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Chapter 9
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Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 10
Everyone who'd been at the campsite that day was taken in.The manufacturer filed formally against the whole group.They had endangered public safety, and the case went forward as a criminal matter.Alyssa's parents came to my parents' house, and my parents saw them off the property.What I'd said came true to the word: the story went everywhere.Alyssa's name became something people passed around over dinner.Someone posted proof of how little she'd done at work.Someone else posted messages where she'd run down her colleagues.A relative back home told the camping story with just enough left out to be repeatable.Once she was down, everybody wanted a turn.Everything Alyssa had wanted to put me through, she got, in full.All that effort between the five of them, and every one of them was sentenced.Tyler took the worst of it: three years.The others came in somewhere around one.I was in the room on sentencing day, as the man who first reported it.Alyssa's eyes had su
Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 9
“His name is Ja—”“Jason Miller. I'm Alyssa Bell's ex-fiancé.”Dana Whitfield stared at me.She managed an awkward laugh.“Speak of the devil.”I took the microphone out of her hand.“Alyssa. Help me understand which part I got wrong.“Was I wrong to call off the wedding? Wrong to want my seventy-five thousand back? Or is this about you cheating on me?“Or are you angry that after you lost your job, three thousand a month stopped landing in your account?”The crowd went quiet. That was not the story they'd been told.I looked at Tyler.“You two are together, aren't you? This interview's going to travel, I promise you that.“Say it on camera. Say she's your girlfriend, and I'll drop everything else here and now.”He met my eyes and the sweat came out on his forehead.He couldn't do it. Ruining Alyssa was fine. Carrying her was another matter.I clapped him on the shoulder.“Coward.”Alyssa reached for the microphone and I gave it to her.She stared at me, unable to rea
Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 8
I hadn't been idle either. I spent those days finding out how Alyssa had settled with the men from the campsite.A friend brought me the answer.Roy Kessler, the one in his forties, sold his car to buy forgiveness.Once one man moved, the rest dug into their own pockets for a signed statement. Between them it came to a little over eighty thousand, and that's what paid me back.Her parents kept the house.But the house was near their hometown, and Alyssa's name had traveled ahead of it.The Bells couldn't buy groceries without hearing it in the aisles.“That's them. That's the daughter. Quite the girl, apparently. Five men.”“And they just bought a new place. Wonder what paid for it.”“Keep your voice down.”“What for? If she can do it, she can stand hearing about it.”Alyssa and I had swapped positions exactly.I didn't have a care in the world. Her family was frightened of the shops.She was fired, which surprised no one. After years of getting by on the least she could d
Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 7
I changed the door code as soon as I got home, then went drinking with the guys.Without Alyssa hanging off every part of my life, things were only going to get better.That night, the seventy-five thousand came back.My parents watched the video and put both hands up in favor of me not marrying her.Three days later, Alyssa and her parents turned up at my office.She had circles under both eyes, hair like dry grass, clothes creased and not fresh.The three of them looked at me the way a drowning man looks at a rope.Alyssa threw herself forward, expecting to be caught the way she always had been.I took one step back and she hit the floor.She didn't even get angry. She only looked up at me, wounded.“Jason, I was wrong. We gave you the seventy-five thousand back, and now my family can barely get by.”Her parents' faces were doing something complicated, but they let her talk.My coworkers gathered to watch, pointing and murmuring.Alyssa went all in and knelt properly.“
Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 6
I let the smile sit on my face.One word about police and they turned on each other.The important part was that Diane thought calling them was right. One woman, five men, and a yard full of relatives who weren't blind — you can't talk your way out of that.The gossip was coming either way. Better to get paid.Her face set hard, and she waved the relatives in around the tent.“That's right! You've broken the law, all of you. Nobody leaves until the police get here.”Alyssa was caught between them and tried one more time.“Jason, this is too much. I wronged you, I know that, but a marriage is decades long. Isn't a person allowed to make a mistake and fix it? I promise you, there won't be another time.”I couldn't be bothered answering her. Arguing any further would only have made me look slower than I am.“There's no room left to fix anything.“Your parents bought their new place with the seventy-five thousand I lent them. If you don't get compensation out of these men, what e
Five Men, One Tent, Her Parents Chapter 5
The man had no idea who I was. He assumed I'd come to ask about the campsite.“Want to camp, find your own patch. Nobody's stopping you.”Just then a voice came from inside the tent, soft and put-upon.“Who is it? I hate being interrupted in the middle of things.”I made a show of it, swung a fist at nothing, then walked over to Alyssa's parents with my teeth set.“There she is. The good daughter. The one who'd never put a foot wrong.“Seventy-five thousand dollars for their down payment, and your family treated mine like a cash machine.”Diane lost her nerve and caught my arm.“Jason, it could be someone who sounds like her!”Gary Bell tried to help her along, but there was no strength behind it.“Alyssa wouldn't do this. Let's be sure before anybody starts accusing people.”Marcus hadn't forgotten what we were there for. He reached past me and ripped the zipper open.Men and a woman, none of them properly dressed.Alyssa was half-kneeling with a jacket held over her lap,
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