His Cousin Was His Real Wife, So I Took My Father's Name Back novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Not Serving Tonight
Joan's house on Cedar Court smelled of roast chicken and lemon polish.
She opened the door herself, in her good blue cardigan, and smiled at me.
"Darling," she said. "You came."
"I came."
"And Brooke. Look at you, you're blooming. Come in, both of you, before it gets cold."
Simon stayed in the car at the curb.
He had said he would count to ten minutes, and he had held up both hands to show me he meant it.
The dining room table was laid for seven.
Joan's two sisters sat on one side, with napkins already in their laps.
The older one watched me come in with her mouth in a flat line, and the younger one looked at her plate.
Kyle sat at the far end, and his eyes were red.
Joan sat down at the head.
"Clara, sit," she said, and nodded at the chair beside Kyle. "We'll not mention this morning. It was a misunderstanding, and we're all family."
I did not sit.
I took Brooke's elbow, and she took the chair at Joan's right hand, the one Joan kept for guests.
I stayed on my feet behind her.
"The gravy, darling," Joan said. "Would you?"
It was a small porcelain boat with a chip in the handle.
I had carried it to this table every Sunday for four years.
I lifted it from the sideboard, and I carried it the length of the room, and I set it down in front of the older sister, where Joan could not reach it.
"No," I said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm not serving tonight. I came to play something for your sisters."
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