My Fiancé Chose His Ex, So I Chose Myself novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Admin
The old deadbolt came out of my front door at ten in the morning on a Saturday in February.
It was rusted and stubborn and older than me.
I held it up in the rain.
"Got it," I said.
"Finally," Bonnie said from the porch swing. "I've aged. I came here thirty-one and I'm leaving forty."
"You're holding a donut."
"I'm holding a donut because I'm supervising."
The house was small and brick, on a narrow street in Proctor, three blocks from the shop.
It had two bedrooms and a porch swing that came with it.
The realtor called the back room a den, and I called it the sewing room before I'd walked all the way in.
The forty-eight thousand was the down payment, every dollar.
The deed had one name on it.
I knelt on the wet porch boards with the smart lock in its box beside me.
"You know Hugh could do this in ten minutes," Bonnie said.
"Hugh's not allowed to touch it."
"Does Hugh know that?"
"He's been told."
I fitted the outside piece into the hole in my door.
Then the inside piece.
I ran the little ribbon cable through the gap, and it slipped out, and I fed it through again.
"Edie," Bonnie said. "You hem tulle with a hand so steady it scares brides. Why are you shaking?"
"I'm not shaking."
"You're shaking."
I tightened the last screw.
The lock sat on my door, black and new, with a small dark pad for a thumb.
I sat back on my heels and looked at it.
"You okay?"
"I'm okay."
She came down off the swing anyway and sat next to me on the boards, shoulder to shoulder, with her donut.
"Tacoma Brides is booked out through August," she said. "I'm just saying. In case you need a nice thing to think about."
"Through August?"
"The admin put us at the top of the vendor list. With a little gold star." She licked sugar off her thumb. "Also, Shayla's selling a cushion-cut diamond on Marketplace. Two grand. 'Barely worn.'"
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