The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away novel · Chapter 18 of 32
Chapter 18: The Missing Pages
The crowd around the tractor went quiet.
The reporter leaned over the hood and ran her finger down the stubs.
Twenty-two of them, maybe more, each one cut clean.
"When did this happen?" she said.
"I don't know."
It was the truth.
I hadn't opened the 2019 since the cellar master handed me the box.
Why would I?
I knew that vintage by heart.
"Somebody took the part that matters," the old grower said behind me. "That's not a vandal. That's a thief who reads."
The reporter took a photo of the stubs.
She took one of me holding the notebook, and one of the vines behind me.
"This is a story either way," she said. "Either you're lying about the notebook, or somebody wanted that blend very badly."
"Which one are you going to write?"
She looked at the jug of my garage wine in Winona's lap.
"I'm going to find out first," she said. "That's the job."
That night Augie and I sat at my kitchen table with all seven notebooks open.
Winona went to bed early and left us the coffee.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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