My Ex's Uncle, My Trap novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Kitchen Table

"Can I drive you?" Pierson asked.

He already had his keys out. He didn't move toward the door.

"No," I said. "Go back to your hotel. This is my house."

I took a rideshare in my cousin's wedding dress and texted the kid the whole way.

Don't say anything to him. Don't touch him. I'm coming.

He wrote back: he brought FLOWERS.

Our rowhouse is the narrow brick one on the corner with the porch light that flickers.

I could see them through the front window before I got to the steps.

Mom at the head of the kitchen table, still in her blue hospital-laundry scrubs, her hair in a net.

Winston in my father's chair.

A bunch of white peonies in our big spaghetti pot, because we don't own a vase.

The kid stood at the counter with his arms crossed, sixteen and six feet tall and furious.

I came in through the kitchen door.

"Hey, babe," Winston said, like yesterday hadn't happened.

"Get out of my dad's chair."

"Rhiannon," Mom said. "Sit down. Your friend was just explaining something."

"He's not my friend."

"He's explaining," Mom said, "and I would like to hear the whole thing. Sit."

I sat. You don't argue with my mother after a double.

Winston folded his hands on our oilcloth, right on the coffee ring.

"Mrs. Keating, I'll be honest, because you deserve that," he said. "Rhi's in a lot of trouble at school."

"So I'm hearing."

"She took credit for my capstone. There's a formal complaint. If the panel rules against her, it's expulsion. No degree. And the scholarship has to be paid back."

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