Chapter 5: The Bank

First Savings Bank had a glass conference room with a view of the parking lot.

I got there at five to nine in the blue dress, with my wedding ring on and my hair down.

The family had beaten me by ten minutes.

Joan sat at the head of the table with her handbag in her lap, and Kyle was beside her in his one good suit.

Brooke sat near the door with a paper cup of ice chips.

"There she is," Joan said, and held out her arms without standing. "Come sit by me, darling. You look lovely."

"Thank you," I said, and sat across from Kyle instead.

A loan officer in rimless glasses slid a pen toward me across the table.

"We're only waiting on Mrs. Dunning's signature," he said, and I let the name go by.

Kyle reached across and covered my hand.

"This is nothing, babe," he said. "It's a formality. We talked about it."

"We did," I said. "I want to read it first."

"You read it last night."

"I read the first page."

Joan laughed softly and shook her head at the officer, as if I had told a charming joke.

"She's thorough," she said. "That's why Kyle married her."

I opened the folder.

I turned past the form and past the guarantee to the third page.

"This paragraph," I said, "says the guarantor assigns to the bank any property now owned or later inherited, from any source."

Keep reading free with an account. Start His Cousin Was His Real Wife, So I Took My Father's Name Back from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.