Regret is the Punishment novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Wanda's Apology

Jerome stood up with me still in his lap, and set me on my feet.

He did it without hurry, and he put himself between us and his mother.

I yanked my jeans up with shaking hands.

Wanda did not look away.

"In this house," she said. "With her."

"Put the dish down, Mom."

"She nearly killed your daughter, and you let her..."

"Put it down."

She set the casserole on the table.

Her hands were trembling so hard that the foil rattled.

"I came to see Darla," she said. "I came to bring her supper."

"You came in the back door with a key I gave you in September."

"I'm her grandmother."

"Yes. And she asked me on Tuesday why you didn't visit."

Wanda's face crumpled for half a second.

Then it set again.

"What was I supposed to tell her? That her father let that woman back in?"

"You were supposed to tell her you left a pan on the stove," Jerome said.

The kitchen went quiet.

He held out his palm.

"The key."

"Jerome."

"The key, Mom."

She took it off her ring with fingers that wouldn't work, and set it in his hand.

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