I Paid My Grumpy Neighbor to Be My Fake Boyfriend, and He Took the Job Way Too Seriously novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Watch

Everybody clapped again.

Mina bowed a little and walked out of the tent with her fiancé.

The bridesmaids started stacking chairs.

Eli sat very still with the marker in his hand.

I took it from him and put it on the chair.

Then I took his hand and pulled him up.

"Walk with me," I said. "Smile."

He smiled.

It looked like it hurt.

I walked him across the lawn, past the pool, past the pool house, all the way down to the old boathouse by the dock.

Nobody used it anymore except for storing kayaks and life jackets.

It smelled like lake water and warm wood.

I shut the door behind us.

It was dim inside, light coming in stripes through the slats.

I let go of his hand.

"Tell me," I said.

"Hana."

"She's going to stand up in front of a hundred people tonight and tell a story about your family. I'm not walking in there without knowing what it is."

He leaned against a stack of kayaks.

He looked at the floor for a long time.

"It was a hot day," he said finally. "Your sister's graduation party. My mom had three of us working. Her, me, and a guy from her church."

I waited.

"Your sister had a watch. Gold. Your dad gave it to her that morning. She showed it to everyone. She made me hold the tray steady so she could take a picture of it next to the champagne."

"I remember the watch."

"Around four, she went swimming. When she came out, it was gone."

He said it without any feeling at all.

That was how I knew how much it cost him.

"She came across the lawn with a towel around her," he said. "In front of everyone. She pointed at me and said, the catering kid took it. I saw him by the pool."

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