Chapter 38

Teddy sat still, his cap on his knee, and his hands rested on the armrest of the soft couch. He did not want to speak with Teddy, not because he disliked the man—frankly, he did dislike him that minute for making Suzie cry, just like he’d predicted she would—but he simply did not know what to say to him at that point. This was a moment he could not wait to get over and done with.

Suzie returned with a small kettle and a tray holding three tiny cups in her left hand. Her right hand was holding a small tray of freshly baked biscuits. On her neck was a small kitchen towel that Smith had no doubt she was unaware she’d left hanging there.

Teddy rose to help her with the tray and set it a little too noisily on the dining room table just across the living room. She muttered a “Thank you” and laid out the cups before serving them.

“I guess you must have been out there a little while,” she said, more of a statement than an actual question.

“Not quite,” Smith replied.<