she was six years old.  It made her feel good that he still kept it all these years, in a place of honor on his desk next to a family portrait they took last year around Christmas time.

Now, for paper, she thought. 

She looked about at the various folders and items spread across his desk.  Kyle Harper tended to be a bit disorganized, but he always said it was just his “system”.  He could find anything he needed when he put his mind to it.  Clare and her mother didn’t always buy it, but his track record for locating what he needed in less than two minutes was pretty impressive.

She noticed a small notepad near the phone and picked it up.  As she was about to write on the top page, she noticed some indentations. 

Hmmmm, Clare paused.  I wonder. 

Taking the flat edge of the pencil lead, she began to brush it lightly over the top piece of paper.  Amidst the shading, letters were forming.  Soon enough, a few words were clearly visible on the page: Shannon and Plaza Hotel room 319.

Clare blinked at the paper.  Who’s Shannon?  Was she the woman who called and Daddy ran off to see?  What’s going on?

Clare pulled off the sheet of paper from the pad and crumpled it into her hand tightly.  Curiosity was getting the better of her.  I have to find out what is going on.  The girl turned and headed back out of the office.

As Clare passed by the receptionist’s desk again, Melissa called to her.  “Clare, did you find everything you needed?”

“Yeah, I did,” Clare said absently as she pressed the elevator button.  As she waited for the car to come, she turned back to the desk.  “Melissa, did you happen to catch the name of the woman that called my father before he left?”

The red-head thought for a second.  “I didn’t really write it down as I patched her right through to him.  I recall it started with an S.  Shari or…?”

“Shannon?” Clare asked as she squeezed the balled up note page in her fist.

“Yes, that was it,” Melissa replied.  “Shannon.”

There was a ding sound as the elevator arrived on the seventh floor.  “Thanks,” Clare said as she stepped into the car.  The doors then closed behind her.

***

It took Clare a little while on foot to get the Plaza Hotel.  She hadn’t anticipated the need to be flying anywhere, thus she had left her Lodestone costume at home.  And, in her current state of mind, she didn’t think it would be prudent to be soaring around town without concealing her identity.

All the while, she kept going over things in her head, trying to process it all.

Who is this Shannon woman and why is Daddy meeting her at a hotel in the middle of the day?  What’s that about? 

He can’t be cheating on Mom.  He just can’t!  Why would he?

If Mom and Dad were having problems, Mom would have told me.  Wouldn’t she?

It has to be nothing.  They’re always so affectionate with one another.

Or maybe they are having problems and are just pretending to be, for my sake.  What if they’re having problems and end up splitting up?

Maybe Mom doesn’t know anything about it at all.  Maybe Daddy is having some kind of affair.  That would explain all the late hours he’s been keeping downtown recently. 

Is he cheating on Mom?

Before she knew it, she was in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel and standing behind some people who were at the front desk checking in.  Even then, she still wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

Do I ask who is registered in room 319? 

Do I just go up there and barge in? 

Ewww!  I can’t do that, especially if they’re…ewwww!

No, wait.  I’ve got to think this through.

Clare glanced across the lobby and into the opening that lead to the hotel bar.  She stepped back when she realized that she saw a man who could be her father.  Daddy?  Carefully, she stepped backwards and moved to behind one of the large white pillars in the lobby.  Was that him?  Was he with her?

In the bar, the man in his forties with sandy brown hair and a blonde woman got up from a pair of barstools and began to enter the lobby.

Using one of the large, gold framed wall mirrors, Clare could see them clearly without them seeing her.  That is Daddy!  And that must be Shannon.

She studied the image of the woman in the mirror as they moved closer.  She was a tall, well-fit woman in her forties with blonde hair tied up into a bun.  Her make-up complimented her natural features.  Clare couldn’t see her eyes as the woman had on polarized, tinted glasses.  She was dressed in a conservative gray suit with a white blouse.  Her shoes were sensible flats.

