Swallow Me Whole novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Rule Zero
Keeva lifted her mug to us in the dark.
Then she stood up, and turned off the lamp, and went inside.
She didn't say a word to either of us for the next day and a half.
She made pancakes.
She beat Dad at cribbage.
She hummed.
On Monday night, the third week of August, the whole family sat down at the long table on the screened porch.
My parents at the ends, an aunt and an uncle I rarely see halfway down.
Two grown cousins with their partners squeezed along the benches.
Fireflies blinked in the dark yard.
Dad had grilled enough corn to feed a regiment.
Ashton sat across from me, as far from my sister as he could get, with his shoulders up around his ears.
He had barely looked at me since the dock.
I had decided that was his problem.
"Before we eat," Keeva said, and tapped her fork against her glass.
The table quieted.
"I have a toast."
Ashton closed his eyes.
"Oh no," he said.
"Oh yes."
She stood up in her good sundress with her short bleached hair sticking up and her whole face lit.
"I want to thank everyone for coming," she said. "Especially my little sister, who has had a very productive summer."
I put down my corn.
"And my best friend Ash, who is also a thorough man."
Somebody coughed.
"Keeva," Ashton said.
"Sit down, I'm talking. I'll say it fast."
She turned to the table and spread her arms.
"This June, I took a thirteen-week job in Phoenix. I told everyone it was the money. It was not the money."
My mother put down her fork.
"A year ago, Ashton came to my apartment after Sadie's eighteenth birthday dinner."
"He sat on my kitchen floor and told me he was in love with her."
The porch went completely quiet.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Swallow Me Whole are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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