Borrow My Seat novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Her Name on the Letter

I read the letter standing at the top of the stairs.

It was one page, on thick cream paper, from a firm in Brookfield.

It said that Mr. Lane Raskin, spouse of Ms. Ingrid Eklund Raskin, requested a signed consent for the equity grant offered by Ahlgren Studio.

It said the marriage was registered with Milwaukee County on March 14, three years ago.

It said a response was expected within ten days.

I read it three times.

"That's a lie," I said.

My voice sounded far away.

"I would know if I were married. I would know that."

"I held it back from HR," the finance partner said gruffly. "I thought you should see it first."

I looked up at him, startled.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I still think you're a liability." He cleared his throat. "But nobody should open a letter like that in front of an office."

He went back into the conference room and shut the door.

Tobias took my elbow so lightly I almost didn't feel it.

"My office," he said.

He shut the door and put me in the chair by the window.

He crouched in front of me with his hands on the arms.

"Breathe."

"I'm breathing."

"Not enough."

I breathed.

My eyes went to the lake, gray under a gray sky.

A thing I had not thought about in years came up out of the dark.

Three years ago, I had taken a long lunch to meet Lane at the courthouse.

He said it was a form for my new health plan.

I signed two pages standing at a counter with a phone against my ear, on a call with a client.

I had never asked what the pages said.

"Ingrid."

"I signed something once," I said. "At the courthouse. He said it was insurance."

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