My Ex's Father Is the Mafia King I Am Court-Ordered to Evaluate, and I Am the Reason He Is in the Cell novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Her Scarf

Fay's POV

The last week of his sentence, the court let him serve it at the cottage.

I had not asked for it.

Marguerite had asked.

The judge, the same tired man, had looked over his glasses at the file and said that the defendant had been a very dull prisoner.

The monitor went back on his ankle on a Monday.

The supervisor came out in his county car at nine to fit it.

"I'm told this is the last time I put this on you, Mr. Drakos," he said.

"I would like to believe it," Kostas said.

"My brother says he'll see you at the Christmas hams."

"Tell him I will send two."

The supervisor went red again, and left.

It was the first week of April, and the river had gone from gray to a cold pale green, with the ice long gone from the pilings.

Somebody had cleared the dock of leaves.

I knew who.

On the fourth night he was at the stove with the radio on low, making something with rice and dill that was going to be very good.

I stood in the kitchen doorway with a towel in my hands and watched him.

He had put on a little weight, and his gray sweater no longer hung from his shoulders.

His left hand held the wooden spoon, stiff, and he turned it with a care I had never seen him spend on a piece of paper.

"You are staring," he said, without turning.

"I'm evaluating," I said.

"And what do you find?"

"That you're fit to stand trial," I said. "For anything."

He turned his head, and the corner of his mouth went up.

"The bath is run," I said.

"I did not ask for a bath."

"I know. I did."

His eyes went dark.

He turned off the burner and set down the spoon.

He wiped his hands on the dish towel, slowly, one finger at a time.

"Where?" he said.

"Down the hall."

The claw-footed tub took up half the bathroom, and I had filled it to the brim.

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