The Eight Year Ledger novel · Chapter 4 of 32

Chapter 4: Gabe

"I'm not confused," I said.

Gabe waited.

He was eight, and eight-year-olds can tell when a grown-up is going to stop there.

I sat down on the porch step so we were the same height.

"Come here a sec."

He sat next to me with his backpack still on, which made him stick out sideways.

"You know how Dad's been working overnight sometimes?"

"For claims," he said. "When people's houses get hail."

"He wasn't always working. Some of those nights he was with Ms. Talley."

Gabe frowned.

"Like a meeting?"

"No. Like a date. The kind married people aren't supposed to go on with somebody else."

He thought about that for a long time.

A school bus went by at the end of the street.

"Are you getting divorced?"

"I think so."

"Do I have to pick?"

"No. Never. You're not picking anything."

"Is Dad still my dad?"

"Always."

He picked at the strap of his backpack.

"Is Ms. Talley still my teacher?"

"For now."

"I don't want her to be."

"I know, bud."

"She gave me a sticker today. She never gives me stickers."

He pulled it off his shirt, a gold star, and looked at it.

"Is that why?"

"Maybe."

He put the sticker on the porch step and pressed it flat with his thumb.

Then he went inside.

I thought that was the end of it.

At five, I heard a sound from the garage like somebody hammering.

Bang.

I opened the door from the kitchen.

Gabe was standing in the middle of the garage with his rock box open at his feet.

He was throwing them one at a time at the big door.

The pink granite.

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