True Heiress Never Lies! novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Soup

There were eighteen people at the table.

My father's business partners sat on one side with their wives.

A judge's widow from the Friends of Cedar Hollow sat on the other, next to a pastor and a man who sold boats.

Estelle had set out the good china.

She wore green.

I sat between my brother and an empty chair, in a long-sleeved navy dress from my old boxes.

It was too short in the arms, and I kept tugging it down.

"We're so glad to have our Sonia back," Estelle said, raising her glass.

"To Sonia," said the room.

Eighteen glasses clinked.

Nobody asked where I had been.

They all knew.

They looked at me with kindness and a little curiosity.

"The center is wonderful, isn't it?" said the judge's widow, leaning across her salad.

"Cedar Hollow? We think so," Estelle said. "Gordon and I donate every year. They have such a gentle program."

"Such a lovely wing," said the boat salesman. "Gordon was telling me about the music room."

I stared at my father.

He looked down at his fork.

"The what room?" I said.

"The music room," he said. "I paid for a piano. For the girls."

"There isn't a piano."

"Of course there is, honey. The director sent photos."

"Sonia's tired," Estelle said quickly.

"I'm not tired. There is no piano."

"She's had a long day."

"There's a plastic tulip," I said. "It's in the dayroom. It's the only decoration there."

A woman near the end of the table laughed nervously.

A man cleared his throat.

My father said, "Sonia, let's not."

"I wasn't going to say anything else."

Keep reading free with an account. Start True Heiress Never Lies! from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.