While I Couldn't Breathe, He Was With Her novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Two Ways Down

Calvin's cabin sat at the end of a gravel track behind the station, with a stack of split wood against the south wall and a kettle already on the stove.

He had driven me there in his truck because the doctor on the phone said I should not be alone for the night.

I slept in his bed, and he slept in the chair by the door, and neither of us talked about it.

In the morning I found him on the porch with two mugs.

"Coffee," he said. "I don't have tea."

"Coffee is fine."

I sat on the top step with the mug between my hands and watched the mist lift off the trees.

I showed him the invitation on my phone.

"A memorial ceremony for me," Calvin said, when he had read it. He gave the phone back. "Twentieth. That's in three weeks."

"Polly's telling people you died."

"Last month, apparently."

"So at the gala she can cry about her brother in front of every donor Nolan has." I took a swallow of coffee. "And he'll hold her hand while she does it."

"What does he get out of that?"

"Nothing. He thinks it's what he owes her."

Calvin leaned back against the railing.

"A man who believes he's paying a debt doesn't check the receipt," he said.

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