My Groom Walked Out, So His Brother Took His Place novel · Chapter 15 of 32
Chapter 15: Lorene's Table
My mother's house sat on a short street behind the Lutheran church, with a porch swing, a pecan tree and a screen door that always banged.
She asked us for Sunday dinner without saying why.
I knew why.
She had been working up to it for two months.
She made fried chicken and cream gravy, green beans cooked a long time, and a peach cobbler from the last of the freezer.
My father's chair sat empty at the head of the table.
She seated Jude at its right hand.
Jude looked at the chair, and at her, and sat without a word.
I think that was when she started to like him.
"Eat," Mama said. "You're thin."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Take more of the gravy."
He took more of the gravy.
He ate three helpings of chicken.
He said the green beans were the best he had had in his life, which was true, because I had seen him eat my cooking.
Under the table his knee pressed against mine.
I moved my leg.
It was still there.
I tried to listen to my mother talking about the church sale and the new minister's wife.
Jude passed me the butter, and his thumb slid over the inside of my wrist.
It was not an accident.
I felt the skin there go warm, and a sound rose in my throat that I swallowed with iced tea.
My wrist is a boring part of the body.
I told myself that all through the cobbler.
"Bryn," Mama said.
I looked up.
She had put down her fork.
Her eyes were bright, and her hands were folded.
"I have something to say to you both."
"Mama, you don't have to..," I said.
"Yes, I do."
She looked at Jude.
"I want to apologize to you first, because you're the one who didn't ask for any of it. I know you did a decent thing in that church. I wasn't easy with you at the luncheon."
Keep reading free with an account. Start My Groom Walked Out, So His Brother Took His Place from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 14 · All chapters · Chapter 16 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend