The Bride Changed. The Bill Didn't. novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: No Last Names

I called Florence back before I let myself feel anything.

"They've got a van and two suitcases," she said. "Kelsey's on your porch in a robe like she lives there."

"What company is the locksmith?"

She read the name off a neighbor's video.

I found their number, and I called the dispatch line standing at the edge of Cal's terrace.

"This is the owner of the property at that address," I said. "I own it outright. Nobody present has my permission to change a lock. If your technician touches the cylinder, I'll report him for trespass, and I'll name your company."

The dispatcher put me on hold.

When she came back, she said the technician had been called off the job.

Florence sent me a photo a minute later.

It showed a man in a work shirt walking back to his van with his toolbox.

Kelsey stood on my porch in a pink robe with her arms crossed and her mouth open.

I put the phone face down on the stone wall.

Then my knees gave out, and I sat on it.

Cal came out with two glasses.

He had changed into a loose white shirt, and his feet were bare.

"Wine," he said. "Local. It's honest, and it won't make you feel better."

I took the glass.

"They changed nothing," I said. "I stopped them."

"I heard."

"I stopped them, and I want to throw up."

"That tends to happen after." He sat next to me, not close. "What do you need tonight?"

I thought about it.

I thought about four years of saying yes, and the last six days of being told what I would do.

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