The Men Who Walked Out novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Served

The café my mother chose was the busiest one in Providence, on a Tuesday, at noon.

She had picked it so that nobody could shout.

Dad sat at a two-top by the window in his good grey jacket.

I sat at the next table with a cup of tea I wasn't drinking.

Elliot sat at the counter with a newspaper and watched the door.

"You don't have to be here," Dad had said in the car.

"Yes, I do."

"I can handle your mother."

"I know you can," I'd said. "I want to watch."

She came in at five past twelve, in her navy suit and her good coat, alone.

Her right hand was wrapped in white gauze from the knuckles to the wrist.

I looked at it, and then at her face, which was perfectly calm.

"Gerard."

"Rosalind."

"You've lost weight."

"You cut your hand."

"It's nothing." She sat and set her bag on the empty chair beside her. "Daphne. I didn't know you'd be here."

"I know you didn't."

"You may stay if you keep quiet."

"I'll try."

A waitress put a menu in front of my mother, and she handed it back unopened.

"Coffee. Black."

She turned to Dad.

"I want us to be civilized," she said.

"There will be a settlement, Gerard. I'd like it to be quiet."

I nearly dropped my cup.

"A settlement," Dad said.

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