Six Rooms at the Lake, But None for My Parents novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Soft Opening

Brooke's husband texted me on Thursday night.

Saturday at eleven, at the shop. I'm going to say it in front of her people, because she won't let me say it at home. Please come.

I had spent the week with a lawyer, a locksmith and a spreadsheet.

Colin was sleeping at his parents' house, and his texts to me had gone from begging to bargaining to silence.

On Saturday I drove my mother to Boise, to a narrow storefront on Eighth Street with a pink awning and a ribbon across the door.

The window said Teller & Co. in gold script.

"Do you want to go in?" my mother asked from the passenger seat.

"I want to buy something," I said. "I'd like you to pick."

She smiled, a little shy, and smoothed the skirt of her blue dress.

She had worn it again, with no tag.

Inside it smelled of candles and new linen.

Forty or fifty people stood among the shelves with plastic cups of champagne: women from Gail's church in bright cardigans, a few neighbors, and a young woman with a ring light who was whispering to her phone.

Brooke stood by the register in a white dress, holding oversized scissors.

Her smile was perfect and her eyes were red.

She saw me, and the smile held, and her eyes dropped to the floor.

Gail stood at the far end beside a tall woman in a lilac suit.

She did not look at me, and she did not look at my mother.

My mother wandered along a table of scarves, touching the edges.

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