We Called It Therapy After Dark novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Key

Kasper's car came up Ebba's street at midnight, too fast, and stopped with two wheels on the curb.

I was in the front hall in Roan's coat, with the shoebox in my arms.

Through the glass I watched him get out and lean on the roof of the car.

He was not in the navy blazer.

He had on a wrinkled white shirt, no tie, and he was holding a bottle by its neck.

"Anja!"

Ebba came out of the kitchen in her green bathrobe and switched on the porch light.

"I'll call the neighbor," she said.

"Which neighbor?"

"The retired deputy next door. He's been waiting two years for a reason."

Roan stood up from the stairs.

"I'll go out."

"No."

"Anja."

"You stood in an aisle tonight with six hundred phones on you," I said. "You did the hard part. This one is mine."

He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded once.

He stayed in the hall.

I opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.

The cold went through the coat, and I let it.

Kasper came up the walk with his feet carefully placed.

"They took my show," he said. "Do you know that? The network sent a one-line email. One."

"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.

"You did this."

"You did it. You did it for four years."

"I gave you a voice."

"I had one," I said. "You borrowed it."

He laughed, a wet, ugly laugh.

"Nobody's going to believe a woman who can't sleep."

"Six hundred people believed me tonight."

"They'll forget."

"Maybe. I won't."

He took a step toward the porch, and I did not step back.

"I loved you," he said. "In my way."

"I know. You loved how I sounded."

His eyes filled, and I watched it with interest and no pity.

"Come home," Kasper said. "We can fix this."

"I'm home."

"This is your grandmother's house."

"It is. She's standing right behind me."

"Good evening, Kasper," Ebba said.

At the curb, a flashlight went on.

A big man in a quilted vest was walking across the lawn from the next house with a phone to his ear.

"Evening," said the deputy. "Mr. Lindahl, I'm told you're intoxicated and on private property."

"I'm talking to my wife."

"Ex-wife," I said, and Ebba said it a half second later in perfect time.

Kasper looked from the flashlight to the open door to me.

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