Chapter 24: Back for Dessert

Constance's mother's house stood at the end of a lane of hydrangeas on the east side of the city.

It had a low kitchen, a long scarred table, and no chandelier.

Constance had moved in the week after the vote.

Kerensa and Rafe came on Sunday for dinner.

Ward was already there, carrying a roast to the table with his sleeves rolled up and both hands in oven mitts.

"Don't touch the gravy," Constance said. "He puts too much pepper in."

"It's good gravy."

"It's gravy that makes people cough."

Kerensa laughed, and sat down at the table.

Nobody told her where to sit.

She took the chair by the window.

It was the one that looked at the door.

Rafe sat beside her, in his gray coat.

He had put it back on that morning without saying why.

She did not ask.

The dishes went around, in the wrong order, with elbows in the way.

Ward told a story about the Eastern gate team and a goat.

Constance interrupted twice to correct the goat's size.

Rafe, who talked less than anyone Kerensa had ever met, muttered one dry comment about the goat, and Ward fell off his chair.

She noticed that her hand was on the back of Rafe's neck.

She had put it there without deciding to.

Nobody at the table looked at it.

Across from her, Ward filled his glass and stood.

"I've got something to say," he said.

"If it's about the rabbit," Kerensa said.

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