They Left Me Out of Their Group So I'll Leave Them Out of My Life novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Apple

The guests left in twos and threes without saying goodbye.

The church women went first, with their purses held in front of them.

One of them stopped beside me at the door.

"I wrote it," she said, not looking up. "The second one. I'm so sorry, dear. Bernice said you'd taken from the collection plate."

"Thank you for telling me," I said.

She nodded and hurried out.

My aunt had gone to sit with my mother, then thought better of it and gone to the coat rack.

The balloons were still tied to every chair.

Colby sat on the edge of the stage with his jacket off and my father's hand heavy on his shoulder.

Neither of them was talking.

My mother stood alone by the dessert table.

I hadn't seen her cross the room.

She had her back to me, straightening a stack of napkins that did not need it, and when I came up beside her she did not turn around.

Between us on the table sat a glass bowl of red apples.

She had brought it from the car at the start of the evening, to set among the cake and the fruit tarts.

"You enjoyed that," she said.

"No."

"You looked like you did."

"Mom, I'm not here to fight."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because you're standing in the empty room, and no one else will."

She turned.

For a moment I saw nothing at all on her face, only a woman of fifty-four in a lavender dress, with her hair coming loose at the temple.

Then her eyes filled, and she took hold of my sleeve.

"Corina, baby. You've made your point. Everybody knows now. Your father is going to be so angry, he'll say things he can't take back. Please. I need you to tell him I did it out of love."

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