Salt Kiss novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Wednesday Night

By Wednesday night the whole membership knew something was wrong.

Nobody had said a word.

A hundred and forty adults stood in the hall of Brine with their phones in sealed pouches and their faces tight.

Thirty-one had a text.

The thirty-one had told the others.

Lorna had kept the door tonight with her chin up and a pen behind her ear.

Nobody who was shaking got through without a hand on their arm and a glass of water.

Nolan stood on the mezzanine in his black suit with his bandaged arm.

For the first time in nine nights, he wasn't looking at Ford.

He was looking at the dais.

The high chair was empty.

At ten o'clock Skye came out of the back office in the black dress, her braid pinned in a crown and the ledger in her arms.

She walked up the three steps like a woman who had done it every night for six years.

She had done it every night for six years, in an empty room, after closing.

The hall went quiet.

She did not sit.

"Good evening," she said.

Her voice was calm and carried to the back wall.

"Most of you know me as Ford's fiancée.

"I'm Skye Pickett.

"Tonight the door is mine to answer."

A murmur ran through the crowd.

A man near the bar said, "I knew it," and somebody hushed him.

"I let Ford wear it because it was easier," Skye said.

"That was a choice, and it was mine, and I'm done making it.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Salt Kiss from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.