My Husband Timed Our Marriage, So I Ran Out the Clock novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Takeout for Three

Delaney arrives with a coat and an apology and knows Hannah's exact minutes; Hannah realizes forty minutes passed uncounted.

That evening, Drew Tilden knocked on Joy's door in Astoria holding my work bag.

"It was in the truck cab," he said. "Under the seat. Looks like it has a stethoscope in it."

"It does," I said, and took it from him. "I would have panicked about that tomorrow."

"Then I got here early."

Joy came up behind me with a spatula in her hand.

"Are you hungry?" she said.

"I'm fine," Drew said.

"That wasn't a question. I made forty dumplings and my sister eats six."

He looked at me.

I stepped back from the door.

He ate at Joy's tiny table with his elbows tucked in, and the chair groaned every time he reached for the soy sauce.

Joy asked him how long he had run the truck.

"Eleven years," he said. "My uncle had it before me."

"Do you like it?"

"I like when people finally get the thing they were scared to move."

"What if they're scared of the person they moved it away from?"

"Then I wait on the sidewalk," Drew said, "until they're done looking back."

Nobody said anything for a moment.

I picked up my chopsticks and put them down again.

His phone sat on the table beside his plate, face down, and in forty minutes it did not once light up.

At eight o'clock someone rang the buzzer.

Joy went to the intercom, listened, and turned back to me with her eyebrows high.

"It's Delaney."

My stomach dropped to my knees.

"Don't let her up," I said.

"She's already on the stairs. She has bags."

Delaney came in with her auburn hair wet from the rain and a cream coat over her arm.

She was carrying two shopping bags and a bag of takeout that smelled like basil.

"I'm not staying," she said. "I'm not even going to sit. I wanted to put these in your hands."

She set the bags on Joy's counter.

"Your winter coat from the hall closet," she said. "The wool one you love. And your good boots, and your phone charger, which you always forget. I figured you'd be too angry to go back."

I looked in the bag.

The boots were there, and the coat was folded neatly on top.

"How did you know where to find me?" I said.

"Your Christmas card list," she said. "Your sister's address is the first one on it. I hope that's okay, I know it's not."

She turned to Joy.

"I brought pad thai too, because I'm a coward and I thought you'd both open the door for food."

Joy laughed before she could stop herself.

"I hate that it worked," she said.

"Everyone does," Delaney said.

Then she looked at me and her face changed.

"Hannah, I'm so sorry about last night. I was the one who asked, and I thought it was a joke we'd always had. I didn't see your face until it was too late." She pressed her hand flat to her chest. "I told Stewart he was out of his mind. He booked a thirty-minute apology on Thursday."

"He scheduled it," I said.

"I know, God, I know." She laughed, and her eyes were wet. "He thinks a calendar invite is a bouquet."

I felt my shoulders come down for the first time that day.

That was the thing about Delaney.

She was good at it.

She turned to Drew, who had stood up politely.

"Delaney Stroud," she said, and held out her hand.

"Drew Tilden. I move things."

"He moved me out this morning," I said.

"Good," Delaney said. "I'm glad it was someone steady."

She squeezed my arm.

"He said nine minutes in his text, you know," she said. "He got it wrong again. By my math it's twelve. I'd have told you if I'd been asked. Take care of yourself, honey."

She picked up her purse.

At the door she turned back and smiled at all of us.

"Eat the pad thai while it's hot."

The door closed behind her.

Joy waited until the footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs.

"She's nice," she said, sounding disappointed.

"She's always been nice," I said.

"Then why does my neck feel weird?"

"Because it's been a long day."

Drew had sat back down.

He was looking at the door, not at the bag.

He didn't say anything, and I didn't ask him to.

Joy dished the pad thai into three bowls and the three of us ate it out of habit.

After a while, Drew pushed back his chair.

"I should go," he said. "I've got an early job. But your plants are still in the truck, so let me bring them by Thursday."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know."

"Thursday's fine," I said.

He picked up his phone and put it in his pocket.

I glanced up at the clock over Joy's stove.

It was ten past nine.

He had knocked on the door at seven.

I had sat across from a man for over two hours, and I had not counted a single minute until now.

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