Next Time Away novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: What a Mother Asks

Tove's POV

Jonas had left his thermos on my kitchen counter.

That was the excuse I gave myself, at half past seven, as I buckled Greta into her seat and drove down the shore road.

The real reason was that I had woken alone in my grandmother's bed and wanted to see his face.

I parked beside his truck.

The dock door stood open a hand's width, and a woman's voice was coming out of it, low and unsteady.

I stopped on the step with the carrier on my arm.

"...a boy who never could bear to be told no," Soren's mother was saying. "That's my fault. I should have taught him."

I looked through the crack.

She sat by the stove on an upturned bucket, in the black coat she had worn to the memorial.

Jonas stood across from her with his arms folded and his back against a boat stand.

"How did you get in here?" he said.

"The harbormaster has a key. I told him I was bringing you a casserole." She lifted a covered dish from her lap and set it on the floor. "It's cabbage rolls. It's what I have."

"Mrs. Ellingson."

"Let me finish."

He closed his mouth.

"I stood in front of the whole street on Christmas Eve and called you a killer," she said. "I put a video of you in handcuffs on the internet. I slapped you in front of two hundred people."

"You did."

"I have never apologized to anyone in my life," she said, and her voice broke. "I'm trying to do it now. I'm sorry."

Jonas didn't answer.

I watched his face and saw him decide something.

"I accept that you're sorry," he said.

She let out a long, shaky breath.

"Then you'll do something for my son."

I pushed the door open.

They both turned.

"Tove," Jonas said, and I saw his shoulders drop an inch.

← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend