The Secret That Broke Us novel · Chapter 23 of 32

Chapter 23: The Spare Room

I wrote the terms on the back of an envelope, at my own kitchen table, with Lena reading over my shoulder.

Nate sat across from me with the girl in a sling on his chest, because I had made him learn the sling.

He had a clean shirt.

Someone, probably his mother, had ironed it.

"Number one," I said. "I don't do nights, except a real emergency."

"I'll call the county line for the small stuff."

"Number two. You go to the parenting class at the hospital, every week. You bring me the certificate."

"Okay."

"Three. You find work. Anything."

"Okay."

"You pay your mother back for the formula, and you pay me for the groceries I bring."

"Okay."

"Four." I put the pen down. "I'm not her mother."

"I know."

"Nobody calls me her mother. Not you, not your family, not her when she's old enough to ask."

I waited.

"If she asks who I am, you tell her the truth."

He swallowed.

"What's the truth?"

"I'm the woman who kept her breathing until the medic came," I said. "You can say that."

The girl made a small noise against his chest.

He put his hand over her back without thinking, and I watched him do it.

"Five," I said. "You name her yourself. I won't help. I won't vote. It's yours to do."

"I've been trying for six weeks."

"Then try harder."

Lena made a noise into her coffee.

Nate looked at the envelope.

"What's the sixth?" he said. "There's a sixth, I can see it."

I turned the envelope over.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Secret That Broke Us from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.