The Wife He Left Behind novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Declined

On Saturday morning I waited outside the bank before it opened.

I had a paper cup of ginger tea in my hand.

The account was the one my grandfather had left me.

He'd put it in my name alone, years before I met Tobias.

We had made it joint after the wedding, because Tobias said it was silly to keep money apart.

He had paid the mortgage from his own paycheck, and the rest of what he spent, I had never seen.

The woman at the counter slid a form toward me.

"You want to move all of it?"

"All of it that came from my grandfather."

"That's most of the balance." She looked up, kindly. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

She typed, and I watched the numbers change on her screen.

Then she handed me a slip of paper with a new account number on it, in my name only.

I folded it into my wallet next to the ultrasound.

It was not revenge.

It was just mine.

By ten I had eight missed calls.

Four were from Tobias.

Two were from his mother.

One was from a number I didn't know, with a Seattle area code.

I didn't answer any of them.

I listened to the voicemails in order on the drive home, with my hand on the steering wheel.

The first was from Tobias, warm and bright.

"Hey, Cas. Quick thing, the card's acting up. Call me when you get this."

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