He Took the Fall for Her Lover, So Now He Takes Everything novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: Sundays
Joan Bracken woke up on Saturday morning and asked for a cheeseburger.
"No," said the nurse.
"I've been dead on a table. I think I've earned a cheeseburger."
"You have earned applesauce."
Cal laughed out loud for the first time since the prison gate.
His mother had a tube taped to her nose and a monitor beeping beside her, and she was glaring at the nurse.
She reached for his hand.
"You look terrible, baby."
"Your heart stopped for a few minutes, Mom."
"Then we both look terrible." She squeezed. "Sit down. Tell me what I missed."
He left out the van and the strap and gave her only the end of it.
Preston's offer, in smooth handwriting, with a gag clause at the bottom.
Joan listened with her eyes closed.
When he finished she said, "That boy has never had a no said to him in his life."
"He has one now."
"Good. Pass me the water."
He held the cup for her.
"Mom. At Mercy, the nurse said somebody was covering your bed for two years. Did you ever see who?"
"No." Joan was quiet. "But I know who read to me."
"The girl with the cane."
"She came every Sunday at two. She never missed one." Joan opened her eyes. "She read me a book by Dickens, and she read it badly, and she cried at the same page every single week."
"What page?"
"The one with the old woman and the wedding cake in the dust. She'd stop, and wipe her face on her sleeve, and go on." Joan smiled a little. "I asked her once who she was. She said, 'Nobody you owe.'"
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