His Favorite Shirt novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Day Camp Bus

Nolan's POV

The day camp bus left from the marina lot in town at eight-fifteen.

I was there at eight, with my truck parked at the far end by the dumpsters and the engine off.

The letter said I was not to approach the child, speak to her, or be alone with her.

It did not say I couldn't sit in a parking lot sixty feet away.

The lawyer Bea found had told me the rest the evening before, on a call Thora set up, with no names used.

A man with no name on a birth certificate could not make anyone take a test.

He needed the mother's consent, or a judge, or the legal father, and none of those would come quickly.

I had never wanted to hurt a woman, and I sat there wanting to.

At ten past eight Brielle's white car pulled in.

Posy got out of the back in a yellow raincoat, though it was not raining, and ran to the line of children at the bus door.

She looked small and fierce with her backpack bouncing.

I held the steering wheel until my knuckles hurt.

She was six years old and I had passed her on my own dock and told her to wear a life jacket, and I had not known.

Brielle handed her to the counselor, kissed the top of her head, and straightened up.

She looked across the lot straight at my truck.

She had known the whole time.

She walked toward me with her purse over her arm and stopped at my window, and she did not look afraid.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said.

"I'm in a parking lot."

"Do you know what the letter says?"

"I know what it says." I got out of the truck and shut the door. "I want a test, Brielle."

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