They Never Picked Up My Calls, So I Made Dolls That Answer novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: Four New Dolls
"Those are them," I said.
Fletcher sat back on his heels with the box on his knees.
"Dad told me about the dumpster. He didn't tell me you kept them."
"I couldn't throw them out twice."
He picked up the one with the gray suit, very carefully.
"Your dad."
"I sewed his tie on crooked. On purpose. He always wore it a little crooked."
He turned the doll over. My tiny stitches ran up the back, even and tight.
"Good seams," he said.
"That's what your father said."
"He's right about seams. He's wrong about everything else."
I sat on the floor beside him in my towel and took the box.
Four button faces.
I'd told them everything for a year, and they'd never said a word back.
"What are you going to do with them?" Fletcher said.
I thought about it.
"Take them apart," I said.
I did it at the Singer, a little every night, after the shop closed.
A seam ripper and a lamp.
Stitch by stitch, the way I'd put them together.
Mom's pearl cardigan came apart into a square of cream knit. Dad's suit was two gray rectangles and a crooked strip of tie.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of They Never Picked Up My Calls, So I Made Dolls That Answer are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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