A Marriage Left Behind novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: What She Liked

Judith rang my doorbell on Friday at six, which was the first time in seven years she had needed to.

Her key had stopped working on Tuesday night, and she had been told about it by her own daughter.

I opened the door with the chain on.

She stood on the mat in her good wool coat, holding a tin of cookies against her stomach.

"Sweetheart," she said. "May I come in? It's very cold, and I'm sixty-two."

I took the chain off.

I wanted her inside, where there was nobody to watch her be kind.

She sat at my kitchen table without being asked, folded her gloves, and set the tin between us.

"Shortbread," she said. "The ones Brady likes. I thought you might want some, too."

"Thank you."

"Kylie tells me you took photographs at her house."

"I did."

"Of a private household document."

"Of a sheet with my name on it, taped to a pantry door."

Judith nodded slowly.

"I won't ask you to delete them. I'm not here to fight, Maura. I'm here to fix this."

"How?"

"You come to the lodge on the twenty-fourth, the way you always have. You sit with the family and you sing. You bring your potatoes."

"And?"

"And you put in three thousand one hundred dollars. Half. I'm told that's fair, and I'm told you've been feeling it's too much."

"Half of the week I wasn't invited to."

"You were never uninvited. I've told you."

"Brady told me. In my living room, on my knees, with a coat in my hands."

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