Desperate for Approval novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Brandon's Apology

"One conversation," I said. "Not today."

Dad's face tightened.

"Then when?"

"Write it down."

"Britta."

"Write what you want to say, and keep it detailed. I'll read it when I'm ready." I held the door. "You taught me how to do that."

He stood in the hall a long moment with the oranges against his leg.

Then he set the bag on the floor by the wall, turned, and walked back to the elevator.

Grandma shut the door and slid the chain across.

"Leave those in the hall," she said, "for whoever wants them."

On Sunday I met Brandon at the diner on Cutler Street, in the same back booth.

He looked thinner.

He had sold his car, and he was wearing a work shirt with a patch on the pocket, and his hands had a cut on one knuckle.

"I'm at a used lot across town," he said. "A small one. I wash cars all week."

"You wash cars."

"I'm going to sell them in the fall. He wants me to start at the bottom." He grinned, a small, tired version of the one I used to hate. "It turns out I'm bad at it. I told a woman her minivan's mileage was too high to buy."

"Was it?"

"It was a hundred and ninety thousand miles."

I laughed before I could stop myself.

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