While He Built Her Home novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: No Contact

Brynn came into Linen & Lamp on Thursday at ten to six.

Phoebe was stacking the last of the cider cups, and two customers were still looking at lamps by the window.

I was behind the counter with a stack of invoices.

The bell rang, and I looked up, and I almost didn't know her.

She had on a gray coat I had never seen.

Her hair was pulled back without a clip, her face was bare, and her silver bracelet hung loose on a wrist that had gotten thin in four days.

She carried a pink gift bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top.

"Val," she said. "Please. Five minutes."

Phoebe was at my elbow in a second.

"No," she said.

"I'm not here to fight."

"You can't be here at all," Phoebe said. "Your lawyer got the letter. So did you."

"Phoebe," I said.

"She's not allowed."

"It's all right. Let her say it."

The two customers had gone quiet and were pretending to read price tags.

Brynn walked to the counter and put the gift bag down between us.

"It's a blanket," she said. "I knitted it, the week you went to the clinic the first time. I always kept it. I always thought it would be for your baby."

I looked at the bag, and I didn't touch it.

"You kept it for four years."

"Because I wanted you to have one!"

Her voice broke on it, and her eyes filled up.

I had seen her cry exactly like that at my father's funeral.

"I did what I did because I couldn't lose you," she said. "Both of you. If you had a baby, Jared would be in that house forever. And I'd be at the edge of it, bringing casseroles."

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend