He Gave My House to His Ex, So I Took My Life Back novel · Chapter 6 of 24
Chapter 6: The Potluck
By two o'clock on Saturday my backyard held forty people and eleven casseroles.
Colleen had hung paper lanterns from the fence.
She had also hung a banner across the back of the house that read "Our Family Is Growing."
I stood by the folding table with a tray of deviled eggs and my thick brown envelope under the cloth.
Sam stood three feet to my left with a plate of food he was not eating.
"You don't have to stay," I told him.
"I'm not here for the potatoes," he said.
Carlton moved through the crowd in a good blue shirt, shaking hands.
His boss was a heavy man in a quarter-zip with a wife who laughed at everything.
Colleen tapped a fork against a glass at half past two.
"Everyone," she called. "Thank you all for coming."
The yard went quiet.
"Most of you know our situation," she said, warm and soft. "Carlton and I may not have made it as husband and wife, but we have never stopped being a family for Cody."
Murmurs of approval went round the lawn.
"And so we're grateful to Jo," Colleen said, turning to me with a smile, "who has been so generous about letting us stay. We know it isn't easy for her."
Forty heads turned.
I put the eggs down.
"Thank you, Colleen," I said. "May I say something?"
Her smile held.
"Of course, honey."
I walked to the middle of the patio, where everyone could see me.
My voice came out steadier than I had expected.
"I'm Jo Abernathy," I said. "Most of you know me as the woman at 118 who doesn't say much."
A few people laughed uncertainly.
"I've owned this house for two years. I bought it with the money my father left me. Fourteen months ago I married Carlton, and I added his name to the deed."
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