They Fought Over Who Had to Keep Me novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: Rule One
He avoided me for a whole day.
I knew because I was keeping track.
His truck was gone when I left for the pharmacy, and it was gone when I got back.
On Thursday I heard him come in at seven in the morning.
I sat very still on Grandma's couch until his footsteps had gone up to the third floor.
The key stayed in my pocket.
I turned it over in my fingers during every slow stretch of my shift, until the rubber cap was warm.
That night I took my laundry down to the basement at ten.
The laundry room was a low brick space with two washers, two dryers and a folding table under a bare bulb.
Crispin was already there, in a gray T-shirt, standing at one of the dryers with a basket of blue scrubs.
He saw me and went completely still.
"Evening," he said.
"Hi."
I put my basket on the table and started sorting whites from darks.
He folded a shirt in thirds.
He folded it in thirds again.
"I've been meaning to talk to you," he said, to the dryer.
"I figured."
"What happened the other night was a mistake."
My hands stopped.
"Was it?"
"You've been through a lot this month. Your parents, the move, your grandmother's things."
He said it fast.
"I'm the one person who's been kind to you, and I let that become something else. You're grateful. It's understandable. I shouldn't have let you confuse the two."
I put a sock down on the table, carefully.
"Say that again," I said. "The part about me confusing things."
"Lacey."
"No. Say it. I'd like to hear exactly what you think I am."
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