A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Christmas Morning

Thane knocked on my car window at half past six on Christmas morning.

I had been parked in my own driveway since one o'clock.

I hadn't gone in, because the house was dark and Brady's slippers were still by the door.

I rolled the window down, and he passed a steaming mug through it.

"You didn't text," he said. "I'm not complaining. I saw your headlights at one and wondered how long you'd sit."

"You watched me sit for five hours?"

"I looked out at three and again at five. You were asleep with your coat over your face."

"Is that creepy?"

"A little," Thane said. "The coffee's good, though."

It was.

I drank half of it before I could say anything.

"I did it," I said. "I sat in her chair. I put the guest book on her table. Kylie gave me a check and a confession."

"And Brady?"

"He sat on the kitchen floor outside a locked pantry."

Thane nodded slowly and did not ask what that meant.

I took the ring out of the cupholder, where I had put it somewhere past Two Harbors.

I held it for a second, then dropped it in my coat pocket.

"I can't go in there yet," I said. "His slippers are by the door."

"Then come next door. I have eggs."

His kitchen was warm and smelled of cedar and toast.

A half-built bookshelf stood against the far wall with clamps still on it.

He took my coat, and I let him.

He put a pan on the stove and cracked three eggs into a bowl, and then he turned around and leaned on the counter.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

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