Chapter 12: The Deal on Pell Street

Zach came to the bakery at six in the morning, before the first tray was out.

He stood in the doorway of the back kitchen in yesterday's suit, with a covered dish in his hands.

His eyes were red, and he had not shaved.

"Tillie," he said. "Please. Five minutes."

Dot looked at him over her glasses and put down the dough scraper.

"I'll be in the walk-in," she said. "If you need me, shout. If you don't, I'll hear that too."

She left, and the door of the cooler sucked shut behind her.

Zach set the dish on the steel counter and took off the lid.

It was spaghetti, still warm, with sauce on top, and one fork.

"I learned how to make it," he said. "I thought, if she can't forgive me, maybe she can laugh."

"I'm not laughing."

"I know." His voice cracked. "I've been awake all night."

She said nothing.

"I've been a monster to you, and I can't stop seeing your face in that room."

She waited.

She had stood in this kitchen at six every morning for years, and she had never seen him in it before.

"I want to fix it," Zach said. "All of it. Cora was a mistake, Tillie. The worst one I ever made."

"A mistake."

"I was lonely, and you were always so busy, and I let it go too far."

"How far?"

"Too far." He wiped his eyes. "I'll end it. Today. I'll never speak to her again."

"And the money?"

"That's what I came to say."

He took a paper out of his inside pocket and unfolded it on the counter.

It was a single typed page headed Release of Lien, and Zach's signature was already at the bottom.

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