Ex-Convict Nanny and Billionaire Single Dad novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Ring

I read it twice on the boathouse steps.

Then I folded it back into its cream envelope.

"What do you want to do?" Nate said.

"Answer it."

"By mail?"

"In person," I said. "She's never once had to hear me say no to her face without a crowd. I'd like her to."

"Do you want me there?"

"In the car," I said. "Engine running. Like the ER."

He nodded. "I'm good at that now."

My mother's house in Ballard had a realtor's sign in the parking strip.

Newspapers were stacked on the porch, still in their plastic.

She opened the door before I knocked.

She'd seen the car.

She was in a cardigan with nothing under the collar, no pearls.

Her bob had grown out a little and gone flat on one side.

"You came," she said.

"You asked."

She stepped back to let me in.

I stayed on the porch.

She looked at my hands.

At the gray stone on my left, and at Grandma's sapphire on my right.

"He gave you a ring," she said.

"He did."

"It's very plain."

"Lulu picked it."

Her mouth tightened at the name.

"I'm selling the house," she said. "For the lawyer. I suppose you know I'm to be sentenced in July."

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