Everyone Called Me His Girl, but He Said It Was Nothing novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Porch
The cottage sat on a spit of grass above the water, grey-shingled and a little crooked.
A porch ran the whole length of the back.
Frank's porch.
I had stood on it the first day with the brass key in my hand and my palm flat on the railing.
I could feel my father in the wood.
He had cut every board true.
By the last Saturday of September, Hayes had sanded the floor, hung the screen door, and built a table.
It was oak, nine feet long, with no head and no foot.
"I didn't want anyone to sit at the end of it," he said.
"They can sit wherever they like."
I set out the plates while the sun went orange over the bay.
I had picked the menu myself.
Plain fish baked with lemon and butter, white beans, a green salad, and bread from the bakery in town.
Nothing on the table could make anyone's stomach turn.
Nothing on it was hot unless you wanted it to be.
A small red car came crunching down the gravel drive with its headlights on, though it was still light.
Teddy climbed out with a pie held in front of him.
"I baked it," he said.
"It's a little brown."
"It's black," said my friend, getting out of the passenger side.
"I watched him do it."
"He cried a bit."
"I did not cry."
"The oven did the crying."
"There was smoke."
"There was a fire alarm."
"There was a very kind fireman," said Teddy with dignity.
I laughed so hard I had to put the plates down.
They came up the porch steps into the evening light.
My friend dropped her bag on a chair and walked the length of the table, trailing a finger along the oak.
"It's a good table," she said to Hayes.
"I'd want to be buried under it."
"Please don't."
"I'm just saying it's sturdy."
We sat.
Hayes poured sparkling cider into four glasses, and Teddy lifted his.
"I have news," he said.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Everyone Called Me His Girl, but He Said It Was Nothing are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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