My Stepfather and His Friends novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Casserole

"Come in," I said, because there was nothing else to say.

She followed us up the drive with the dish held out in front of her.

Owen and Caleb trailed behind, and both of them had the grace to look at their shoes.

She had a name I'd known all my life and never used.

She was the woman from my mother's church who ran the funeral luncheon and corrected people's casseroles.

In the kitchen, she set the dish on the counter and looked around slowly.

She looked at the coffee mugs in the sink, and at Caleb's flannel hanging on the back of a chair, and at my bare feet.

"Two men," she said pleasantly. "At six in the morning."

"They're friends of the family," I said.

"Of course they are."

"Would you like coffee?"

"Oh, I won't stay." She sat down at the table. "I only wanted to see how you were managing. It's been such a long time since the funeral. I did think you'd have called."

"I've been busy."

"I can see that."

Warren came down the stairs.

He was in jeans and an old henley, with his hair wet, and I watched the woman's eyes go from his bare feet to the top button he hadn't done, and back to my face.

"Warren," she said. "How nice."

"Good morning."

"I was just telling Tessa how worried we've all been." She folded her hands. "People talk, you know. A young woman alone in a house with her mother's husband. We told them not to. We told them you were a good girl."

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