My Sister's Cure Was Always My Man novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Be Generous

Mom had set the long table with the good white cloth.

Twelve places, twelve cream plates, twelve small bowls with blue flowers on the rim.

I stopped in the dining room door, and Caleb's hand tightened around mine.

"It's only china," he said, low.

"I know."

"Look at me instead."

I looked at him, and I walked in.

Everyone was already there.

My cousin and her boyfriend sat by the window.

My other aunt had a glass of wine and a smile fixed in place.

Aunt Gwen sat at the far end in her trench coat, and across the whole width of the table from her sat her husband, in a clean shirt, looking at the salt shaker.

He had come when the family called, because nobody had told him not to.

Caleb's parents arrived at six on the dot.

His mother wore navy and no jewelry.

His father shook my dad's hand and said, "Dennis," in a voice that meant I know exactly what you did.

Dad's hand dropped away fast.

Bianca came out of the kitchen carrying a tureen.

She wore white, and her hair was loose, and she looked about fifteen years old.

"I made the soup myself," she said. "I wanted to do something for you, Josie."

She ladled it into the bowls herself, one by one, going around the table.

When she got to mine she set it down gently, in front of my place, so the blue flowers faced me.

"That one's yours," she said, and smiled.

I did not touch the spoon.

Mom stood up at the head of the table with a glass.

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