Falling for My Ex's Uncle novel · Chapter 13 of 32

Chapter 13: Carry

I fished the spoon out of the pot with my fingers and burned them.

"Say it again," I said.

"I saw Brice come out of the pit room." Lorrie pulled her sleeves down further. "He was drunk. He was holding the door frame. He looked right at me and he didn't even see me."

"And Wick?"

"Wick was on the patio with the old man's friends. He didn't go near the pit room all night." She swallowed. "He stayed to close up after the rest of us left. By two it was burning, and he went in."

"After Mabel."

"After Mabel. It was in the paper."

"My mom had a hospital bill for nineteen thousand dollars," she said. "Gallbladder. The week after the fire, the hospital called and said it was paid. Anonymous."

"How do you know it was Hal?"

"Because Hal stopped me in the walk-in that Friday and asked how my mother was feeling." Her mouth twisted. "He'd never said ten words to me. He knew her name."

"You think he was paying you to keep quiet about Brice."

"I know he was. And I took it." She looked at me with her eyes swimming. "I was nineteen, and my mom could keep her house. And then I watched them throw Wick out of the family for something I knew he didn't do."

"Lorrie."

I put my arms around her, sauce spoon and all.

She cried into my shoulder.

Upstairs, the light went off.

A minute later I heard his boots on the stairs.

Lorrie wiped her face on her hoodie and stood up fast.

"I'm going to go," she said. "I can't be here for this part."

"You don't have to."

"I really do." She squeezed my hand. "Don't be too mean to him. He's tall."

She was out the gate before Wick reached the kitchen.

I went in and sat on the end stool, the judge's stool, with my burned fingers wrapped around a cold mug.

← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →

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