Not at all what I was expecting, Clare thought.  She looks more like a librarian or a business woman rather than some cheap floozy.  The young girl didn’t know whether to be relieved or to be more confused.  Maybe it is a client after all.

Clare listened carefully as the two crossed the lobby.

“Kyle, thanks ever so much for meetin’ me on such short notice!” the woman gushed.  Her accent was clearly southern.  “I got into town late last night and didn’t want to disturb you at home.  And since I have an early evenin’ flight tonight I had to make sure I saw you - even if it was for only a little while.”

“Shannon, you know I’ll always make time for you,” Kyle Harper said. 

The woman smiled.  “Aren’t you just the sweetest little old thing?”  The two paused for a second to exchange a great big hug. 

“Now, what was so urgent to tear me away from the office in the middle of the day?” Kyle asked.  “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.  I’d much rather spend time with a beautiful woman like you than some frustrating old designs any day.”

The woman touched him gently on the shoulder.  “Not here.  Come up to my room.  I have somethin’ to give you there, sugar.”  She started to lead him towards the elevators.

Kyle smiled.  “Now you’ve got me all curious.  I can’t wait to see what you have for me.”

“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” she said with a playful laugh.

As they walked on past, Clare moved around the pillar to avoid being seen by either of them.  But as she did so, she could feel emotions welling up inside of her.  Her eyes started to tear up a bit based on everything she had just seen and heard.  Daddy!  How could you?  She waited for a moment and listened for the elevator doors to open.  When they closed again, she ran out of the front doors of the hotel and hurried home.

***

A number of hours later, in a large but modest home in Ashebury, a residential community in north Victoria, Georgia, Clare sat on her bed in her room and talked on the phone.

“Girl, you okay?” a voice said on the other end of the line.

“I’m fine, Anita,” Clare told her best friend from school.

“Just sounds like you’ve been crying or something.”

Clare pushed a pile of used tissues aside on her bedspread.  Sebastian, the gray house cat, hopped up onto the bed and began to swat one around like a ball.  

“Just watched something sad earlier today,” Clare said, speaking a half-truth.  She picked up the cat and dropped him down to the floor.  “Say, has Cynthia ever mentioned to you why her parents split up?”

“Not really,” Anita said on the other end of the line.  “You know she doesn’t like to talk about that stuff much.  It is what it is with her.”

“Yeah,” Clare said.  “I just was wondering if they broke up because one of them was unfaithful or something.”

“Can you picture Mr. Brekmann being unfaithful?” Anita asked.  “I couldn’t.  He seems so nice.”

“Yeah, me too.  I guess you just don’t know though, you know?”  Clare heard a sound outside.  She stood up, glanced out her window and saw her father’s car pulling into the driveway.  “Hey, I have to go, Anita.”

“Okay, Clare.  Want to hang out later?”

“Maybe.  I’ll give you a call.”  Clare hung up the phone and stood up.  She turned to the large mirror mounted on her dresser and checked her reflection in the mirror.  Her eyes weren’t nearly as red as she thought.  Okay, Clare, she told herself.  Pull it together and just go talk to him.

Downstairs, Kyle Harper entered the front door.  A blonde haired woman in her late forties greeted her husband with a kiss.  “How was work today, dear?” she asked.

“Same old, same old, honey,” he replied as he put his briefcase down behind the couch.  “That building we’re designing for the Caperson Group is finally coming together.  As long as they don’t make any more drastic changes, we should be able to meet the deadline.”

“Good to hear,” Beverly Harper replied.  “It’ll be nice to have you home for dinner again.”

“Things have been a little hectic,” he admitted.  “I promise they’ll be back to normal soon.”

“We’ll be ready to eat in about a half hour or so,” his wife said. “I’m making lemon chicken and rice.” 

“Sounds good,” he said as Beverly slipped back into the kitchen.  Kyle started to loosen his neck tie when he noticed his daughter come down the front steps.  “Hey there, kiddo.  How was your day?”

