I Thought Love Had to Be Earned Through Chores, They Hugged Me novel · Chapter 5 of 24
Chapter 5: Leased
The gate man dragged her all the way to her car.
She was still yelling about Friday when the gate closed.
The sun hats left in a hurry after that.
Nobody finished the fruit tarts, so I wrapped them in plastic and put them in the fridge.
When I turned around, all four of them were at the kitchen table, looking at me.
My mother. My father. Wesley.
Odette, in the end chair, with her hands folded in her lap.
"Sit down, Minnie," my father said. "Please."
I sat on the edge of a chair.
The chairs in that kitchen had cushions tied on with little bows. It felt wrong to put your weight on one.
"That woman said rent," my mother said. Her voice shook. "What did she mean, rent?"
I didn't understand what was confusing.
"Miss Noreen has my papers," I said. "That's who I belong to. Families rent me from her."
My mother made a noise.
"How does it work?" my father asked.
He asked it like a businessman, plain and calm.
That made it easier.
"They pay a deposit to start. Then rent every month. The diner was two hundred down and a hundred and fifty a month. The pig farm was more, because I did the books too."
"You did the books at five?"
"Just the feed. Feed is just adding."
Wesley was leaning on the counter with his arms folded.
He hadn't said a word since the lawn.
"There was a comment under the diner video," he said suddenly. Everybody looked at him. "Somebody asked how you got sold six times if every family wanted to keep you. Did they lease her or something."
He said it like a joke he'd hated reading.
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