Exiled for Saying No, I Came Back and Took the Boss's Chair novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Friday at the Long Table
On the second Friday in April the five old butchers carried the boss's chair up the hill on their shoulders.
They set it down at the head of my father's long table in the dining room, and Nonna dusted the seat with her apron.
The Pit's trestle tables stood end to end with ours through the wide doorway, down the hall, and out into the front room.
Cusumano plates sat next to Costigan platters, and the lace cloth lay over the plain white paper.
Tiernan Costigan sat at Nonna's right hand with his cane hooked on the chair.
Fergal sat beside him, telling a joke to an aunt.
The three grandmothers of the Table sat in a row halfway down, in black lace, with their napkins tucked in.
The third one had brought her own fork.
The seat at my right hand, where my uncle used to sit, held the oldest butcher in his white collar.
Nobody had said where Ignazio ate.
Nobody asked.
The kitchen door swung, and Ronan came through it with a foil pan in each hand.
He had cooked since four in the morning.
His sleeves were rolled over the scars, and his beard was combed.
He stopped in the doorway until the whole table saw him.
"Friday order," he said.
Two racks lay in the pans, dark and glistening, the bone ends curled back.
He carried the first one into the kitchen.
I heard the chair by the stove scrape as he set the plate down in front of my father's cracked cushion.
I heard the little red vigil lamp tick.
He came back with the second.
He walked the length of the long table, past two families and a row of black lace, to the head.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Exiled for Saying No, I Came Back and Took the Boss's Chair are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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