Chapter One:
IRONIC




Claire hummed along to her Alanis Morrisette CD as she swept her broom across the tiled kitchen floor. She'd been cleaning
for a couple of years and the apartment now looked livable. Steve's beer bottles and pork rinds had been cleared from the TV
area and she'd aired out the entire apartment so that the smell of alcohol was gone from the couches and furniture (that alone had
taken one whole bottle of Febreeze).
Grabbing the dustpan, she whirled around and started singing along to 'Ironic' and swept
up all the dust before dumping in into the waste basket. Noticing that the basket was full, she tied it up, slung it over her shoulder
and headed for the garbage container outside.
Just as her hand reached for the doorknob, the doorbell rang.

'Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?' Alanis sang out as if to dramatize the moment.

Claire cocked her eyebrows and wondered who could be outside. Steve was at work and his friends only came by on Monday
nights to watch football. Other than that, no one came to see her. She pulled the door open, expecting to see a girl scout or someone
else. To her surprise, a tall man with fine red hair and deep cobalt eyes stood in front of her.
Blinking a few times as if what she were seeing was a mirage, her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh...dear..." she closed her eyes
to gather it all in. "Leon?"
The corner of Leon's lips curled upward into the familiar Kennedy grin and he nodded. "Hello Claire."
Time had certainly been good to him. She heard somewhere that men don't stop growing until they turn 25, Leon had obviously
been using those years wisely. The last time she had seen him, he was 5'11'', now, at 32, he was a strapping 6'4''. And the once
lean muscles he had were more defined and robust.
"Leon, what are you doing here?" she asked, the trashbag falling from her hands to the floor.
Leon laughed a bit discomforted. "Well, I just got back in town. A while ago Chris said that when I came back I could stay with
him for a little while... Now he's living with Rebecca." He pursed his lips for a moment. "Chris and Rebecca, who would've
thought THAT would happen?"
Claire chuckled and nodded. "It's ironic, isn't it?"
"It sure is." Leon replied. "Yeah, and Chris felt totally bad about it. He said even though he didn't have any space, he said that
you might."
Claire's breath caught in her throat. Oh goodness... How could Chris have done this? He KNEW how temperamental Steve
could be. He could barely tolerate Chris spending the night when his house was being sprayed for termites. Surely, he wouldn't
allow Leon to even set foot in his house.
'Chris is doing this because he's trying to protect you.' Her mind rationalized. ' This is your own doing. You should never have
gone crying to him that one time.' Claire just managed to contain her self-blaming nod. Her mind thought back to about a year
ago. Steve had gotten really into drinking then, claiming it was a way to release himself from his parent's memory. He came home
a little drunk that night. Claire had waited up for him to confront him about something Chris had told her a few weeks before.
Apparently, Chris had seen Steve at a night club with some woman when he was SUPPOSED to be doing paperwork at the
construction site with his boss.
Claire had waved it away thinking nothing of it, but the thought gnawed and gnawed at her brain until she felt she would burst.
That night, she met Steve head-on about it once he came home. Steve glared at her angrily and indicted her of not believing him,
the woman was just an old friend from out of town that was in for then night.
'Steve, if you wanted to meet an old friend, why didn't you just TELL me? I would've understood.' she said.
Steve scoffed and shook his head. 'You women never understand. You're always either fussing with make-up or consumed
with jealousy. I saved you a lot of grief by not saying anything. Besides, it's in the past, why don't we forget about it?'
'But you TOLD me you were working with your boss---you lied to me.' Claire said.
Steve threw a fit then, accusing her of taking someone else's word over his, saying that he couldn't trust her completely either.
He said so many hurtful things to her that night, including making nasty remarks about her relationship with her brother.
'How can that be normal? No two siblings are that close.' Steve spat impertinently.
'How dare you!' she exclaimed. 'You don't understand Steve. Chris and I grew up half our lives without our parents. We were
all each other had.'
'Exactly.' Steve replied in a suggestive way.
'Oh forget it, I knew it would be impossible to get a straight answer from you.' Claire turned and headed for the bedroom. 'You're
just what Chris said you were.'
She left Steve alone in the living room, and shut the door to the bedroom. She turned her stereo on and laid down on the bed.
Suddenly, the door flew open, the hinges almost flying off. Steve's eyes were bloodshot and he was fuming.
'What did your brother say about me?' he asked.
'I don't have to tell you.' Claire replied coolly, daring to test his patience. Big mistake. Huge.
Steve reached over and seized Claire's shoulder, pulling her up to her feet. 'Claire, I'm not fucking around with you. What the
hell did your damn brother say about me?'
'Steve, you're hurting me!' Claire pleaded, trying to squirm around.
'I don't give a shit!' Steve yelled, Claire's eyes teared as the alcohol on his breath stung her eyes. 'What the hell did he say?!'
'He said you were a lewd, horny bastard with five hands!' she exclaimed. That wasn't really what he said, but she feared that
if she told him the truth, he would kill Chris. Steve thrusted her back against the wall which barely dazed her.
'Don't do that to me!' she shouted at him.
So fast that she couldn't stop him, Steve punched her straight across her face. He hit her so hard she actually saw stars. She didn't
know what hurt the most, what he had done or how hard he had done it. She crumpled to the floor and Steve stared down at her
disgustedly. He kicked her roughly in the stomach and turned to the bed.
Enraged at what he had done, Claire swept her foot around and knocked Steve off his feet Steve fell to the floor and passed
out. Staggering in pain, Claire left the apartment on her motorcycle and headed to Chris' house. When she told him the whole incident
he forbade her to go back to Steve. But of course Steve won her over again and things returned back to the way they were before.
But there were frequent occasions where Steve met up with a new woman at a club or restaurant. He always said they were a
cousin or some distant relative. He was related to half of the California and was turning Claire into a laughing stock.
"Claire?" a voice from the present called.
Claire shook her head to shake away her reverie and looked up to see Leon looking down at her.
"Um... I know it'll be an inconvenience but I really need a place to stay." he looked like a little puppy dog. "Just for a few weeks,
then I'll be out of her faster than that." He snapped his fingers to dramatize.
Claire thought for a brief moment and was about to shake her head. Steve would kill her. She couldn't be stupid.
"Sure, I don't see why you can't stay." she smiled. "Oh, my manners are terrible, why don't you come in?"
"Thank you." Leon said gratefully.
"No problem." Claire said, feeling a sense of relief and security wash over her.
She led Leon into the living room and sat him down.
"So... um... what have you been up to?" she asked. "Chris told me that you joined the military."
"Yeah, I was in the Army for six years. My service ended last year..." he gestured proudly to his head. "I got my hair back."
Claire laughed. "I noticed. Where was the last place you were stationed?"
"Ireland. Which is good because my mom returned there after dad died."
Leon went on and on about all the things he had been up to and felt completely dull. What had she been the past eight years? What
had she accomplished?