15 Days Before I Left Him novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Check

On Tuesday morning I walked into the front office of my own school with a man waiting in a rental car outside.

I had come back to Grand Rapids on Sunday instead of driving on to Chicago.

Faye was in the hospital, and I had decided that running was one thing and hiding was another.

Raylan had rented a furnished apartment downtown for the month, and I had slept there two nights.

The principal had asked me to come in and sign my leave forms.

"Clara, honey." The school secretary came around her desk and hugged me, which she had never done in six years. "We heard. Take as long as you need."

"I'm only here for the forms."

"Of course you are."

Two other teachers had found reasons to be at the mailboxes.

A mother signing her son in at the counter kept her eyes on her pen and her ears on me.

Everybody had heard something.

Everybody had heard that I ran off with the best man.

I picked up the pen and signed my name three times.

"Clara."

I knew the voice before I turned.

Judith stood in the doorway in her camel coat and pearls, with her handbag held in front of her in both hands.

She smiled at the secretary first.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt. Might I borrow my girl for a moment?"

"I'm not your girl," I said.

The mother at the counter stopped writing.

"Sweetheart, you're upset." Judith crossed the carpet and lowered her voice to a kind murmur that carried perfectly across the room. "Nobody blames you. A bride gets frightened. Roscoe isn't angry, and Faye has been asking for you every day."

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