Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Night Thirty-One

Elliott opened Briana's door at eleven at night.

His wife stood on the mat in a sweater with the neck stretched out.

Her hair was flat from the car.

She had no makeup on, and no phone, and she held her car keys in both hands.

"I'm not coming in," Marin said. "I know I can't. I'll say it here."

Briana's voice came from the bedroom.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Stay there," Elliott called back.

He stepped into the hall and pulled the door almost closed behind him.

The stairwell light buzzed over their heads.

"You went live," he said. "Briana showed me. The power went out."

"Russ cut it."

"Did you finish?"

"No."

"Then finish it here."

Marin put her back against the opposite wall.

She did not look at him.

She looked at the floor between them.

Her voice came out low and fast, because she had practiced it all the way across town.

"I picked the stage door myself. I told you the car park had cameras. It didn't."

She swallowed.

"I wanted you where I could see you, and I wanted nobody to see us."

Elliott said nothing.

"Russ never wrote a caption I didn't read first. I chose the word brave. I chose the number."

Her hands were shaking, and she pressed them under her arms.

"I sat in the car on the nights you were hurt. I told myself one more night would be the last."

"You counted."

"Every night. I had the same total as you."

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