Three, Two, One, I'm Gone novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Suds

Wade stood up so fast his chair scraped.

"I'll call the chairman tonight. The board doesn't meet on conduct unless I sign the agenda."

"Sit down," I said.

"Delia."

"You've done enough deciding for me this week. I'm in that video. I'll be in that room."

He sat.

Opal looked from one of us to the other and set down her fork.

"I'm going to bed," she said. "The blue room is made up for you, Delia. Wade, the couch in the den. The dishes are your penance."

She went up the stairs with her cane tapping every step.

She did not look back, and I was almost sure she was smiling.

Wade ran the water in the sink.

I picked up a towel, because I could not sit still, and stood beside him.

The kitchen was quiet except for the dishes.

"Tell me about him," I said. "Not what he did. What he was."

Wade rinsed a glass for a long time.

"He followed me everywhere," he said. "He was six when I was twelve. He wanted to hold the fishing pole, the baseball bat, the flashlight. Anything I had."

"And your father?"

"Had a second wife and a second family. My grandmother was the only person who ever put us at the same table."

"Grant was the kid in the middle of that. He learned to take what he could, early."

"That's not an excuse."

"No. It's a reason."

He set the glass in the rack.

"When our father died, Grant was nineteen. He came to the funeral in a borrowed suit."

"He left the funeral with something that wasn't his."

"What?"

"Gran wants to say it."

"I know. Opal told me." I dried a plate. "Is that why you haven't called him in eleven years?"

← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →

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