519 Invitations Had Her Name, I Cancelled the Wedding novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Changing the Locks

The house on Cutler Street was mine before Colin ever carried a box into it.

My mother left it to me, with a mortgage that was paid off and a porch swing that sagged in the middle.

On Sunday evening I stood in the driveway with my grandfather and a new deadbolt in a plastic package.

"You could let a locksmith do this," Amos said.

"I'm doing it myself."

"I know. I'm only saying there's a locksmith."

Colin's car was parked at the curb.

The lights were on in the kitchen.

I walked up the steps and opened the door with my own key.

Colin was in the front hall with a cardboard box in his arms.

He had his good jacket on and his hair combed, and his face arranged for forgiveness.

"Nor," he said. "Thank God. I've been trying to reach you since Friday."

"I know. Fourteen calls."

"I was going to pack my things. I figured you'd want space." He set the box on the stairs. "But we should talk first. Properly. You've been through something, and I know it looked bad."

"Colin, it was five hundred and nineteen invitations."

"It was a bad situation that got out of hand." He lowered his voice. "Mom's lawyer says we can still fix this. I'll explain everything. Just give me ten minutes without your grandfather staring at me."

Amos, on the porch, did not stop staring at him.

I looked at the box on the stairs.

It had my mother's blue serving bowl in it, wrapped in his sweater.

"That's mine," I said.

"It's a bowl, Della."

"It's my mother's bowl."

I took it out of the box, unwrapped it, and handed his sweater back to him.

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