His Other Wife novel · Chapter 7 of 16

Chapter 7: The Lullaby

At ten to nine, I walked into the School of Music in my yellow sweater.

It was the only thing in the trash bags that wasn't wet.

The hearing room was on the third floor.

Long table. Tall windows. A black grand piano in the corner under a dust cover.

Five people sat behind the table.

The dean in the middle, silver hair, reading glasses on a chain.

Four professors on either side of her.

A brass plaque on the wall behind them read THE ALDRIDGE PRIZE COMMITTEE.

Jonathan sat at a smaller table to the left.

He wore his best navy suit, the one I had hemmed for his first concert.

Clarissa sat beside him in cream silk, her hand on his arm.

She didn't look at me.

She looked at the piano.

"Ms. Ellie," the dean said. "Please, sit."

There was one chair left, facing all of them.

I sat.

"Before we begin," Jonathan said, standing, "I'd like the committee to understand something."

"Go ahead, Professor."

He turned toward me with a sad, patient face.

"Ellie has been under enormous strain. She was hit by a car last week. She's been on pain medication. She works long hours in a hot kitchen." He let out a breath. "I'm not angry. I'm worried. The things she's posting online aren't the actions of a stable person."

One of the professors wrote something down.

"She's saying I stole her life," Jonathan said softly. "I gave her a home for eight years."

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