He Called Me Dramatic, So I Took the Club novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: A History Lesson

Seven bikes sat in a half circle in front of the garage with their engines ticking in the cold.

Ray Dunning stood in the middle of them with his thumbs in his belt.

Gage was at the back of the line, on his father's left, and he didn't look at me.

I came down the outside stairs before Mace could stop me.

Mace came down behind me and stood one step lower, so close I could feel his heat at my back.

Two women from the laundromat next door had stopped on the sidewalk with their baskets.

A man at the pumps across the street had stopped fueling his truck to watch.

"Mallory," Ray said, and his voice was warm. "Tom's girl. Look at you."

I'd known Ray Dunning since I was nine years old.

He'd carried my mother's casket.

He had sent a ham every Christmas for years, and I had said thank you every time.

"Ray," I said.

"I won't keep you." He took off his sunglasses and folded them into his vest pocket. "I came to say I'm sorry about my son."

"Are you?"

"Every parent is sorry. He's a damned fool." Ray shook his head and smiled with his whole face. "You've got a husband who made a mistake, and a diner that's been good to you, and a place in this club your father would have wanted."

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