They Booked Four Seats Without Me, So I Booked One to California novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: The Kitchen Rule
"What is the March thing?" I asked.
We were in the nursery parking lot, and Dad's rental car was already turning the corner.
"I'll tell you," Ingrid said. "I'll tell you with paper in my hand, so you don't have to take my word for it. The lawyer has copies, and I'll have them on Monday."
"It's Friday."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"I've waited twenty years."
"Then three more days won't kill you," she said, and her voice cracked.
I had never heard it crack before.
I let it go.
I went back to the counter and rang up poinsettias until six.
That night I couldn't sleep.
I lay in the white bed with the lamp on and listened to the lemon tree scrape the window.
At one in the morning I gave up and went to the kitchen for water.
Dylan was already there, at the table, in a T-shirt and sweatpants with a mug in his hand.
He had been called out at eleven and had just got home.
His hair stuck up on one side.
He looked at me in the doorway and put down the mug.
"You're up," he said.
"You put forty dollars in my coat."
"I did no such thing."
"It was folded in four."
"Maybe your coat gave it to you."
"Dylan."
He scraped his chair back and stood.
"You paid for a brace that cost me nothing," he said. "I couldn't keep it. I tried, I looked at it all day."
"That was the rule."
"I don't like your rule."
"I know you don't."
"Why can't you let someone do one thing for you?"
I took a step toward him.
The kitchen was small, with a long counter down one wall, and I could see every freckle on his forearms.
Keep reading free with an account. Start They Booked Four Seats Without Me, So I Booked One to California from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend