Ten Years of Public Breakups, Then He Ran After My Bus novel · Chapter 38 of 40

Chapter 38: The Courthouse

My mother married Linwood Dyer on the second Friday in July, in a small paneled room at the Knox County courthouse, with a flag in the corner and a ceiling fan going.

She wore a pale blue suit and a hat she had bought for the occasion in Camden, and she did not cry.

She had decided not to.

Linwood wore his good gray jacket and the bow tie from Paulie's wedding and held a handful of daisies from his own yard in a rubber band.

"They're from the ditch," he said, to me, in a whisper.

"They're perfect."

"I picked the ones that weren't crushed," he said.

"You did a fine job."

"Did I?" he said, anxiously, and straightened my collar, which didn't need it.

Eben stood beside him in a clean shirt and a tie, as best man for his father.

I stood beside my mother in a blue dress.

Under the neck of the dress, on a thin gold chain against my skin, hung a small old ring.

I had worn it there for three weeks.

I hadn't taken it off to shower.

The clerk was a brisk young woman with a clipboard.

"Are the witnesses present?"

"We're present," Eben said.

"Please step forward."

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