Chapter 5: Paid in Full

"I'll pay it back today," I said.

"Honey, you can't," my mother said. "That's your house money."

"Then I'll buy the house later."

Sam Chaffee stood by the door with the chart against his chest and said nothing.

When I looked at him, he gave me one short nod.

By two o'clock I was at my bank, closing the account I had saved in for a down payment.

It held forty-one thousand dollars, built one paycheck at a time.

By three I was holding a cashier's check for thirty-eight thousand dollars and a receipt I had typed myself, with three lines on it.

Line one said: Hospital deductible for June Hargrove, thirty-eight thousand dollars.

Line two said: Received from Kerry Hargrove, in full.

Line three said: Nothing else is owed.

At ten past four my phone rang, and it was Margo's mother.

I had known her since I was nine. She had made me grilled cheese at her kitchen island every Friday for years.

"Kerry," she said. Her voice was stiff. "Margo is here at the house. Dawson is here too. I think we should talk about this like a family."

"I'm on my way."

The Winslow house was a narrow colonial with a porch swing and a wreath on the door, and it smelled like pot roast.

Margo's mother opened the door before I knocked.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Made Her His Bride to Punish Me for Jealousy from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.