He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 09
It was just dawn when the train arrived in Boston.
The moment Aunt Carol saw me at the exit, she hurried over and wrapped her wool scarf around my neck.
“Come home first. The room’s all cleared out. The wardrobe against the wall is all yours.”
Everett loaded my luggage into the car and helped Carol settle in.
He hadn’t slept all night. There were faint shadows under his eyes. Even so, before he left, he remembered to ask where the moving truck had gotten to.
I handed him my phone, meaning to send him money for the ticket.
He accepted the transfer on his phone, then sent me a photo.
It was a stand of reeds by the Mystic River.
“When you’ve rested, come take a walk with me there. It’s quiet. You can sit for a long time.”
Then he got into his car. It drove off, then stopped again a little farther on. He rolled down the window and told Carol not to trim the torn corner of the quilt, because he’d bring a tailor over that afternoon.
Carol pulled me upstairs, finally letting out a small smile.
“That boy said what he had to say, but he still didn’t want to leave.”
I smiled too, though my eyelids still felt hot and swollen.
The apartment smelled faintly of sun-warmed wood. Carol had tidied up the room I used to stay in as a child. The old lamp was still beside the pillow.
The moment my hand touched the edge of the bed, tears started falling again.
“Don’t just stand there. Sit down.”
She helped me take off my shoes, and when she saw the red marks on my wrist, her expression changed.
I told her everything that had happened in the park. She held my hand for a long time before finally drawing a breath.