Dead to Him novel · Chapter 16 of 16
Chapter 16: St. Adalbert's
Giovanni didn't follow my father out.
He stood by the head table with the candles burning down, among two hundred plates of cold pasta.
The waiters cleared around him and didn't ask him to move.
I stayed, because I had to.
Sal drove him home at one in the morning.
He didn't go upstairs.
He went into the garage and sat on the floor next to my workbench with the cracked leg.
He was still there when the sun came up.
They buried me on Wednesday.
The mass was at St. Adalbert's, the little brick church on Smith Street where my mother's funeral was.
My father chose it. He chose the hymns. He chose the plain pine casket, and he sanded it himself the night before.
The church was full.
I didn't expect that.
Teresa was in the second row in a black hat, next to my father.
Luca came, and sat at the back.
Sal came, with his wife and his three kids.
Half the captains' wives from the dinner came, in dark coats, without their husbands.
Zia Carmela lit a candle at the side altar and cried the whole way through the first reading.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–8 of Dead to Him are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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