Scandalous novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Scandalous
"Yes," I said.
He didn't smile right away.
He looked at me on the old loading dock.
Then it came, slow and crooked, with the scar in his eyebrow lifting.
On Friday morning the front page of the Pittsburgh paper carried one word across the top in letters three inches tall.
SCANDAL.
Under it ran my father's photograph from the ballroom, hand half raised, mouth open.
RUDDOCK FUND PROBE OPENED AFTER PENSION RECORDING, said the smaller line.
Beside it, a second picture: Burke and me in the aisle that night, his hand in mine, my chin up.
Burke read it standing in his kitchen in his shirtsleeves.
Junie sat on the counter beside him, swinging her feet, and read it too, moving her lips.
"That's you," she said, pointing.
"It is."
"And frog lady."
"And her."
"Are you famous?"
"No," Burke said. "Just in the paper."
"Is it a good scandal?"
I almost choked on my coffee.
"Where did you hear that word?"
"Grandma. She said it's the good kind if you're the one standing up."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Scandalous are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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