Chapter 18: Notice to Vacate

The notice was stapled to the garage door when Caleb got back from his Tuesday shift.

I was on the mat with the heavy bag, taping my wrists for the evening class.

I saw him through the window, standing in the gravel with a paper in his hand.

He read it twice.

Then he folded it in half and put it in his jacket, and he stopped with his hand on the door.

He stood there a long moment before he came in.

"Don't be mad," he said. "I'm going to show you something."

He took the paper out and gave it to me.

Ten days to vacate. Signed by the Weatherford Foundation, the new owner of the building.

I read it flatly, all the way to the end.

"They bought the building on Friday."

"Yes."

"She did this because you gave her back the deed."

"She did this because she can."

I folded the notice into a square and put it on the cot.

"We'll move the class to the church hall."

"Probably."

"We'll find another garage."

"That's the plan."

"You were going to hide that from me."

"For about a minute."

"What changed?"

"I thought about a chair in a hospital," he said.

I knew the chair he meant.

I put my hand on his sleeve, and he let it stay there.

A car pulled onto the gravel.

Eli got out of it with a laptop bag over his shoulder. He had a bruise on his jaw I hadn't seen before.

"I quit," he said, before either of us spoke. "This morning. I told Mom to find another director for the youth programs."

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