I post a teaser for the week's chapter each Tuesday on another forum. Thought I might start doing it here, just in case there's anyone out there reading. This is for Chapter #20 up tomorrow.
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Breakfast dishes clattered to the bottom rack.
“If you’re calling -” the counter provided adequate support for Ennis' climb back to standing, a pointed blue stare his greeting at the top. “- to start condemning me to hell again, I’d just as -”
“I spoke my piece on that subject last night.” Harsh brightened to hopeful. “Unless you’ve…uh…changed?”
“Not happening.” There was no way Alma could see what he was doing, but kissing Jack surprised at that moment was all kinds of satisfying nonetheless. “Why are you calling, Alma?”
Hopeful withered. “To tell you I’m taking the girls out of town for the weekend.”
“To White Plains to -”
“We should return late Sunday night, since they’ll have school in the morning.”
“Alma, where are you taking -”
“While we are gone, you may come to pick up your things, but I don’t want you to be here when we return.”
The audacity of that demand produced a chuckle of dismissal. “That’s still my apartment, Alma. You can’t tell me when and -”
“I’ve made a list. I’ll leave it on the kitchen table. Please do not remove any item not -”
Audacity was teetering perilously close to unmitigated gall. “You decided what I’m allowed to take out of my apartment?”
“- on that list thus forcing me to notify my attorney.”
“You’ve already got a lawyer?”
“Well, you did.” Jack’s sotto voce interjection and eyebrow waggle didn’t help in the least.
“Should you wish to contact me in the future, please do so through – what?” Distraction came in the form of a background voice, pausing her divorce recitation. "No, just a minute, I’m -”
“Who’s there, Alma?”
“That’s not your concern anymore, Ennis.”
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Thanks!
B
