No More Husband, No More Son novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Fifty a Week

The back door of Brennan Hardware opened before I knocked.

Clyde had turned off every light in the shop except one over a workbench.

"You came," he said.

"You said after dark."

"I did."

He led me past shelves of paint cans and bins of screws into a small office.

There was a kettle, a cot folded against the wall, and a ham sandwich on a paper plate.

"Eat," he said. "Roz called. She said you'd skip it."

"Roz called you?"

"She called every store on this street the minute you left her place. She said if anyone saw you walk toward the Pennington house, they should call her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm the only one who picked up."

I sat and ate half the sandwich.

Clyde stayed on his feet by the door.

"You said you owe me," I said. "Say it."

He took a long breath.

"The day they arrested you, I was at my front window. I watched the officer walk you out in cuffs, with the whole street looking. And I turned the sign to Closed and went to lunch."

"That's what you owe me?"

"I owe you three years of looking away."

His eyes held mine for a second.

Then they dropped to the floor.

I waited for more, and there wasn't any.

"Okay," I said. "That's a start."

"I have a room over the store." He pulled a key from his pocket and set it on the workbench. "It has a bed, a stove and a door that locks. It's yours. Nobody has to know."

"No."

"Leona."

"I'm not taking a room because you feel bad."

"It isn't charity."

"It's a little charity." I stood up. "I'll take it if I pay for it. Rent, every week, from the first paycheck I get. I take no handouts, and I don't owe you anything."

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