Troublemakers Mess With the Wrong Girls novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Open House

By two o'clock on Saturday there were forty-one people in Dennis's kitchen.

I counted them from the hallway, wearing my work boots and holding a tray of lemon bars I'd baked at five that morning.

Dennis had put on a blazer. He stood at the island with a glass of champagne, glowing.

His wife stood beside him, smiling with her teeth and nothing else.

Grandma sat in the best armchair, in her pearls, receiving her guests.

Dad had refused to come. Mom was on a night shift that had run late, and she'd texted me one line before I left.

*Be on time. Be nice. Not yet.*

I was on time. I was being exactly as nice as I could manage.

Caleb stood in the garage doorway behind the kitchen with three men in gray t-shirts.

He caught my eye over forty heads, and I nodded.

"Friends," Dennis said, tapping his glass. "Neighbors. Mother."

People laughed politely.

"I've waited a long time for a house like this. And I could never have done it without my big brother Frank and his wife, who gave me the biggest gift of my life."

The neighbors clapped.

Out in the garage, someone lifted a drill.

"Frank couldn't be here today," Dennis said, "but he's here in spirit, and in the cabinets, and the island you're all leaning on."

The first of Caleb's men walked in with a stepladder and set it under the pendant light over the dining table.

Nobody looked at him, because he wore a work shirt and a tool belt and people don't look at the help.

He unscrewed the first bulb and put it in his pocket.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dennis went on, "to my family."

The second man came in and knelt at the wine fridge.

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