Back With Baby, Ex Regrets Deeply novel · Chapter 15 of 32

Chapter 15: Keys

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

Dorian opened his mouth.

My father was down the steps faster than I'd seen him move in years.

He took Dorian by the elbow, hard, the way he used to take me out of restaurants when I was small.

"He's drunk," my father said to the street. "He's been drinking since the dinner. Laurel, get him in the car."

"I'm not drunk enough," Dorian said. "That's the problem, Gordon."

"Car."

Laurel came down in her robe and took his other arm.

She didn't look at me.

For the first time since I'd come home, she didn't look at me at all.

They put him in the passenger seat of his own car, and my father shut the door on him.

Then my father came back to the bottom of the steps.

"Dad," I said. "What did he mean?"

"He means he's bitter. He means he lost a contract and a wife's respect in one week and he wants somebody to blame." He buttoned his jacket. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. Enjoy your cake."

He walked to his car without looking back.

Alistair was beside me in the doorway with Teddy.

He hadn't said a word.

"You heard that," I said.

"I heard it."

"What do you think it means?"

"I think your father ran down a flight of steps to stop a drunk man finishing a sentence." He shifted Teddy to his other arm. "I've never seen him run."

Sunday came up blue and hot.

At five to twelve I turned onto Marlborough Street with Teddy in the stroller and Alistair a step behind us.

There was a pile on the sidewalk in front of my mother's house.

Garment bags. Lamps. A white leather ottoman. Boxes with "LAUREL" written on them in pink marker, and a gold banner still rolled up that said "THE REVEAL!"

Laurel stood in the middle of it in big sunglasses, screaming into her phone.

"No, the van's not coming. Because Dorian didn't pay the deposit. Because Dorian doesn't pay for anything, Mom, that's why."

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