Chapter 19: Start Again

I let Colin in because I wanted him to see who was standing in the shop.

Doran stood at my shoulder.

Hal had come down the back stairs in a bathrobe, with a wrench in his hand and no apology for it.

Doran's mother stood in the doorway to the bungalow yard in her nightgown, watching with great interest.

Colin set the velvet box on the workbench.

"Open it," he said.

I did.

It held a ring, a plain gold band with a small diamond, and a card in his handwriting.

Start again.

"I bought it in October," he said. "Before any of it. I was going to give it to you on our anniversary."

"You bought it before the dashcam."

"I bought it because I love you."

"You bought it the week you told Elora you couldn't leave me yet."

His face changed.

"She told you that?"

"She told everyone, Colin. There were twelve hundred witnesses and a camera crew."

He sat down on Hal's stool, which he had done once before, and put his head in his hands.

"I can fix it," he said into them. "I can go to the attorney general in the morning. I'll tell them Mother ran everything. I was a pawn."

"A pawn."

"I'll tell them she made me lie."

"And in exchange?"

"Come home. Let me prove it."

I took my phone out of my pocket, thumbed the voice memo app on, and set it face-up on the bench.

The little red line began to move.

"What's that?" Colin asked.

"A habit," I said. "Say your name, please."

He stared at me.

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