The Abandoned Wife novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Five Minutes

I sneezed so hard the doorman jumped.

"Bless you," said Bernadine, from my left, in the voice of a woman who knew exactly why.

Tom looked down at the lilies in his arms.

Then he looked at my red nose and watering eyes.

"You're allergic," he said slowly.

"Since I was nine."

"You told me that?"

"On our second date. You said you'd never forget."

His face did something complicated.

Rain dripped from his chin onto the white petals.

"Who is this?" he said, and he jerked his head at Emil.

"My doctor," I said.

"Your doctor has his hand on your back."

"My doctor has good manners. They're catching."

Emil lifted his hand away without a word, and I almost wished he hadn't.

Bernadine tapped her cane against the marble.

She looked at the three of us.

"I'll find a cab," she said. "Dara, you have my number."

"Bernie."

"Give him five minutes," she said, kindly.

"You'll want to be able to say you did."

She walked out into the rain without an umbrella.

I took out my phone and set the timer.

"Five minutes," I said. "In this lobby, with him standing right there as a witness."

"Dara, I..."

"Four fifty-six."

Tom set the lilies on the marble bench.

"I came to say I'm sorry," he said.

"Four fifty."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know that's not enough."

"It's not even a sentence. Go on."

He gripped his own wrists.

"I should have stayed on that road."

"I should have gone with you in the ambulance."

"I should have called every hospital in Indiana."

"You should have," I agreed.

"But I thought you were gone. Dara, I thought you were dead. The trooper said..."

"Did you call him back?"

"What?"

"The trooper. When he told you his report listed your wife as the fatality, did you ask to see a body?"

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Abandoned Wife from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.