My Husband Lent Me to His Best Friend for the Night, and the Man He Chose Was the One I Hated Most novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Name on the Door
On the first Saturday in June the taverna opened under a new sign.
The blue one with the crack down the middle had come off its brackets on Thursday, and Aris and Nikos had carried it down the street between them, arguing about the angle.
The new one hung over the door, white letters on dark green, lit from below.
VRETTOS.
Under the name, in smaller letters, it said, Kalliope and Aris.
I stood on the sidewalk at noon in my apron with my hand on the swell of my stomach and looked up at it.
I was seven months along and enormous.
The baby had kicked since March, and by now it had opinions.
It was kicking at that moment, a small hard heel under my palm.
"It's crooked," I said.
"It is not crooked," Aris said from the doorway.
"It's an inch off to the left," I said.
"It's a quarter inch," Aris said.
"I will not be told my own sign is crooked in front of customers."
"We have no customers," I said.
"We have a line," Aris said.
I turned around.
There was a line.
It ran down the sidewalk past the dentist's and around the corner, the whole of the Halsted Street market in its Saturday coats.
The old man in the brown coat stood at the head of it with his cap in his hand.
The lamb woman stood behind him with a basket of lemons.
The new head of the Fulton Market house had sent his wife with a case of olive oil and a note.
The note said: For the walk-in, from men who owe you.
I put the oil on the shelf and did not decide yet whether to use it.
I opened the door.
We were full by one.
The long room had white cloths and the radio low, and Aris stood at the pass with a ladle in his bent right hand, calling orders in Greek and English.
I stood at the back counter with a tray of baklava.
I could not carry the heavy pans anymore, so Aris had hired a girl to do it.
Nikos worked the floor.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Husband Lent Me to His Best Friend for the Night, and the Man He Chose Was the One I Hated Most are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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