Chapter 22: No for Now

Lena's POV

When the hall emptied, my mother stopped beside my chair.

She smelled of lavender and the rain on her coat.

"You sat at the back the whole time," she said.

"I wanted to see him do it without me."

"And did he?"

"Yes."

She nodded slowly.

"He stood there and let a grown man shout at him for ten minutes."

She looked at the front of the hall.

"Your father would have walked out. Go and talk to him, Lena. I'll wait with the baby."

"Mum."

"Go on."

I gave her Junie and walked down the aisle between the folding chairs.

Rhys stood by the table of photographs with his hands hanging at his sides.

He looked ten years older than he had on the island, and his stitched palm was still wrapped in a dirty bandage.

He turned when he heard my footsteps.

"Lena."

"You said his name," I said. "You read all eleven."

"I should have said them years ago."

"You should have."

"I know."

I stopped an arm's length away.

My heart was going, and I hated that it still did.

"I'm going to say something," I said, "and I need you to hear all of it before you answer."

"All right."

"I'm not leaving you."

His breath stopped.

"I read your letter. I watched you stand in that hall for three hours and take it."

I took a breath.

"I watched you give away forty percent of everything on a Tuesday morning without asking me. I'm still angry about that."

"I should have asked."

"You should have." I swallowed. "But I'm not leaving. I'm saying no."

"No to what?"

"To everything. To the house, and the bed, and a hand on my back in a crowd. To you coming for me again."

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