Chapter 14: The Porch Light

Nigel looked at the open door, and then at me.

"What did she tell you?" he said.

"That you argued for four minutes."

"Geneva."

"Four minutes, Nigel. I spend longer than that choosing a ribbon."

Behind him, Emmeline called his name again.

He flinched toward the sound, and I watched him do it.

That was the whole answer, and I did not need the rest of it.

"Go ahead," I said. "She's asking for you."

"I'm not going in there until we've talked."

"You've been going in there for three years."

I walked past him, and he caught my sleeve.

Carl took Nigel's wrist in one hand and lifted it off me.

He did not squeeze, and he did not need to.

"She said no," Carl said. "I'd listen."

Nigel let go, and the three of us stood there with the light humming over us.

Then I took the stairs down, and Carl came with me, and neither of us said anything until the parking lot.

"I'll drive you to Darby's," he said.

"I'd like that."

He opened the truck door for me and stood there with his hand on the frame.

"Geneva, I'm sorry I stood in that hall and let you walk in alone."

"You stood where you said you would."

"It wasn't enough."

"It was," I said, and I meant it.

It was nearly eleven when Darby let me in, and she looked at my face and put the kettle on without a word.

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