Life after Goodbye novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Guest Room

Kendrick waited until we were in the car before he said it.

"Chelsea's lease fell through," he said. "The landlord sold the building. She has until the end of the month."

I watched the streetlights slide past the window.

"And?"

"And we have a guest room, Cal. She can stay a few weeks while she finds somewhere."

"Kendrick, no."

"It's three weeks." He glanced at me, and his face was so reasonable. "She's twenty-three. She doesn't have a mother who calls her. She has us."

"She has Ansel."

"Ansel has a one-bedroom and a conference call every night."

I pressed my hand to my stomach under my coat.

The woman on the phone had told me Chelsea would find out.

I had not understood that she would find out by living in my house.

"Let me ask you one thing," I said.

"Okay."

"Suppose I told you I think she put something in that tea. Suppose I said it was her. Who would you pick?"

He took a long time to answer.

We stopped at a red light, and the dashboard glowed on his jaw.

"I wouldn't make me pick," he said finally.

"That isn't an answer."

"Cal, it's my family against my family. I won't choose between you and Ansel and a girl who's trying so hard. I just won't."

The light turned green.

I knew that voice.

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