A Happy Family Without Me novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Sale

I looked at the pen, and at the lawyer's letter, and at the man holding them out.

"Poppy's account has her name on it," I said. "You signed the form yourself the day she was born."

"Cor..."

"It was never joint. It was never yours. You took it out in one morning and wrote it off as a deposit."

"I'm trying to be reasonable."

"You came to my door and asked me to give you half of your daughter's college fund."

The toast popped behind me in the kitchen.

I heard Poppy's chair scrape.

Garner heard it too, and he stepped back so fast that he nearly missed the stair.

"Think about it," he said. "That's all I'm asking."

"I've thought about it. Go away."

Torsten had crossed the street while we talked, and he stood on the walk with his hands in his jacket.

Garner looked at him, and at me, and at the neighbors' windows.

He left the letter on the porch rail.

I picked it up, folded it once and put it in the bin by the door.

The cottage sold in nine days.

A young couple with a toddler bought it at a price lower than Lorna had hoped and higher than she had feared.

On a gray Thursday morning I stood at a desk in the First Lakes Savings branch on State Street.

Maeve stood on my left, in her scrubs, off shift.

Garner's mother sat on my right, in her gray wool coat, with her cane across her knees.

She had asked to come, and I had said yes.

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