Chapter 23: The Last Row

Graduation was held on the football field, on the second Saturday in June, under a sky without a cloud in it.

Folding chairs stood in rows on the grass, and bleachers rose on the home side.

I sat in the fourth row of the bleachers, in the aisle seat, in a yellow dress Maxine had picked out for me.

My sister had driven up from Columbus and sat on my left.

Stefan sat on my right, in a tie, with his hands hanging between his knees.

Kenzie sat on his other side with a program in her lap.

She had a place of her own on the field, in the line of graduates.

Three days before, she had asked if she could sit with us until the processional started.

Nobody had needed to answer.

"Your sister is staring at me," Stefan whispered.

"She's decided you're allowed."

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's the best thing she's ever said about anyone."

I turned my head just once, and I looked up the bleachers.

Blaine sat in the last row at the very top, in the same navy jacket.

He wore no badge and no sponsor's pin.

The rows around him were full of families, and there were three empty seats on either side of him.

Nobody had sat there.

Nobody had needed to say why.

He had his hands in his lap and his eyes on the field.

Leah had not come.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The 24th Time My Husband Chose Another Girl, We Left from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.