My First Love Returned, His Stand-In Begged Me to Stay novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Monday

Kip's mother lived in a brick bungalow on the southwest side, with a maple in the yard and a porch light that had burned all night.

We got there at three in the morning, Kip in his truck and Bree and me behind him.

A man in a gray overcoat stood on the porch with a folder.

He didn't knock again when he saw us.

"Mr. Baumann," he said. "I was told to deliver this in person. The note on this property is called Monday at noon, and you have seven days after that to vacate."

Kip took the folder out of his hand.

"Who told you?"

"The lender's attorney. On instruction of the trustee."

"The trustee is my cousin," Kip said.

"Not until the paperwork is signed, sir. Until then it's Mrs. VanAlen."

He went down the steps and drove away, and the street was quiet again.

Kip's mother stood in the doorway in a blue robe, her gray hair in a braid, holding the screen door open with one foot.

She looked at me.

"Selah," she said. "You came."

"I came."

"Come in. You'll catch your death."

I went in and sat at the kitchen table where Kip had eaten his dinners as a boy.

She put the kettle on, because there was nothing else to do with her hands.

By five the sky had gone gray, and Bree was asleep on the sofa under an afghan.

Then a car stopped at the curb.

I knew the engine before I looked.

A black sedan idled in front of the maple, and the back window slid down.

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