I Chose a New Life novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Morning Boat

By the time they reached Stenberg House, Rhoda had already seated nine people in her dining room.

They were regulars, and they had come early for her blueberry pancakes and stayed for the news.

I stood in the kitchen doorway in a borrowed Packers shirt and heard the front bell ring.

Bennett came in carrying a bouquet of white roses.

He wore the gray suit he had planned to wear to the ceremony, with the sleeves pressed and the cuff links shining.

Roxana came in a step behind him, in a long-sleeved cream blouse.

Her eyes were red.

"Della," Bennett said, and he opened his arms.

Nobody in the dining room moved.

Rhoda stood beside the coffee urn with her arms folded.

"You've got a nerve," she said.

"Mrs. Stenberg, I'm so sorry for the scene," Bennett said. "We're here to bring her home."

"Miss Stenberg."

"Miss Stenberg. Thank you for taking care of her."

"She's not a stray cat."

He smiled at the room, and a few of the regulars looked away.

He turned back to me.

"Babe, I know yesterday was a lot. I've thought about nothing else all night. Roxana hasn't slept."

He touched one of his cuff links with two fingers.

I had watched him do it for ten months and had never known what it meant.

Now I knew what it looked like when it happened right after a lie.

"I didn't sleep either," I said.

"Then let's go home."

"I don't have a home. I gave up my flat for yours."

"So come back to yours."

"Is that where my phone is?"

"It's in the car. Your wallet, your keys, your bag. I brought everything." He lowered his voice. "I'll hand it all over the second we're in the car."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Chose a New Life from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.