One Night to Forever novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Peoria
My mother opened the front door in Peoria before we reached the porch step.
She hugged me hard enough to crack a rib.
Then she looked past my shoulder at the tallest man ever to stand on her welcome mat.
"You'll be Desmond," she said. "You look thinner than the television."
"Mrs. Rowe," Desmond said, and he held out a pie.
It was an apple pie from a bakery in Logan Square, still in its paper box.
"Hazel told me you like cinnamon."
"Hazel talks too much," my mother said, but she took it and her face softened.
My father sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee and the evening paper, and he did not stand.
He is a big, slow man with forearms like fence posts, and he has run the same lumber yard for thirty years.
He looked Desmond up and down.
"Sit," he said.
Desmond sat.
"My daughter was dragged out of a building on a Monday morning in front of cameras," my father said.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of One Night to Forever are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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