The Son Who Returned to Expose Their Shame novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: Vacated
Annie tied my tie in Gran's front hall on Friday morning.
It was dark blue, from a shop on King Street. Callie had bought it and refused to tell me what it cost.
"Chin up," Annie said.
"It is up."
"Higher. You're tall. I'm working at altitude."
She pulled the knot snug against my collar and smoothed it flat with both hands.
Then she left her hands there.
"You did it in the wrong order," she said.
"Did what?"
"Everything. People fall in love, then go through hell. We went through hell first." She looked up at me. "I think that's the better order."
Gran honked the Buick's horn in the driveway.
"I'm not getting any younger," she yelled through the window. "Neither is the judge."
The courtroom was on the second floor of the old courthouse on Broad Street.
The same room.
The same wooden benches, the same tall windows, the same flag in the corner with a water stain on the ceiling over it.
The last time I was in it, I was twenty-four and in a jail jumpsuit, and my mother wore lilac.
I sat at the table on the left this time, in a tie, beside the lawyer from Atlanta.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Son Who Returned to Expose Their Shame are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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