He Demanded I Deny His Daughter, So I Walked Away novel · Chapter 4 of 24
Chapter 4: Wednesday at Four
Poppy had swim lessons every Wednesday at four, at the town pool with the viewing window.
For two years I had sat behind that glass with her towel on my knees.
On Wednesday, I told Silvan I was going.
"Not inside," I said. "I'll stand in the parking lot, if I have to. I'll stand where they can't call it trespassing."
Silvan looked at me over a plank he was planing.
"Get the truck keys off the hook," he said.
"You'll let me drive?"
"I'll let you sit in the passenger seat while I do."
He wiped his hands on his jeans and came.
We were at the pool at five to four, and I stayed on the public side of the glass wall with my hands in my pockets.
I kept my word.
I did not wave.
I watched her climb out of the water in her blue suit with her goggles pushed up on her head, and I watched her look at the empty chair where I used to sit.
Then she looked at the window.
She saw me.
She dropped her kickboard on the tile.
"Poppy, walk," the instructor called, but she was already running.
She slammed through the side door, still dripping, and hit me at the knees with her whole wet body.
"You came, you came, you came."
"I told you I would always come," I said into her hair.
Her arms went tight around my neck.
She smelled of chlorine and the strawberry shampoo I had bought.
"Grandma said you left because you didn't want me."
"That is not true."
"She said you were never going to see me again."
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