After a Year of Silence novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Courthouse Steps

Quentin's POV

The board chair called me at seven on Sunday morning, and I took it standing in the kitchen of the company apartment with no coffee.

"You'll want to sit," she said.

"I'd rather hear it standing."

"The board voted last night, after your wife's speech. Eight to one."

I braced a hand on the counter.

"You keep your job," she said. "You'll carry a formal censure in your file for the misuse of company money on your wife's father's hospice bill. You'll sit out of the vote on any expenses for two years. Your bonus is going to the medical fund you proposed."

I had been ready to be fired.

I had not been ready for this.

"Why?" I said.

"Because you reported yourself. Nobody else in this company has ever done that." She paused. "The staff have named the fund. I hope you won't mind."

"Named it what?"

"The Walter Linwood Fund."

I didn't answer.

I could not.

"Quentin?"

"I'm here."

"Tell your wife," she said, and hung up.

I stood in the empty kitchen for a minute, with my forehead against the cupboard.

Then I showered, shaved and drove to Harper's apartment.

She was already waiting on the curb with her coat buttoned and her hair wet.

"I got your text," she said. "You said to dress warm and not to ask where. I'm not sure whether to be nervous."

"Get in."

She did.

I drove across the bridge to the county courthouse and parked in the lot behind it.

It was closed on Sunday, the steps swept and empty.

Harper looked up at the columns.

"This is where we got married," she said.

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