The Pen Pal Who Turned Out to Be My New Boss novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: Pike Place
Dear Lark,
I called my sister on Saturday and said the word.
I said, "I'm scared," out loud, and she drove over with soup.
I don't think I ever knew it was allowed.
Thank you.
Awake in Auburn
Marguerite read that note to me on Saturday morning, at her kitchen table, over the last of the eggs.
It had come in through the Lark address overnight.
She read it with her cheeks pink and her voice not quite steady.
When she finished, she folded it into her sweater pocket, the same pocket where my glasses had gone on the stairs.
"Six years," she said. "That's the first thank-you I've read out loud to anyone."
I touched the back of her hand.
My eyes went past her to the shelf, to the box and the thin folder under it.
I could not stop looking at the tab.
"Is that the thing?" I asked.
She followed my gaze.
For a second she looked like someone standing on a ledge.
"Yes," she said. "That is the thing."
"Can I read it?"
"You can. I'd rather you read it after the gala, with all of it in front of you. I'll sit next to you and answer every question."
"Because it's bad?"
"Because I want you to have a clear head and a clear week." She turned her hand over and laced her fingers through mine. "I'm asking for three weeks of trust. If you say no, I'll hand you the folder right now."
I looked at the folder.
I looked at her face, which was open and tired and had not tried to hide a single thing since the elevator.
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