Chapter 22: Brook Street

The rental house on Brook Street was gray, with a sagging porch and a lawn nobody had raked.

I had never seen it before.

Colleen had always come to my house, with food.

It was ten o'clock on Friday morning, and the street was cold and bright.

Ben parked behind a silver sedan with its trunk open.

The back seat was stacked with garbage bags and a lamp.

Lily's father drove up behind us in the white pickup, with Lily beside him.

She had her seat belt on and her shoebox on her knees.

Maddie had begged to come.

I had said no, and then yes, because Lily was her friend.

She sat in the back of Ben's car with her sketchbook closed on her lap.

"Stay with me," I told her. "You don't have to get out."

"I'll get out," Maddie said. "I want to say bye."

A man in a green jacket stood on the porch with a clipboard.

He was the landlord, a heavy man with gray stubble.

He looked as if he had been standing there a while.

Two neighbors had come to the fence on either side.

Colleen came out of the house with a box in her arms.

She wore jeans and a gray sweatshirt, and she had no makeup on.

Her ponytail was low and loose.

She stopped when she saw all of us in the street.

For a moment I thought she would turn around and go back in.

Then she set the box on the trunk lid.

"You came," she said to me.

"You asked."

"I didn't think you would."

The landlord cleared his throat.

"Ms. Fraser, before you go. I need you to sign this."

"I told you I'd mail it."

"You told me that in October," he said.

He held out the clipboard.

"Four months' rent. Sign it here, or I call the sheriff."

Colleen looked at the neighbors.

Then she took the pen and signed it.

Her hand did not shake.

I had thought it would.

When she gave the clipboard back she stood straight.

I saw that she had made up her mind how to do the rest.

She walked down the path to the pickup.

Lily's father got out first.

He stood by the door with his cap in his hand, and he did not speak.

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