He Was There for Her Baby, Not Mine novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Lunch Rush

I went to the Brannigan Family Diner at noon on the Friday.

Trudy rode in a sling against my chest, and my father held the door.

Every stool at the counter was taken.

The booths were full, the grill was hissing, and the whole room was talking at a low, pleased pitch I knew from church basements.

Dalton's mother stood by the pie case with a coffeepot in her hand.

She was saying, to a table of four retired steelworkers, "Now, I'm not saying it's true. I'm saying that poor girl has nobody, and my son has a good heart."

"Of course he does, hon," one of the men said.

"It's none of our business," said his wife, who plainly meant the opposite.

I stood just inside the door with the bell still swinging over my head.

A woman near the window saw me first.

Her mouth closed. She nudged her husband.

The talk went out of the room one table at a time, until I could hear the fryer.

Dalton's mother turned around.

Her face went through three expressions, and none of them was a welcome.

"Noelle. Honey. You shouldn't be out in this cold with a baby that size."

"I'm fine."

"You look pale."

"I've had a baby."

I walked to the middle of the room, between the counter and the booths, and stopped.

My legs were not steady, so I put one hand on the back of a chair.

"I'm going to say this once," I said, "because I'm told some of you have been hearing it from somebody else."

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