Chapter 7: Twenty Percent

I did not run across the office and tear my daughter out of Lorna's arms.

I walked to the counter and put both hands on it.

"I need the pickup list," I said to the secretary.

She looked at me and then slid a sheet across.

My name was at the top. Under it, in blue ink, were my mother-in-law, Lorna Carmody, and Sawyer.

I uncapped the pen on the counter.

"Mrs. Rutledge," my mother-in-law said, "you cannot."

"I am the mother. The form says either parent can change it."

I drew a line through Lorna's name, then through my mother-in-law's.

Then I wrote the date and signed it.

"Sawyer is still on there," the secretary said carefully.

"He can stay."

The principal had come to the door of her office, and she did not say a word.

She only nodded to me once, slowly.

I turned around and crouched so my eyes were level with Poppy's.

She was still in Lorna's arms, her face pressed into the blue sweater.

"Poppy," I said. "Come with me. We'll get the biggest cone at Dolan's, with sprinkles, and you can tell me what you did at school."

"Can Lorna come?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's just us today."

Her chin shook.

I held out my arms and waited.

It took a long time.

Then she wriggled down and came to me, and she cried into my coat all the way to the car.

I did not look back at the office.

I did not need to. I could feel my mother-in-law watching me go.

On Wednesday the Rutledge Marine board met at the boatyard.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Five Years Gone, She Walked Back In, So I Walked Out from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.