A Love Lost to the Years novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: The Chair on the Lot

On Sunday morning the lake was flat and gray, and the sun had not yet cleared the water.

Kenneth got to Ore Dock Road before six.

He carried the chair across the gravel in both hands.

It was the pine ladder-back from the window of his shop, the plain one, the one he had never sold.

He had sanded it again the night before and waxed the arms.

The chain stood open.

Annabel's car was already there.

She was standing on the old loading slab with two paper cups of coffee.

Her father's rule was in her coat pocket.

She watched him come.

He did not hurry.

He was halfway across the gravel when the corner of the chair caught the iron post of the gate.

It was a small knock, wood against metal, hardly a sound at all.

Kenneth stopped.

He looked down at the chair.

"Sorry," he said.

Across the lot, Annabel went quite still.

He set the chair down on the gravel.

He bent and ran his thumb along the corner, checking the grain for a scratch.

There was a very small one.

He rubbed at it with the pad of his thumb, out of habit, and straightened.

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