His 47 Seconds of Silence Cost Him Everything novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Mike's Porch

I didn't drive to Jen's.

I drove across town to a brick ranch house on a street of maples.

A white van in the driveway said BRANDOW PLUMBING on the side.

Mike was on the front porch in a T-shirt and his gray cap, oiling a catcher's mitt.

He looked up when my car pulled in.

He put the mitt down.

By the time I got out, he was standing at the top of the steps.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

"You've got a sewing box."

I looked down. I'd carried it out of the car without thinking.

"It was my grandmother's."

"Okay." He came down the steps and took it from me like it was made of glass. "Is it coming in, or are you?"

"Both."

He set the box on a wicker chair by the door.

Then he went inside and came back with two beers.

We sat on the top step with our knees almost touching.

His daughter's bike was lying in the grass with its front wheel still turning in the wind.

"She's at a sleepover," he said. "Before you ask. Birthday party. Eight girls and a karaoke machine. I'm hiding."

"From eight girls?"

"From the karaoke machine."

I laughed.

Then I stopped laughing and told him about the backyard.

He listened with his elbows on his knees and didn't interrupt once.

"So it was real," he said. "The whole time."

"The whole time."

"And they made you the joke."

"Yes."

He spit a sunflower shell off the side of the step, hard.

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