From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality novel · Chapter 28 of 32
Chapter 28: Launch Night
By noon there was a line on Ballard Avenue.
Not for Both.
For the shop.
People had seen the post and come early, with thermoses and folding chairs, to stand on the sidewalk in front of the protected storefront.
The apprentice went out with the ring light and a clipboard and took charge of them.
"She's a natural," the old key-cutter said, watching through the window.
"She's terrifying," Jem said.
"Same thing."
The bakery woman sent over four trays of rolls and refused money.
The old landlord came at three with a deck of cards and sat in the workshop doorway, even though it wasn't Thursday.
My mother and Pete came at four with a roast, a ham, and the folding table on the car roof again.
"It's a launch," my mother said. "People have to eat at a launch."
"Tom served sliders," I said.
"Tom isn't here."
Kath came down from the loft at five with her hair still wet and her laptop open.
She'd been reading the news all day so I wouldn't have to.
"Okay," she said. "Headlines. You want them?"
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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