Chapter 6: The Sentence in the Program

Rosalind came to my office to take back the nursing-school letters she had kept from me.

She put them on my desk while Bev and my employees watched.

The envelopes covered the corner of my open ledger.

Rosalind kept one hand over them.

'You have caused enough confusion, Maureen. The letters belong with the family.'

She reached across the desk.

I covered the envelopes with my hand.

My fingers shook against the paper.

I hated that they could see it.

I was Maureen Tolbert, and everyone in that office knew what those letters had cost me.

Bev stepped beside my chair.

'Take your hand off the desk, Rosalind.'

Rosalind looked at Bev, then at the employees behind her.

'I have no wish to make this unpleasant.'

'You brought the letters here to take them back,' Bev said. 'That part is already unpleasant.'

One of my employees lowered the stack of invoices she was holding.

I kept my palm on the envelopes.

Rosalind drew her hand back, but she didn't move the letters.

'You should have told me before you decided to bring those here,' I said.

'You had already decided what they meant.'

'You kept them from me.'

'I kept them safe.'

Her answer came smooth and formal.

The envelopes beneath my hand were yellowed at the edges.

I could feel one crease through the paper.

The school had already told me where my old place had gone. That fact stayed where it was, no matter who took the letters home.

Rosalind looked toward the shelves behind my desk.

'You have built a very orderly business, Maureen. Surely you understand that a sentence can require context.'

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Sat Me by the Warming Racks, So I Pulled the Funding from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.