Chapter 23: The Wedding of Nobody

I signed the divorce papers at seven the next morning, on the diner counter, between the pie case and the napkin dispenser.

Birdie had cleared a space and wiped it down twice.

The sheriff's long white envelope lay open beside the coffee.

Rhett had signed every page in his loopy slanting hand, with a small cross by each place I needed to sign.

He had never once crossed a t that neatly in six years.

"You don't have to do it now," Jesse said.

He stood next to my stool with his new cut over his arm and a cup of coffee he hadn't touched.

"I want to do it where I can see people."

The diner was open early for us.

The nineteen sat in the booths in their new leather, eating Birdie's eggs.

Two of them had brought their wives.

The prospect with the soft voice had brought a casserole dish.

The note on the lid said For Miss Hallie, from my mother.

I picked up Birdie's good pen.

"Do you want me to read it aloud?" Birdie asked.

"God, no."

"I'll do it with voices."

"Birdie."

"Fine."

I signed the first page.

My hand was steady, and I was surprised to find that it didn't hurt.

I signed the second, and the third.

The room was quiet except for forks and the hum of the pie case.

On the last page there was a line for the name I'd use after.

I wrote Hallie Brennan.

I'd thought about it for a week, and I knew it was right.

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