Reborn, I Gave My Daughter to His Mistress novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Nothing Left to Borrow

Gilbert looked thinner than he had in a month.

His good navy suit hung off his shoulders, and the cardboard box in his arms was held shut with packing tape.

"I'm not here to fight," he said.

"Then you can say it from the porch."

He looked past me into the foyer, and for a second I thought he might step in out of habit.

He didn't.

"I have until Friday," he said. "The motel on Route 9 doesn't take my card. It doesn't take any card. The club sent a letter."

"I know. I'm a member."

"They revoked mine. The valet wouldn't even look at me in the parking lot."

"The whole board was at the brunch."

"Everybody was at the brunch." He laughed, and it came out wrong. "Russ has a judgment. Forty percent of every paycheck, for as long as it takes. I got a job. Counter at an auto parts store. I start Monday."

I said nothing.

"It's eleven dollars an hour," he said. "I used to tell people I billed four hundred."

"You used to bill my money."

His shoulders dropped.

"Yes," he said. "I did."

I waited for the next lie.

It didn't come.

"I came to give you this." He lifted the box a little. "Cora's things. I took them out of the attic the week I moved out. I didn't want you to have them. It was petty."

"Gilbert."

"There's a drawing from kindergarten. Her first swim ribbon. A tooth in an envelope." He swallowed. "I'm sorry for all of it. I'm not asking you to forgive me."

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