“Okay,” Clare said.  She eyed him up and down as she walked past before plopping down on the couch.  “How about you?”

“Busy, real busy.  I swear I don’t think I had time to rest one bit.”

Yeah, right.  Clare nodded though she knew that wasn’t completely true. 

“What did you do today?” he asked.

“I was downtown.”

“Shopping with your friends for back to school clothes for next month?”

“No,” Clare said sharply.

“I know it’s some written rule somewhere that you all have to have the perfect outfit for that first day of class already picked out in advance, right?”

“Actually, I was going to come by and surprise you…for lunch.”  She paused.  “But I was the one that got a surprise.”

Kyle sat down.  “How so?”

“You weren’t there.”  Clare eyed him again.  His expression seemed to show some genuine interest in her conversation but did not show any hints of anything else.  She decided to test him.  “So, what did you do for lunch?”

“Me?” her father said.  He adjusted himself a bit on the couch.  “Oh, I picked up a hot dog, fully loaded, from a street vendor after running an errand.”  He lowered his voice a bit.  “Don’t tell your mother.  She’ll be mad that I cheated.”

“Cheated?” Clare asked, a bit alarmed by this admission.

Kyle nodded.  “Remember, keep it a secret, kiddo.”  He gave her a little wink.

So he’s not even trying to hide it!  “What kind of errand did you run?” Clare asked pointedly.

“A personal one.” 

“How personal?”

The man in his late forties frowned a bit as he paused.  “What’s going on, Clare?  Why the twenty questions all of a sudden?”

“Oh, nothing,” Clare said dismissively.  “Can’t a daughter ask her father about his day?”

Kyle’s frown got more pronounced.  “Don’t take that kind of tone with me, young lady.  You’re almost an adult but that doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like that.”

“Oh, right,” Clare said and then caught herself when she realized how loud she was getting.  She dropped her voice a bit.  “I’ll be eighteen soon enough.  I’m certainly old enough to understand certain ‘adult things’.”  She made quotes in the air with her fingers as she said those last two words.

Kyle looked at her perplexed.  “Clare, what are you talking about?”

“Oh, you know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t.”

Clare started to fume a bit.  Okay, fine!  She was getting tired of his dodging the questions. “I suppose you’re going to deny that meet a woman today at the Plaza Hotel around noon!” she said.

“Well…,” Kyle started to say.  “It’s not what…”

“I saw you there!  I saw you with her!  With Shannon!”

The man realized where this was leading.  “Clare, you misunderstood.”  He started to reach for his daughter’s hand.

Clare pulled it away sharply.  “Don’t touch me!  You can’t just soothe me and it’ll all go away!”  She stared at him and her eyes started to tear up again as they had earlier in the day.  “Daddy, how could you?  What about Mom?  What’s she going to say?”

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh.  “Oh, Clare…ha ha…”

“You find this funny?  How can you find this funny?” Clare bolted upright from the couch, her voice now raised to a shout.

“Clare, sit down,” Kyle said.  “It was just…”

“Just what, Daddy?  Just what?” the teen cried.  “There isn’t any ‘just’ when it comes to...”

Just then, Beverly Harper emerged from the kitchen.  “What’s all the shouting about?” she asked.  “Are you two going at it again about Clare being Lodestone?”

“No, no,” Kyle said as he waved his hands.  “Not at all.  It has nothing to do with Clare.”

“Then what’s this about?” his wife asked again

Clare looked at her father.  “Are you going to tell her or do I have to?”

Kyle leaned back on the couch, a bit amused.  He wanted to see for sure if his daughter was thinking what he thought she was thinking. “Okay.  Go ahead, honey.  Tell your mother.”

The teen hesitated. 

Her father gave her a smug ‘go-ahead’ look. 

She frowned a bit at him and turned to Beverly.  “Mom, I went down to Daddy’s office today to surprise him for lunch.”

“Yes,” Beverly said, “and?”

