They Gave My Wedding to My Brother, Now They Need Me novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Lobby

We reached the Summit building at eight, in yesterday's clothes.

Kate had not said a word in the cab.

She had brushed her hair and buttoned her coat to the throat.

I tried to take her hand once.

She took it back, gently.

"Not in front of your mother," she said.

The lobby was bright and almost empty, with a marble desk and two potted palms. Howard stood near the elevators with his arms crossed.

Two security guards were beside him.

And on the leather bench by the window, in her good black coat, sat my mother.

She had a suitcase at her feet and a tissue in her hand.

She was crying.

I knew that kind of crying. It came on whenever there was someone to see it.

Three people from the cleaning crew had stopped to watch.

"Miles," she said, and she rose.

She crossed the floor with both arms out, and I stepped back.

"Don't touch me."

Her face crumpled. "Oh, my son. My poor boy."

"Mom."

"I flew all night. I haven't eaten. I came to bring you home."

"Home."

"Your brother is dying." She said it loud, to the lobby. "The doctors say weeks. He keeps asking for you. And you're here, with these people, living in a hotel."

Howard cleared his throat. "Mrs. Kettering, this is a private office."

"I'm speaking to my son."

"You can speak to him on the sidewalk."

She ignored him.

She looked me over, from my wrinkled shirt to my unshaven jaw. Then she looked at Kate, who stood just behind my shoulder, and her eyes sharpened.

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