Chapter 6: Partners Only

My father didn't say a word on the drive home.

He parked in front of our house in Dorchester, turned off the engine, and sat with both hands on the wheel.

"Two million dollars," he said at last. "I did that to you."

"You did it to keep six stores open, Dad."

"I let you marry for it."

"I said yes," I said. "I'm the one who has to live with that, and I'm done."

He put his forehead against the steering wheel.

I put my hand on his back, and we stayed like that in the dark car until his shoulders stopped shaking.

Inside, I made tea he didn't drink.

I told him everything except one part.

I told him about the call, and Brooke, and what Nigel had said about the Coombs lots.

When I got to the lots, my father went quiet in a different way.

"He wanted the land," he said.

"After the wedding. Two years."

"I'd have signed it over to him myself." His mouth twisted. "I'd have called it a wedding present."

"Dad."

"Your mother would have seen it in a day."

"She would," I said.

He got up and washed the cups, which was what he did when he couldn't bear a room.

The doorbell rang at nine.

I opened it with the chain on.

Costa stood on the porch with his jacket over one arm.

The suit was creased now, and he had no tie.

"Your father's lights were on," he said. "I should have called."

"You don't have my number."

"No."

I took the chain off.

He didn't come inside until I stepped back, and then he stopped in the hall to look at the framed photos along the wall.

My mother on the roof of the first store.

Me at seven in a hard hat that came down over my eyes.

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