“And when I got there, Melissa told me he had already left to meet someone.  I figured out where he went and…”

“She followed me,” Kyle interjected.

Beverly asked, “You followed your father?  For heaven’s sake, Clare, why?”

Clare looked at her father.  He didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned about what she was explaining.  In fact, he appeared to be enjoying all of this.  This just made the teen more annoyed. Then she turned back to her mother and summoned up her courage.  Someone has to get this out in the open.  “Mom, Daddy went to the Plaza Hotel and met up with another woman for drinks and...”

“What?” Beverly asked.  She turned to her husband.  “Who…?”

“Beverly, it was Shannon ,” Kyle said plainly.

“Shannon?” his wife replied.

“Shannon Kendricks,” he continued.  “She happened to be in town on business.”

“Oh,” Beverly said in a matter of fact way.  “And she called you up?”

“She only had time at lunch and knew I worked downtown.  She actually wanted to see both of us, but I knew you were busy today getting ready at the school and figured you wouldn’t be able to get away on such short notice.”

“I see,” Beverly said.  “I might have been able to rush down, given that it was Shannon and all.”

“She was really on a tight schedule herself,” Kyle said.  “But she had something very special to give to me, to us, and she didn’t want to risk something happening to it by sending it any other way.”  He got up from the couch.  “Here, let me get it out of my briefcase.”

“Wait a minute!” Clare interjected.  “Who is Shannon Kendricks?  And why are you taking this so calmly, Mom?”

“Clare, she’s an old friend of ours,” her mother said.

“She certainly seemed very friendly with Daddy.”

Kyle chuckled.  “That’s just Shannon for you.”

“She certainly doesn’t mean anything by it,” Beverly added.  “She just has that sort of southern charm.”

“But, Daddy, you said you cheated, and you didn’t want Mom to know about it!” Clare exclaimed.

“On my diet,” Kyle replied.  “We’ve got a formal affair we need to go to in a few months and my tuxedo is fitting a little snug.”  He stood up and turned to his wife.  “Here you go, Beverly.  This is why Shannon called me today.”  He handed his wife a leather bound portfolio, ten inch by ten inch in size.

“What is that?” Clare asked.

Beverly opened it up.  “It’s a scrapbook,” she said with delight.

“It’s a belated anniversary gift,” Kyle said, “from the old gang.”

“What?” Clare asked, it now being her turn to be totally perplexed.  “What old gang?”

“That’s her!” Clare said.

“That’s Stardust,” her father said.  “That’s the woman whom I met downtown today.”

“But if she…then Daddy didn’t…”

Beverly smiled.  “Honey, your father and I have been together for quite a long time.  We love each other and we would never, ever be unfaithful to one another.”

“Absolutely,” Kyle added.  “Besides, anybody who knows Stardust knows that she and Captain Alabama are in love – though neither one will admit it.”

Clare frowned a bit.  “Daddy, why did you let me go on like that?  Why didn’t you just tell me what was going on?”

“I tried to, pumpkin,” her father said, “but you wouldn’t let me explain.  You just jumped to a conclusion without all of the facts.  And then you built up some scenario in your head based on what little you did know.  With all that, and your headstrong nature, well there was just no getting in a word edgewise.”

Clare’s face began to turn red.  “I feel so embarrassed,” she said.

“Well, you were spying on your old man,” Kyle added.  “So, consider it a lesson.”

“Kyle, be nice,” her mother said.  “We’re a family, so we can always discuss things out in the open.  If something is bothering you or you need our help, we’ll always be there for you.  You don’t need to shoulder the weight of the world on your shoulders.  Right, Kyle?”

“Right,” he said.  He put his arms about his two girls.

Clare felt relieved.  “I guess I did jump to a big conclusion this time.”

“No problem,” Kyle said.  “The good thing is no one got hurt from it.  Just remember: get all your facts straight before you act on them.”

Clare nodded.  “I will, Daddy.”