Next Time Away novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Rental Porch

Dagny's rental was a gray duplex on a street of gray duplexes, with a plastic sled in the yard.

I stopped at the curb at noon.

Jonas stayed in the truck with Greta, because I had asked him to.

I did not want her to hear what I was going to say.

The hearing had been over for three hours.

Dagny's sister had told me the rest in a flat voice on the phone.

Two counts of child endangerment, for the van.

Elsie placed with her aunt until the county said otherwise.

Visits supervised, twice a week, at the county office, and classes Dagny had to finish before anyone would discuss more.

The boy next door had stopped shoveling her walk the day after the memorial.

Her salon had sent a letter.

Six of her clients had moved their appointments, and the owner wanted her chair back.

Dagny sat on the porch steps in the cream cardigan, with a cup of coffee going cold in her hands.

She was not wearing makeup.

Her braid had come loose at the end.

Two neighbors stood in their yards pretending to look at their cars.

She watched me come up the walk.

"You came," she said.

"You asked."

"I didn't think you would."

"Neither did I."

I stopped at the bottom step.

I had meant to be kind.

I had practiced it on the drive, the voice I used with Elsie, and now I couldn't find it.

"I want to say something to you in front of people," I said. "So you don't tell it differently."

Her chin lifted.

"Go on."

"You put a child in a van in January with the engine running and no lights."

"She was safe."

"You put her in the middle of a lie that would have eaten her alive the day she was old enough to work it out." I kept my voice level. "You taught a six-year-old to say 'Mommy says you're going to rest.' You let her hand me a sentence you wrote."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend