His Three-Day Girlfriend novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Towel

When the deadbolt turned at seven, I was sitting at the kitchen table with the sticky note in front of me.

I had put the tablet and the photographs back and closed the drawer.

The hairpin had bent the lock, so I left the note out and hoped.

Elliot came in with a grocery bag and stopped.

He looked at me.

He looked at the note.

I watched all the color leave his face.

"I found this," I said in a small voice. "It's in my handwriting. It says the diary lies. Who is Bridget?"

He set the bag down on the floor.

He didn't answer for a while.

"Your sister," he said finally. "She's in Ohio. You haven't seen her in a while."

"Why does it say I'm not crazy?"

"Because for a long time Colin told you that you were."

That was a new line, one I hadn't expected.

I made my eyes go wide.

"Why do you have it?" I asked.

"I found it in your boot, six weeks ago." He pulled out the chair across from me and didn't sit. "I kept it somewhere safe."

"Safe from who?"

"From anyone who'd throw it out."

It was a good answer, the kind that sounds like a whole truth and is only the front of one.

I tilted my head.

"But you didn't tell me about it."

"You wouldn't have remembered," he said.

His voice cracked on the last word.

"And you locked me in this morning."

His jaw moved.

"Yes," he said. "I did. I'm sorry. I'll tell you why, I promise. Not tonight."

He picked up the note, touched it once with his thumb, and handed it back.

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