The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away novel · Chapter 26 of 32
Chapter 26: The Fall
Dex looked at the card on the tablecloth.
Then he looked up at the banner over his head.
1904 RESERVE. COMING TO 400 STORES THIS CHRISTMAS.
Two volunteers were already climbing ladders to take it down.
I didn't stay to watch.
I took Goldie's hand and Winona's arm and walked out into the plaza with the whole valley behind me.
On Sunday afternoon the growers came up my drive with their own glasses.
The auction truck brought the barrel back and set it on the porch, KESSEL on the head, the chalk dog on its belly.
Augie tapped it.
We drank it under the walnut tree until it got dark and somebody's grandson played a guitar badly.
The old grower made a toast that was mostly about Grandpa's tractor in the creek.
Nobody minded.
The reporter's story ran on Monday at six in the morning.
Augie read it to me again at his kitchen counter, because this time I wanted to hear it.
"The Woman Who Made 1904."
There was a photo of me on the stage holding up the last glass.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of The Divorce He Asked For, The Empire I Took Away are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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