Fifteen Days to Divorce novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Spelled Right

The diner on Magnolia had four booths, a pie case, and a waitress who had refused to recognize Malachi Branigan on principle.

"Coffee?" she said.

"Please."

"You look like a guy from the television."

"I get that."

"Don't let it go to your head."

It was Thursday, and it was their first dinner that was not a fitting or a feast at Frances's.

Portia sat across from him in a booth with a cracked red seat.

Under the table, his boot rested against hers.

"Say something dirty," she said.

"I'm out of practice."

"You've had a week."

"Your hands," Malachi said slowly, and his eyes dropped to them, "when you pin a hem."

She looked at her own hands.

"Wow," she said. "That's dirty."

"It's the best I've got."

The bell over the door rang.

Portia looked up.

Margo Preminger stood on the mat in a gray raincoat with her hair pinned flat.

She looked smaller.

She still carried herself.

"Don't get up," she said. "I'm not here to make a scene. I'm here to settle."

She slid into the booth beside Portia without being asked.

Malachi's boot went still.

"You can't be here," he said. It came out whole.

"It's a public diner, hon. I'm allowed a piece of pie."

She opened her handbag and took out a sealed envelope.

"I've brought the original agreement. A true copy."

She laid a single sheet on the table.

"A contract between Portia Halloway and the Daily Courier," Margo said.

"Forty thousand dollars, signed three weeks before the wedding. You sold the marriage first."

"Clause nine, breached by you, before Malachi ever opened his mouth."

She went on in her old warm voice.

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