The Seventh Time novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Brooch

On Friday night I was supposed to be eating dinner at Broderick Ashworth's house.

Instead I was sitting at a bar called the Anchor, eating a basket of fries Tara had ordered over my objections.

"This is a Friday I own," she said. "You're not allowed to think about the other one."

"I'm not thinking about it."

"You've checked your phone a dozen times."

"Thirteen."

She stole a fry and pointed it at me.

"Killian has called you four times. He's texted six. I know because you keep putting it face down."

"I'm not answering."

"Good."

"I want to."

"I know." Her face softened. "That's why we're at a bar."

The Anchor was a long, dim room with a pressed-tin ceiling and a crowd of nurses from Tara's hospital.

It was the kind of place Broderick's people would never walk into.

I had picked it for exactly that reason.

At nine, the door opened and let in a gust of cold air and a cloud of perfume.

Delphine Carraway walked in with three women in cocktail dresses.

She wore the cream suit and the pearls.

On her left lapel, catching the bar lights, was my grandmother's brooch.

The bartender looked up.

Tara stopped chewing.

"Don't," she said, very low. "Romy. She's doing it on purpose."

"I know."

"She followed us."

"I know she did."

Delphine saw me and gave a little wave.

She took the high table by the window and made a show of ordering champagne.

Her friends glanced across the bar at me.

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