Chapter 13: Rule Two

Leonie's POV

I woke up alone in a single bed, meant for one man and slept in by two, with a color-coded calendar looking down at me.

Today's square said, in green: Wife?

The question mark was in pencil.

I found Anders sitting on the hall floor outside the door, with his back against the wall and his phone in both hands.

He had been there a while. His socks did not match, and he had never owned socks that did not match.

"You didn't come in," I said.

"I didn't want to wake you with a problem."

"Give me the problem."

He gave me the phone.

I read the photograph of the application the way I read exams, from the bottom up.

The groom's line said Tobin Carrow. The handwriting was a D plus. He had crossed his sevens.

"Is it real?" I asked.

"It is a form," said Anders. "I have asked three judges, by email, at three in the morning. Nobody has answered. Judges sleep."

"What do they say in the morning?"

"Probably that I should have signed my brother's name."

"You couldn't."

"I know," he said, and put his head back against the wall. "That's my whole problem."

I sat down on the floor beside him, in his shirt, and took the seat next to his, because that is where I sit.

"We'll fix it," I said.

He turned his head.

"You said we."

"I know what I said."

"Rule two."

"Your mother isn't here."

"My mother is on the stairs," said Anders. "She has been there since you said 'fix.'"

From the stairs, very faintly, came the sound of someone not listening.

Breakfast was crowded. My own mother had made eggs in Helen's kitchen and would not be told where the pans lived.

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