The 24th Time My Husband Chose Another Girl, We Left novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: The Keys on His Desk

Winona takes the car keys from Blaine's desk in front of his crew while Leah soothes everyone. In the lot Kenzie tells her what Blaine said she would do.

Linwood Heating & Air kept Saturday hours until noon, and at ten the bay doors were up.

I drove out Route 9 with Maxine in the passenger seat and parked beside her blue Corolla behind the shop.

Somebody had shut the hood.

"Stay here," I said.

"I'm coming."

"I know. Stay anyway, and watch."

I went in through the side door.

Four of Blaine's men were standing around the coffee machine in their navy work shirts, and the talking stopped when they saw me.

Blaine sat at the front desk with his boots on a drawer, eating a breakfast sandwich out of the wrapper.

"There she is," he said. "Told you, boys. Monday was optimistic."

Nobody laughed.

"Where are the keys?" I said.

"What keys?"

"The Corolla. It's in my name, Blaine. I bought it from the dealer on Cherry Street with my own paycheck, and you drove it away in the middle of the night."

"I moved it for safekeeping." He smiled at the men. "My wife's a little emotional today."

I walked past him to the pegboard behind the desk.

I had labeled those hooks myself, years ago, when I still did his invoices on Sunday nights.

TRUCK 4. TRUCK 5. SPARE, OFFICE.

The one at the end said T CAR in my own handwriting.

I took the keys down.

Blaine swung his boots off the drawer. "Winona, put those back."

"No."

"Put them back, or I swear."

"Or what?" I said, and I said it loudly enough for the men by the coffee machine to hear.

"My husband took my daughter's car from our driveway in the night," I said to them. "He did it because she wouldn't come home and sit through an apology. I'd like you to know that before you work for him one more day."

The oldest of the crew looked at the floor.

The youngest one, who couldn't have been twenty-two, looked at Blaine and then, slowly, at me.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry," he said.

"Thank you."

The side door opened behind me with the little bell it had always had.

Leah came in with a flat white box from the bakery, her hair freshly done, her coat the color of butter.

"Donuts, boys!" she said, and then she saw my face and the keys in my hand and put the box down gently on the desk.

"Oh, Winona," she said. "Honey. Not here. Please don't do this in front of the men."

"It's already done."

"I know you're hurting. I know. But Blaine's under so much pressure, and everyone's tired, and Maxine's got the whole tournament coming up." She laid a hand on my sleeve. "Let me make us all some coffee. We can sit in the back office like grown-ups."

She was so reasonable that for a second I almost went.

Then I thought of the badge on my husband's chest, and I took my sleeve back.

"No, thank you, Leah."

"Winona."

"I'm taking my daughter's car, and I'm leaving."

Blaine stood up all the way.

He was a big man, and he knew how to use it, and he stopped just short of the desk corner.

"Fine," he said. "Take it. And take this too, since you're so independent. The sponsor money for the team bus comes out of my account. Linwood Heating has paid it for six years, and that stops today."

"You don't mean that."

"Watch me. Maybe Coach Ostrow can pay for the bus."

"Blaine," Leah said softly, and her eyebrows went up.

He kept his eyes on me.

"The banner comes down off the gym wall Monday too."

I put the keys in my coat pocket and walked out.

Nobody followed me.

Behind the shop, Maxine was out of my car with her arms crossed, and she took the keys without asking and unlocked the Corolla.

"He pulled the bus money," I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know he'd do that."

"I figured." She opened the driver's door and sat down. "Mom, he's going to find a way to take everything."

"Then we'll find another way to pay."

She nodded and started the engine.

It caught on the second try.

I turned to go to my own car and almost walked into Kenzie.

She was standing between the dumpster and the fence in her big navy hoodie, with her glasses pushed up on her head and her hands in the front pocket.

She had been there a while.

The tip of her nose was red from the cold.

"Mrs. Linwood," she said.

"Kenzie."

"I'm sorry about last night. I didn't know he was going to put the badge on. I didn't know any of it until I was already walking."

"It wasn't your doing."

She looked down at her sneakers and back up.

"He told my mom you'd be back by Monday," she said, very quietly. "She said you would. She said you always do."

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend