A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Two Thousand Dollars

"Who is he?" Brady said, the moment I picked up.

He wasn't loud.

His voice was flat and careful.

"Good evening to you too."

"Kylie sent a picture. There's a man in our kitchen with his hands on you."

"It's my kitchen, and he was my neighbor. He's gone home."

"Maura, I'm your husband."

"You were my husband at the showroom on Wednesday, when your mother told you to let me stew."

He went quiet.

I heard a television low behind him, and a door close.

I knew he was standing in his old bedroom at his mother's house.

"That's not fair," he said.

"You've been there five days. Your sister stood on my sidewalk and took a photograph through my window."

"She was worried."

"Then she should have knocked."

"I didn't tell her to," he said, and for once it sounded like the truth.

"Good night, Brady."

I hung up, and then I turned my phone face down and did not sleep at all.

On Monday night, the twenty-third, there was a knock on my door.

I looked through the new peephole.

He had a coat on over his fleece and held an envelope in both hands.

I opened the door and left the chain on.

"I'm not here to fight," he said. "I'm here to give you this."

He pushed the envelope through the gap.

It was a check from his personal account, made out to me for two thousand dollars.

Keep reading free with an account. Start A Marriage Left Behind from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.