The Seat They Never Saved and the Offer I Finally Took novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: My Name on the Lease

At six on Saturday morning, Fenwick's Bakery smelled like butter and burnt sugar, and every stool at the counter was full.

I stood by the pastry case with a coffee.

Lacey's parents sat side by side near the register, her mother with her purse in her lap, her father with his coat still on.

Six regulars had come in before seven, the way they always did.

They were a man in a Carhartt jacket and two nurses coming off a night shift, among others.

Lacey came out from the back without her ribbon.

She wore a plain white apron and had braided her hair.

Her hands were shaking, so she folded them in front of her.

"I need to say something," she said.

Nobody spoke.

"Most of you saw the video, so you know the shape of it. I'm not going to ask you to forgive it." Her voice cracked once, and she kept going. "I used my blood sugar and my anxiety to get people to take care of me, and sometimes it was true, and mostly it wasn't."

Her mother made a small, hurt sound.

"I'm not asking anybody to feel sorry for me," Lacey said. "I'm off the register until each of you decides whether I come back. I'll sweep the floor instead."

The man in the Carhartt jacket nodded slowly.

Her father stood, walked around the counter, and put his hand on the back of her head.

He didn't say a word.

She cried against his coat, quietly this time, and nobody looked away.

I put my cup down and left.

At ten o'clock, I stood in the hallway of apartment 4C for the last time.

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