I Was Billed For Every Minute Of Their Love novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Vendor One

The ledger was bound in green leather, and the spine had been cracked open on page fourteen.

I sat down at Eli's table with it, and he stood on the other side with his hands at his sides.

He didn't try to take it from me.

The page was ruled in neat columns, in my father's tight upright hand.

At the top it said Retained Parties: Elizabeth.

Under that there were two entries, one above the other.

The second line I knew.

Vendor 2. D. Pierce. Fourteen months. $74,680. Paid.

The first line was shorter.

Vendor 1. E. Kearney. Nine days. $60,000. Paid.

Beside it, in the margin, my father had written one word, and underlined it.

Terminated.

I read it three times.

The kitchen was very quiet.

Somewhere down the street a delivery truck was backing up, beeping.

"Nine days," I said.

"Libby."

"I counted them, back then. I counted them for a year."

I turned the page toward him, though he had already seen it.

"Dinner at the pavilion gala. The walk by the river. The planetarium, because I said I'd never been. Three dates in nine days, and a text on a Wednesday."

"Yes."

"Which part of it was the job?"

"All of it was supposed to be."

His voice was low and level, and I hated how steady it was.

"The first night, I sat down next to you because your father put a name card there. I was paid to. I'd signed a paper in his office three weeks before."

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