Two Days Before Our Divorce Was Final, He Wrecked His Car, and the Hospital Called His Wife and Not the Fiancée He Left Me For novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: The Porch
"Dean Michael," Patty said. "Sit down this minute. You're not well."
"No, ma'am."
He didn't sit.
He stood in the doorway on his crutches with sweat on his lip, and his best friend hovered behind him with both hands out.
Nobody offered him a chair.
They were afraid he'd take it.
"I'll say this once," Dean said to the room. "Then you can pray over me or throw a lemon bar."
The oldest woman set her cup down very carefully.
"Claire told you the order," he said. "It's right. I want to add what she doesn't know, because I don't think she should have to be the one who says it."
I hadn't moved from the door.
"On our anniversary, I told her I had a closing. She sat at the Olive Garden for forty minutes."
His voice caught.
"I was across town at the Capital Grille with Mandy. It was Mandy's birthday."
Somebody's chair creaked.
"After the first counseling appointment, I told Claire the counselor agreed with me. That Claire was the problem. The counselor didn't say anything like that. She said I should come back."
He looked at the carpet.
"I never went back. And I let Claire think for six months it was because of her."
"That's enough," Patty whispered.
"It isn't," Dean said. "You've been telling this room she gave up. I let you. I sat in your kitchen and let you, because it was easier than you looking at me."
Patty's hand went to her throat.
"I'm not asking anyone to forgive me," he said. "I don't want it, and I haven't earned it. I'm asking you to stop saying it was her."
He stood there a moment longer, shaking, with the whole room looking at him.
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