He Gave Me Fifty Dollars to Live, I Left Him with Nothing novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: The Fourth Line

Maisie was eating toast at the cottage table when we got back, with the housekeeper cutting the crusts.

She was fine.

The only thing that had changed was a gray sedan parked at the end of the lane, with the man in the gray jacket behind the wheel.

"He can sit there all week," I told Tobias. "I'm not moving her again."

"He's here to be seen."

"Then let him see her eat toast."

Tobias parked his own car across the mouth of the drive and came in.

By ten that night the cottage was quiet.

The housekeeper had fallen asleep in the armchair with Maisie's hand in hers.

I sat at the kitchen table with the statement and the decree and a mug I wasn't drinking from.

Tobias stood at the window with his back to me.

"You can sleep on the couch," I said.

"I'm not sleeping."

"Then sit."

He sat across from me.

For six years I had pictured this table, and this man, and how I would say it.

I said it plainly.

"You never called."

His jaw moved.

"Not once. I checked the phone under the sink every day for the first year. I told myself you were busy."

"Roz."

"You told me to call if I ever had to fight. I wanted you to call first."

"I did come," he said.

I stared at him.

"A year after the wedding. I drove to Newport on a Saturday. I stood at the gate. The man in the gray jacket came out and told me Mrs. Carraway was happy and not receiving visitors."

"I never knew."

"You wrote me that you were happy." His voice was rough. "Four lines, on cream paper. You said not to contact you. You said you'd made your choice. I read it a hundred times."

← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →

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