They Called Me Selfish. My Kidney Saved Her Life. novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Second Loan

My father arrived at nine on Monday morning and sat down in the lobby of the bakery office.

The receptionist called me at my desk, whispering.

"Your dad is here," she whispered. "He has a folder."

I walked to the front with eleven coworkers pretending not to watch.

He stood when he saw me, in his good flannel, with a manila folder against his chest.

"Dad. Not here."

"Here's where you are."

"We can talk in the parking lot."

"I'd like your boss to hear this," he said, loudly enough for the whole floor.

My boss was already in the doorway of her glass office with her coffee.

She did not say a word.

My father opened the folder and read from the top page.

"Notice of default. Four months behind. The bank will file in thirty days unless the account is brought current." He looked up. "Eight thousand four hundred dollars, Cosima. That's what you've done to me."

"The autopay I cancelled was two thousand one hundred a month."

"You cancelled it, and the house is going."

"Dad, I've paid that mortgage for two years."

"You paid what a daughter pays!"

Somebody at the back dropped a stapler, and nobody laughed.

I looked at his hands. They were shaking on the folder, and I hated that I noticed.

"You said I wasn't your daughter," I said. "In my mother's kitchen. And in a hospital bed. I said okay both times."

"I was sick."

"You were sure."

"Your mother cries herself to sleep."

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