Chapter 5: Doctors After the Wedding

The cafeteria went quiet, and the dozen kids waiting there for the late bus stopped to watch.

Mom put down her rag.

She turned around slowly with her hands open at her sides.

"Hello, Craig."

"What are you doing here?"

"Working," Mom said. "The district hired me this morning. It's a lunch counter. I don't think the judge covered those."

"You did this on purpose."

"I did it because the pay is fine and the hours end at three."

Dad took a step toward her, and his voice carried to the back wall.

"You're stalking my daughter."

"Your daughter eats lunch at noon. I serve it at noon."

"Mr. Eichelberger."

The principal had come through the side door with the secretary behind her.

She was a tall woman with reading glasses on her head, and she spoke in the voice she used on fifth graders.

"Let's take this to my office, please. The children are waiting for their buses."

Dad looked around.

A dozen faces looked back at him, and a few of them held crackers from the snack cart halfway to their mouths.

He pointed a finger at Mom.

"This isn't over."

"I know," Mom said, and picked up her rag.

Dad took my hand and walked me out to the truck.

He said nothing the whole way home, and I watched the back of his neck go from red to white.

At the house, Alana met us at the door with Eli on her hip.

Dad went straight up the stairs and shut his office door.

Alana set Eli down.

She looked at me, and then at the door, and then back at me, and sighed.

Keep reading free with an account. Start One Kiss for My Last Month from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.