A Happy Family Without Me novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Lorna's Ledger

The text came on Saturday at seven, from a number I didn't know.

It's me. Please come alone. The market, nine o'clock. I won't film anything.

I showed it to Maeve over coffee.

"Absolutely not," she said.

"I want to hear what she says without Garner in the room."

"Then I'm parking at the end of the lot, with my phone in my hand."

The Saturday market filled the lot behind the library, with striped tents and a man selling honey.

Lorna's flower stall stood at the far end, under a green awning.

She was alone behind it, in a canvas apron, arranging mums into buckets.

She looked thinner. Her freckles stood out against her skin.

"You came," she said.

"You said alone."

"I am. His mother has the children."

She put down the flowers.

"I'll say it fast, in case you walk away."

"Say it."

"I knew he was married. I knew from the first month, in Columbus."

She swallowed.

"He told me you were cold and the marriage was already over."

"And you believed him."

"I wanted to. I had a baby on the way, and he was the only person who showed up."

Her hands were shaking, and she gripped the edge of the table.

"When the boy was four, I moved to Erie," she said.

"Garner didn't ask me to. I did it so my children could be near their sister."

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