The Hard Version of Staying novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Anniversary Supper

Hanna's POV

By seven on Saturday, there were seventy people in the Tern House dining room.

The tables ran the length of the room and out into the hall, and every chair in the building had been carried in.

Frances had cooked since Thursday.

There was a roast, and oyster stuffing, and the three pies my mother used to make every December.

The Tern House had reopened three years ago that night, and I had held a supper for the town on every anniversary.

I wore my mother's green dress.

Jude sat on my right, with a clean shirt and his hair wet.

Joelle sat on my left, at Frances's insistence, with a plate in front of her she had not touched.

At ten past seven the front door opened.

Declan stood in the hall with a bouquet of white roses and his good gray coat, and he was smiling.

The talk in the room died, table by table.

"Good evening, everyone," he said. "I hope I'm not too late."

Nobody answered.

"I know I'm not welcome. I'd just like a minute." He came a few steps into the room, and held the flowers against his chest. "I owe this town an apology."

"You do," said a man at the back.

It was the man in the fisherman's cap from the post office.

Declan nodded humbly.

"I do. I've hurt my wife, and I've hurt a dear friend, and I brought pain into a place I love." His voice thickened. "I was weak. I was afraid of losing the life I had. I'm going to spend the rest of my life earning my way back."

A few of the women looked down.

For one breath, the room almost believed him.

I stood.

"Thank you, Declan," I said. "That was lovely. May I answer?"

He bowed his head, graciously.

I took a freezer bag from the sideboard.

Inside it were a glass of water, a white capsule and a folded square of paper.

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