Love Is Blind, I'm Not novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Weeknight

"Hi," I said. "I called by accident."

"I'll take accidents," Elliot said.

I sat up in Bernie's guest bed with the quilt around my shoulders.

His voice was rough and gravelly.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"The yard office. The board meets tomorrow at nine."

"On a Monday."

"On Monday." He paused. "I don't need you to say anything. I'm glad you called."

"I'll hang up now."

"All right."

Neither of us hung up for a long time.

The board met on Monday, and I heard the result from Lacey.

She came to Bernie's door on Tuesday morning with a suitcase on wheels and a paper cup of coffee in each hand.

Her hair was in a ponytail, and she had no makeup on, and she looked like the girl who had shared her sandwich.

"I brought you this," she said, and held out a cup. "It's the vanilla one you hate. I forgot."

"I'll drink it."

"You don't have to."

I took it.

We stood on the pink porch, not knowing what to do with our hands.

"I'm going to my aunt's in Tucson," Lacey said. "Daddy bought me a ticket."

"I'm going to sit in a pool until I stop feeling sick."

"Lace."

"Don't be nice to me. I don't deserve it."

She sniffed.

"Spencer got voted off the board. Elliot did it with the fifty-one, and Diane didn't vote against him. She just sat there."

"I didn't know."

"Diane's stepping down as chair at the end of the month. And Elliot pledged his own shares to the bank, did you know that?"

She wiped her nose with a knuckle.

"All of them, for ten years. It's the only reason the yard gets its loans. So he can't leave. He's stuck here."

I looked at my coffee.

"He didn't tell me."

"He wouldn't." She set down the suitcase. "I'm going to hum something. Don't laugh."

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