My In-Laws Toasted Me at Dad's Seventy-Fifth Birthday and Handed Me the Care Schedule, So Dad's Tablet Read Out Every Email They Never Opened novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: The Man in the Doorway
The woman in the camel coat said nothing at all.
The man in the doorway looked at the table, and I watched him count the chairs.
There were thirteen places, and one of them at the foot of the table had a clean plate and a folded napkin that nobody had sat in.
Tressa's husband had asked about it at five o'clock, and Gene had said, "A late guest."
"Evening," said the man. "I was told there was a seat."
Craig got to his feet with both hands out, the way he does at a party when somebody's been rude.
"Sir, I think you've got the wrong house."
"No."
"This is a family dinner, and we're about to have grace."
"Your father emailed me," the man said.
Every head at the table turned to the old man.
Gene lifted a finger, and the voice came out of the gravy boat, patient and flat.
"Welcome. You are owed a seat."
The man took out his phone, and I saw his hand was steady and his knuckles were not.
"It came on the fifth of December. I read it in my truck, and then I read it again."
He cleared his throat and read it aloud in a voice that did not rise.
"'Sir. I am Craig Wagner's father. My son is living with your wife. I am sorry to tell you by email, but I do not speak, so this is how I tell people things.'"
"'Christmas Eve, six o'clock, Ridge Road. You are owed a seat. Gene Wagner.'"
It was so quiet I could hear the ham settling.
"How did you find his email?" Tressa asked, to nobody.
"It's on his website," said Rob's wife. "He does roofs. I looked it up on my phone." She shrugged. "It took a minute."
"I didn't answer for three days," the man said. "Then I looked at her phone while she was in the shower, and I stopped thinking about it."
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