The Anonymous Notes That Destroyed My Wedding novel · Chapter 12 of 32

Chapter 12: His Father's Company

I drove Gran home without a word.

She sat beside me with her pocketbook on her knees and her lipstick still perfect.

At the farmhouse she patted my hand once and went inside.

It had started to rain.

Big warm drops, the kind that come off the bay in July and split the sweets if they sit on the skin too long.

I didn't go inside.

I walked down into the orchard to find him.

He was in the sweet-cherry block by the road, alone, on a ladder in Grandpa's boots.

He was picking the last of the Rainiers before the rain got them.

Megan had taught him to twist the stem instead of pulling.

He was doing it carefully, one cluster at a time, with his glasses fogged up.

He saw me coming and smiled.

Then he saw my face, and he came down the ladder.

"What happened?"

"Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Don't." My voice cracked. "Don't do the careful voice. I've had three years of a careful voice."

"Libby. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your father signed my farm on Monday."

He went still.

"I saw it on a screen. Your company's name is at the top."

The rain came down harder on the leaves above us.

"While you were up a tree in my grandfather's boots," I said. "Taking notes."

"That's not possible."

"I saw it."

"I told him it was dead." He took his glasses off and wiped them on his shirt, which was soaked, which made it worse. "I called him Saturday night. I told him the signature was forged and the deal was dead and we'd be lucky if Hollander didn't drag us into court."

"And what did he say?"

"He said, fine."

"Fine."

"He said, fine, come home when you're done playing farmer." He laughed once, not like a laugh at all. "He didn't argue. I thought that meant I'd won."

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