Desperate for Approval novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Aunt Marla

Marla was sitting on the bench at the bus stop outside my building when I came home from work.

She had a paper bag in her lap and her purse held tight against her side.

Dad's truck was nowhere on the street.

"Aunt Marla."

"Britta." She stood up quickly, and her gold bangle slid down her wrist. "Dale doesn't know I'm here. I took the train."

"How did you know where to find me?"

"The letter. I read the address over his shoulder." She held out the bag. "Lemon bars. I know you like them."

I had never said that I liked them.

I took the bag anyway, because she looked as if she might drop it if I didn't.

"I'm not letting you upstairs," I said. "Grandma is resting."

"I wouldn't ask." She sat down again, and I sat at the other end of the bench. "I came to ask you to stop."

"Stop what?"

"The notebook. The lawyer. All of it." She turned her cardigan cuff over and over. "Honey, he doesn't sleep anymore. Just give it back, and it will all go quiet."

"Quiet."

"I only want peace for this family."

"I know you do," I said. "You've wanted that since I was three."

She flinched.

I waited, and a bus pulled in and breathed out and pulled away again.

"Did you know where the money came from?" I asked.

Marla looked at the empty street.

"Yes."

I had expected her to deny it, and her saying yes hit harder than a lie would have.

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