My Substitute Wife Is Not on the Return Manifest novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Say It Slowly

Signe's aunt arrived on the noon ferry with a suitcase, a casserole and no intention of being polite.

She stood on the porch in her yellow slicker and looked Dane up and down.

"You're taller than the photograph," she said.

"Ma'am," Dane said.

"Don't ma'am me. Take the dish. It's hot."

He took the dish.

Signe, in the doorway, bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

Her aunt marched past them into the kitchen, put her hand flat on the table, and sat.

"I've read the paper," she said. "And I've watched the video, which Julie Nickerson sent me nine times. I would like the two of you to explain yourselves, and I would like a cup of tea while you do it."

Dane filled the kettle with great seriousness.

"The petition was mine," Signe said. "I filed it."

"I assumed."

"I thought he'd never chosen me."

"And did he?"

Signe looked at Dane.

He was holding the kettle in both hands and not moving.

"Yes," she said. "He did. He's just slow."

"Your uncle was slow," her aunt said. "It took him eleven years to propose. I'd have strangled him, but he made a good chowder."

Dane made a small noise that might have been a laugh.

Her aunt turned her head and pinned him with a look.

"You. How much of what I've heard is true? The hearing and the debt and the girl in the black coat."

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend