When She Regretted Her Lies novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Gil Earns It

I told Birdie what I do, which was all I had.

"I pick the true thing that's kind," I said. "And if there isn't one, I say nothing."

"That's a lot of work," she said.

"It is."

She thought about it for the length of the drive, and she did not ask again.

On Sunday Gil took us to church.

It was the church where he had been baptized and had ushered since high school.

Every woman in its fellowship hall had watched a video of me laughing on my porch.

The coffee urns were already hissing.

Forty people stood in clusters with paper cups, and the clusters went quiet when we came in.

Gil walked to the middle of the room and did not stop until he was standing under the clock.

He had never been a man who stood under clocks.

"Everybody saw what happened Saturday," he said. "I'm not here for my mother. I'm here for my wife."

He turned to me.

"Rena, I let people say things about you in my house, and I laughed along to keep the peace. Then I signed my name to papers I never read, because they were put in front of me."

His hands were shaking, so he put them in his pockets.

"I'm going to read everything from now on. I'm giving up the usher job till I've earned it back, and I'm sitting in the back with my family."

← Chapter 21 · All chapters · Chapter 23 →

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