They Fought Over Who Had to Keep Me novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: Open Wide

My mother's dental office had a fish tank, a rack of magazines and a front desk with a bell.

I walked in at noon on Tuesday with the sleeves in my hand.

Five patients sat in the waiting room with their coats on their knees.

My mother came out from behind the desk in her navy scrubs, with her lanyard straight and her smile ready.

"Lacey," she said. "Let's go to my office."

"Here is fine."

"I'd rather not."

"You wrote me a check," I said. "I thought you might want an audience."

The receptionist stopped typing.

My mother's smile did not move, but her eyes went to the patients and came back.

"Your father has been on the phone to me for an hour," she said. "He is hysterical. He says you humiliated him in front of his customers."

"I read him his own memo line."

"That is cruelty."

"He's lucky I didn't read his girlfriend's."

I took out the first sleeve and held it up.

"Pay to the order of Crispin Rainey. Five thousand dollars. Signed Denise Swanson. August fourteenth."

"Lower your voice."

"Memo: Lacey. Room and board."

A man in the front row put his magazine down.

"That is a perfectly respectable memo," my mother said. "I paid for your housing. His was disgusting. Take her. Keep her away from the condo. Anyone can see which of us was acting in good faith."

"Mom, you wrote it two months before my birthday."

"I wrote it first."

I stared at her.

"Mine was first," she said, to the room. "August fourteenth. His is the sixteenth. I want that understood. I did not follow your father into anything. I thought of it two days before he did."

← Chapter 14 · All chapters · Chapter 16 →

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