Chapter 24: One Month, Re-signed

On the first Sunday of November, Joan set five places at her oak table.

There was a roast, a bowl of green beans and a lemon cake on the sideboard, still in its tin.

I sat between Cillian and Dani with a delivery slip folded in my pocket.

Tilly sat across from her brother, passing him the potatoes with an expression of great hostility.

"Still mad?" he asked.

"Furious. More butter?"

"Please."

"It's the angry butter," Tilly said, and gave him the whole dish.

Joan carved, and her hands were steady.

"The month is up," she said. "I understand there were terms."

Dani grinned over her wine. "How did you hear about that?"

"I was a principal for thirty years. I know when a contract is about to expire."

Cillian looked at me.

I took the slip from my pocket and smoothed it on the cloth.

It was the pink delivery slip from the night in the shop, with our four rules on it.

The ink had gone soft from being carried.

"Item one," I read. "Thirty days, then we re-sign or stop."

"I'd like to re-sign," Cillian said.

"That's very quick."

"I've had a month."

"Item two. Kisses only when Trevor can see."

"Trevor can't see anything," Dani said. "He's in an apartment in Delaware, learning how to cook an egg."

"Then we should rewrite item two," said Tilly.

I crossed it out and wrote: Kisses anywhere, any time, at least once a day. Joan's table counts.

"Item three. No sleepovers."

"That one went in the first week," Cillian said.

"It's struck." I wrote: Sleepovers required. "Item four. He never gives Trevor his last name."

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