Day Seven I Signed It novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Ask Me Properly

Ivy's POV

I had a rule, and I had written it on a sticky note on my fridge in March: no men in the middle of a divorce.

The note was still there on Monday afternoon.

I had come off a twelve-hour shift, and I was sitting on my own top step with my shoes off, pretending not to wait for anyone.

I was waiting.

At ten past one the street door opened, and I heard him come up.

He took the stairs slowly, one hand on the rail, with a manila envelope under his arm.

He looked lighter, and he held his shoulders as though he hadn't yet learned what to do with them.

"Hey," Colin said.

"Hey."

He sat down two steps below me.

"I signed it," he said.

"I know. It's on Reese's story. There's a clip of the signature."

"Of course there is."

"That clip doesn't show the other thing," he said, and he held out his phone.

Fifty-one thousand dollars, from Gavin Roche.

The note said, Half of this was always yours.

I read it twice.

"Did you keep it?"

"I haven't touched it. I don't know what it buys me."

"Forty thousand views," I said. "The balloons are a nice touch."

He laughed, and it came out unsteady, and I leaned down and put my hand on his shoulder.

I told myself it was a nurse's reflex.

"I'll believe it on Tuesday," I said.

"It's still Monday."

"Then I'll be careful today."

"Ivy."

He turned and looked up at me.

He had a tired, plain face.

I'd wanted to touch it since Friday, when he held out his swollen wrist and said ow.

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