His Baby Boy novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: You Faced Him Alone

Malcolm woke at seven, and the first thing he saw was Perrin holding his phone.

"Don't be mad," Perrin said, sitting up against the headboard in Malcolm's old shirt. "It lit up. I read it by accident."

Malcolm took the phone and read the message.

He read the one underneath it, too.

It was from Desmond, sent at six the evening before.

Your barista tore up my check with great spirit. I do admire that in a young man. I'll see you both at the vote.

The color left Malcolm's face by degrees.

"He came to the café," he said.

"Yesterday morning," Perrin said.

"While I was asleep in the back," Malcolm said.

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me."

"I was going to." Perrin pulled his knees up. "I wanted you to sleep first. You hadn't slept in nine years, Malcolm, and you were finally."

"He offered you money."

"A quarter of a million dollars," Perrin said.

"And you stood there alone and said no to him with a roomful of customers watching."

"I had Bernie and Agnes."

"You didn't have me." Malcolm swung his legs out of bed. He was not shouting. He had gone quiet and very controlled, and it was worse. "You faced him by yourself. You let him say whatever he said to you across a counter, and I was lying twenty feet away in a blanket."

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