He Traded Me for Land, Now I Write the Rules novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Receipt

I opened the box on my bed, with the door shut and the lamp on.

Everett stood in the doorway and did not come in.

"I can go," he said.

"Stay. It's only dead people's things."

He stayed.

My mother's sewing tin was on top, the one with the dented lid.

Under it lay her reading glasses, a hospital bracelet, two photographs I had thought were lost, and a bundle of recipe cards tied with kitchen string.

I sat down hard on the mattress.

"Damon kept them," I said. "In the safe. Next to the frame."

"May I?"

I nodded, and Everett crossed the room and sat on the far end of the bed, with a careful foot of blanket between us.

There was a note folded on top of the cards, in Damon's square handwriting.

I read it twice.

It said: These were in the safe when you left. I didn't know what to do with them, so I kept them.

It said: I would like to see you before the vote. I am asking, since you say I never did.

It said: Monday, nine, the registry steps. Alone, if you can. D.

I handed it to Everett.

He read it and gave it back.

"It's yours to answer," he said.

"You don't have an opinion?"

"I have several." He looked at his hands. "Not one of them is a rule."

I almost smiled.

"What do you think he wants?"

"I think he wants you to go back." Everett said it plainly. "I think he's also sorry, and I don't think those two cancel each other."

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