He Rejected Me Out Loud and Kept Other Women, So I Never Answered novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: The Ledger
The stove went in on Friday, and he had asked.
He had written it on a slip of paper and left it under my door at five in the morning, in his blunt black hand: *May the stove go in? Yes or no. Do not reply to me, reply to the clerk.*
I stood in the cold of the loft with the paper in my fingers and felt absurdly pleased, and then angry that I was.
I wrote *Yes* on the back and gave it to the clerk at the pay window.
By noon two men from the yard had carried a cast-iron stove up the stairs and set it against the chimney wall.
Neither of them looked at me, and neither of them took a cent.
It was December by then, and the ferry had gone to the winter schedule.
The first boat left at eight now and the last came in before dark, and the island turned in on itself like a fist.
I worked the deck.
He stood on the dock at six, as he had said, with a mug in his hand, and he did not come closer than the bollard.
The pack watched him not do it.
They watched with a mix of awe and something close to pity, and nobody said a word in my hearing.
He kept every vow for nine days.
On the tenth, Hester Ballance sent a boy to the net loft with a note.
*Come to the church. Bring your gloves.*
I went after the last run.
The church was cold and empty, and the lamp in the vestry was already lit.
Hester sat at the table with a gray tin box in front of her, the kind that holds a ledger.
"Shut the door," she said.
"You said that last time."
"And you'll find I say it again." She pushed the box across to me. "Open it."
I took off my gloves and opened the catch.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of He Rejected Me Out Loud and Kept Other Women, So I Never Answered are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 14 · All chapters · Chapter 16 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend