I Was Counting Down To Leave Him novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Half of Everything

Langston found us at the boatyard an hour later.

I heard his car on the gravel before I saw it.

Elias heard it too, and set down his plane without a word.

Langston got out in yesterday's suit, unshaven, with a folder under his arm.

"Enid told me where you were," he said.

"She shouldn't have."

"She wouldn't, until I said I'd sit on her porch until she did."

He looked at the boat, and at Elias, and at the sanding block in my hand.

"Flora, can we talk alone?"

"No."

His jaw moved.

"Fine." He opened the folder. "I didn't file that petition. My mother did. I told her not to."

"Then withdraw it."

"I can't. Not unless things change on Friday."

"What changes?"

He took a breath, and I saw him practice the words.

"You sign the shares into my mother's family trust at the closing. In return, I give you half of everything I own, and the court never sees the filing."

It was quiet in the shed.

"Half of everything," I said.

"The house. The savings. The car. A generous settlement, Flora. You'd never need to work again."

"You'd pay me to hand over what's already mine."

"It's complicated."

"It's fifty-one percent. It's very simple."

"If you keep the shares, my mother will fight you. She'll say you took advantage of me. She'll say you were unstable. She'll bring in doctors."

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