The Man Who Can't Let Go novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: What the Loan Bought

Abel's kitchen had one table and five chairs, and Sisi's father sat in the middle one with his hands around a cold mug.

He was sixty and heavy, and he had run a restaurant on the harbor road for thirty years until the winter it closed.

Sisi stood behind his chair with a hand on his shoulder.

She had not stopped looking at the back of his head since Virginia walked in.

"Say it again," Sisi said softly. "For them."

"Greta VanAlstyne paid off my debts," her father said. "Three years ago in March, the week the bank took the lease."

"Four hundred thousand dollars."

"She called it a family grant. She had her lawyer draw a paper that said repayable on demand."

Virginia sat down across from him and kept her voice gentle.

"Did she ask for anything?"

"She asked me to let Sisi live in the guest wing," he said.

"She said the girl was lonely, and Tobias was a good man having a hard year."

"I never asked for that," Tobias said from the doorway.

"No, son, I know. I figured that out about six months in."

Sisi's hand tightened.

"I thought it was a favor," she said.

"She told me Tobias had asked for me to stay close, and I stayed."

"Because of the loan," her father said. "Because I was ashamed, and I let you think it was a kindness."

"Dad."

"I let you stand next to a man you didn't love for a year and a half."

"I did it so I wouldn't have to say the number out loud."

Nobody spoke.

A kettle ticked on the stove as it cooled.

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