Queen Never Cry novel · Chapter 22 of 32
Chapter 22: What Lydia Owes
At eleven the laundromat was closed and the dryers were still warm.
I found Lydia down there in the dark, sitting on the folding table with her suitcase between her feet.
Hester had put her in the back room, and she had not slept.
I pulled out a plastic chair and sat on it backward.
"You said you wanted to talk."
"I didn't think you'd come."
"Neither did I."
The machines ticked as they cooled.
A streetlight lay in orange bars across the floor, and the gold of it caught the tape on her splint.
"You paid half my tuition," she said at last.
"I did."
"You never once made me say thank you."
"That's what I was doing wrong?"
"It was the kindest thing anyone had done and I hated it."
She laughed, a tiny dry sound.
"Do you know what it's like to live eleven years in someone's good opinion?
"You gave me your sweaters.
"You gave me your family's Christmas.
"You got me the bookkeeper's job, and every day I walked into your grandfather's building and I was the roommate.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of Queen Never Cry are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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