Falling for My Ex's Uncle novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: Smoke Yard

I looked at that photo until the screen went dark in my hand.

Then I looked at the shape of Wick's back, turned to the door.

I didn't wake him.

In the morning the hail had melted and the interstate was open.

We drove nine hours home with the radio on and the photo sitting in my phone.

I didn't say anything, and neither did he.

Every so often he looked over at me, and I looked out the window.

Lorrie was at the counter on Sunday afternoon, counting the drawer.

I waited until the kid had gone out back with the trash.

Then I put my phone down in front of her.

Her hands stopped moving on the bills.

"Where'd you get that?"

"An old newspaper story. It's the first thing that comes up."

"I worked a lot of parties for the Kimbroughs." She went back to counting. "I needed the tips."

"You never told me you were there that night."

"You never asked."

"Lorrie. You've known me five years. You never once said you were at the fire."

"I wasn't at the fire. I was at a party. Then I went home." She snapped a rubber band around a stack of twenties. "Can we not do this today? It's the judge's birthday and I made a cake shaped like a pig."

She looked at me with her chin up and her eyes too bright.

I let her have it.

For today.

The judge turned seventy-eight at Second Fire that night.

We pushed the picnic tables together in the yard and strung up the lights the kid found in the shed.

The fire captain brought a bottle of rye.

The dog got a party hat and ate it in nine seconds.

The kid brought his mother, who brought potato salad and stared at Wick like he was a movie star.

Lorrie's pig cake had a curly tail made of a licorice twist and was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen.

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