Desperate for Approval novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Sale

There was a For Sale sign on the lawn at Maple Court, and Brandon sent me a photo of it before breakfast.

He had written under it: People keep stopping their cars to take pictures.

The showroom's lease had gone up for sale the same day.

The manufacturer had frozen the franchise the Monday after the dinner, and without the badge on the building there was nothing left to lease.

On Friday I sat in a conference room on the ninth floor with a glass of water and a woman Brandon had found for me.

She was in her fifties, wore reading glasses on a chain, and had said only one thing in the elevator.

"Do not let him make this quiet."

Dad's lawyer sat across the table with a folder.

Dad sat beside him.

I hadn't seen him since the hotel steps.

His suit was the same gray, but it hung on him, and his rimless glasses had a new crack in the left lens that he had not fixed.

He didn't look at me.

He looked at the table, at a point a few inches in front of his hands.

"My client has agreed to the following," the lawyer said, and he read it out.

The house on Maple Court would be sold.

The showroom's remaining stock and the lease would be sold.

The deposit on the lake house was forfeit, and he would sign over what remained.

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