He Staged My Funeral, Now His Wolf Howls at My Door novel · Chapter 16 of 32

Chapter 16: Calvin

Calvin Reese was standing in my kitchen at nine in the morning with a rental car key in his hand.

I had come in from the clinic for coffee, and I stopped in the doorway with the pot half full.

He had lost weight. His light brown hair needed cutting, and his jacket was creased as if he had slept in the car.

"Hazel," he said.

"How did you find me?"

"Your father's card."

He put the key on the table.

"You used it at the pharmacy supplier in Valdosta, for gauze and suture. The alerts go to your mother's phone, and she gave her phone to me to check an old bill. I saw the town and I drove."

"You drove from Spokane."

"I flew to Atlanta. I drove from there."

He tried to smile.

"It wasn't brave. It was just a lot of road."

I put the pot down.

There was a wedding ring's pale mark on his left hand, and no ring.

"Say what you came to say," I said.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"No, let me say it. I knew the plan, Hazel. Your father told me in the garage. I had four hours in the car with you and I handed you nerve drops."

"I remember."

"I talked about the weather."

"I remember that too."

He pressed his knuckles to his mouth.

"I promised you four years ago I'd come for you. I stood behind your mother and let her clip that collar on, and I thought: she'll live. She's clever. She'll get out. I told myself that and I let you carry it alone."

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