He Invited His Ex-Wife Home, But She Was Here for Me novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Look at It With Me

I drove Mindy back to the clinic and locked her in with a bag of takeout.

Then I drove to the shop.

I told myself I needed clean scrubs from the loft.

The workshop lights were on.

Gabe stood at the long bench with a plane in his hand, shaving a strip off a board that did not need it.

He heard the door and did not turn around.

"Nobody came to the motel," he said. "I sat there four hours."

"He was at the cemetery."

His hand stopped.

I put the white ribbon on the bench next to the board.

"He left her two dozen roses on our father's grave," I said. "With a card. Both my girls."

Gabe set the plane down.

"I'm going to kill him," he said, perfectly calm.

"No, you're not."

"Kaitlyn."

"I want him standing in front of Helen's whole church, losing. I don't want him dead." I crossed my arms. "And I'm still angry at you, so don't change the subject."

"I wasn't."

"You said you were sorry in the pantry. I heard you."

"Did you believe it?"

"I believe you meant it." I looked at his hands. "I don't know yet what that's worth."

He nodded slowly.

Then he did something I didn't expect.

"Can I say mine?" he said.

"Your what?"

"My anger. I've been holding it for four months, and I have no right to it, and I'd like to say it anyway."

"Say it."

He leaned back against the bench.

"You never once looked," he said.

"At what?"

"At Mindy. At what he did to her. You married a man who had no photo of his first wife anywhere in his house, who changed the subject whenever her name came up. You were an adult with eyes. And you decided that was a man being private."

My mouth opened.

"It was Easter," Gabe said. "She came up at the table. My mother said her name, and you asked for the gravy. Glen put his hand over yours on the cloth and you smiled at him."

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