I Chose a New Life novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Paychecks

On Monday at nine I walked into Ellery Marine through the front doors, with Cliff a step behind me and the cream envelope in my hand.

The air conditioning was cold.

The INDEPENDENCE SALE banner was gone from the roof, and the salesmen in blue polos stood in a loose ring around the register, whispering.

They stopped when they saw me.

The older woman at the counter, the one who had put down her pen the day Cliff came, stood up.

"Ms. Harker," she said.

"I'm here for my wages."

"Of course. Of course you are."

She went into the back without looking at anyone.

I stood on the showroom floor beside a white cruiser with a chrome rail, and I looked at the faces.

I had worked in the office behind that glass wall for six years.

I knew every one of their birthdays.

I had never once been invited to a meeting at which anyone said my name.

The woman came back with a folder and set it on the counter.

"Final pay, as of the fourth of July," she said, and pushed a check across. "Four thousand, two hundred and eleven dollars."

"Read it back to me."

She did.

"Now count the boxes," I said.

Two salesmen wheeled a hand truck out of the stockroom, stacked with the boxes from the storage unit.

On top sat the one marked MOM in my own writing.

I put my hand flat on the lid and felt my throat close.

"Is anything missing?" Cliff asked quietly.

"I don't know yet."

"We'll check."

"Is this what you wanted?"

The voice came from the glass office at the back.

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