Seven Times They Chose Him. The Last Time, They Lost Me novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Garage

The appointment ended without anyone shouting, which was almost worse.

My mother walked out first, fast, with her purse held against her stomach, and she did not look at me.

The caseworker said she would be in touch by Monday, and she said it to my father, not to anyone else.

Then my father said, "Zack. A minute. Just us."

Aunt Dot looked at me, and I looked at her.

"I'll be at the end of the row," she said. "Where you can see me."

The parking garage smelled like oil and cold concrete.

His pickup was on the second level, with the passenger window rolled down.

Dylan sat inside, waiting, with the seat belt on and his forehead against the glass.

My mother was in the restroom.

My father leaned against the tailgate and rubbed the back of his neck.

He had gray stubble that I hadn't noticed before.

"I'm not going to yell at you," he said.

"Okay."

"I know how that looked in there."

"It looked like you hid it."

"I know."

He said it so quickly that I looked up.

He didn't seem to have anything ready, and for once he wasn't holding a smile.

"When they said the repair held," he said, "I sat in this parking garage for an hour. I should have been happy. I kept thinking about what we had been, for four years."

"What had you been?"

"The family that got through it." He gave a short laugh. "People brought casseroles. They put our name on the church sign. Your mother ran the page, and I ran the committee, and every room I walked into somebody put a hand on my arm."

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