New Husband. Old One Gone novel · Chapter 6 of 32

Chapter 6: Casserole

I walked down the bank and out onto the fuel dock in my work boots.

The boards were still warm from the sun.

Behind me, the yard hands had stopped hosing down the lift. Corey had gone into the big shed with a scraper a half hour ago.

Lauren held out the dish.

"Chicken and rice," she said. "My mama's recipe. I didn't know what else to bring."

"To what?"

"To a girl whose whole life just fell apart on the news."

She said it so kindly.

I didn't take the dish.

She set it down on the fuel pump housing and peeled off the oven mitts.

Her class ring flashed. Heavy gold, a blue stone, a crest. She turned it on her finger.

"I came to say I'm sorry," she said. "About Saturday. I didn't know it was your first look. Nobody told me. I just wanted to see the major."

"You saw him."

"I ruined your day." Her eyes filled up, right on cue. "I'd never have walked in if I'd known."

I looked at the little white scar through her lip.

"Is that what you drove an hour for?"

She took a breath.

"No. I came about Corey."

There it was.

"Rosie, I don't know what he told you in that warehouse. But I need you to hear the rest of it from somebody who was there."

She sat down on the edge of the dock and patted the boards beside her.

I stayed standing.

"Jesse was the best Marine in my platoon," she said. "He'd do anything for anybody. You know that. You raised him half the time."

I didn't answer.

"Corey wasn't in the back that night." She looked up at me. "Corey was driving."

The river went slap, slap against the pilings.

"He and Jesse swapped seats on the sand road. Jesse let him because Corey wanted the practice for his license. That's who Jesse was. I was in the back with the bags, asleep. I woke up upside down."

← Chapter 5 · All chapters · Chapter 7 →

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