He Thought I Had Nowhere to Go Until I Disappeared novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Care Fund
Keeley's POV
Grandma had nine kitchen chairs and eleven guests, so the last two sat on the piano bench and an upturned bucket.
She made coffee in the big enamel pot and set out the rest of the lemon cake without asking anyone's name.
"Nobody talks until they have a plate," she said. "Bad news goes down better with sugar."
The woman in the green coat sat nearest me.
She had brought a binder, and on the spine she'd written Keeley's Care in a looping hand.
Around her were widowers and retirees and a man in a Reds cap with a dairy farmer's hands, all of them in their church clothes.
None of them looked at each other.
Nolan came in last, still in his coat, and stood by the door with his left shoulder held an inch higher than the right.
I saw it.
He saw me see it and shook his head.
Later, I mouthed.
He nodded, once.
"Start from the first day," I said. "Anyone. Say it the way he said it to you."
The man in the Reds cap cleared his throat.
"He came to my kitchen in May," he said. "Sat down at the table. Cried, honestly. Said his wife had a rare condition, and there was a clinic in Cleveland that took only cash, and insurance wouldn't touch it."
"He said the same to me," said a woman in a lilac sweater.
"And me."
"In June. At my sister's funeral reception."
I looked around the table.
I had never met one of them.
All of them had loved me for six months, from a distance, because a man in a quarter-zip had needed them to.
"How much?" I asked.
The woman in the green coat opened the binder.
Keep reading free with an account. Start He Thought I Had Nowhere to Go Until I Disappeared from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →
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