Wedding Eve Goodbye novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Kettle Again

I went to the Marden house alone.

Dominic parked at the end of the street with the engine off.

"Five minutes," he said. "Then I come in."

"Give me ten."

Rhonda's front door opened before I touched it.

The kitchen smelled of tea.

She had set two cups on the cloth, the good ones with the gold rim, and my father's lullaby cassette sat between them with its strip of masking tape.

"Sit, sweetheart," said Rhonda. "You look tired."

"I'll stand."

She poured her own cup and sat with her ankles crossed.

"You've had a busy morning," she said. "I hear the board has changed its mind."

"It has."

"Boards do." She stirred her tea. "Sign a paper today that sells this house the day it becomes yours. We split it. I leave Hartford, and I take my story with me."

"What story?"

"The one about the night of the crash." She smiled gently. "There's a nurse at Hartford General who wrote an intake note on the driver. Alcohol on breath. It's in the hospital file."

My stomach turned over.

"He wasn't drinking."

"The note says he was. A woman I know sat with Declan that night." She tapped her cup. "Dominic Haldane killed my husband drunk. I'd hate to say it in front of a church."

"You'd say it."

"I'd say it with tears."

I looked at the cassette.

"What did my father say on that tape?" I asked.

Her spoon stopped.

"The tape in the river?" she said lightly. "Nothing I remember. He was a sentimental man."

"Dominic never heard it," I said. "He cracked the wax, and his hands shook too hard to press play. He told me so."

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

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