They Gave My Sister My Room, Now They've Lost Everything novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Thirty Days

Franco came to the gate on Saturday with a duffel bag and a legal envelope.

I was on the front steps of the hall with Luca's hand in my back pocket, which I had decided I liked.

Orientation banners hung from every lamp post, and the first-years went by in groups, learning each other's names.

My brother stood on the pavement in his work boots and looked at them, a little lost.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

He lifted the envelope.

"Dad got fired yesterday."

I stood up.

"What happened?"

"The foreman played the recording for the district manager. The one you made at the warehouse." He glanced at me. "Somebody on the crew sent it to him, and I didn't stop them."

"Franco."

"I'd have sent it myself. He lied to your face in front of thirty guys, and every one of them knew it." He rubbed his neck. "The manager gave him ten minutes to clear his locker. He's been supervisor for nineteen years. Nobody said goodbye."

Luca's hand slid out of my pocket and settled on my shoulder.

I should have felt triumph.

What I felt was a long, quiet ache for something I had never really had, a father who could be proud of a job well done.

"How's Mom?" I asked.

"She's not talking. She makes dinner and sets out six plates."

"Six?"

"Dad, Mom, me, Val's, yours, and one for Nonna. She keeps doing it." He looked at the envelope. "That's not why I came."

He held it out to me.

I took it.

The return address was a law firm in Hackensack.

Inside were two stapled pages.

The first said, in plain bold type, STATEMENT OF NO CLAIM.

I read it standing up while the first-years streamed past us.

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