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  But this family, she told herself, and leaned into the bar, gripping it hard with both hands, this family is not going to fall apart. This family will survive. She would make sure of that. With vigilance and resolve, she would make damn sure of that.

  A few minutes later Stevie made his way to the bar alone. His eyes were wet and shining. “What are we going to do, Laci?” he said.

  She said, “You’re going to go get yourself and Mrs. Wilson something to eat. And you’re going to remember all the good things Harvey did. And we’re all going to live our lives the best way we can.”

  He nodded, but said, “I’m going to need some help getting through all this.”

  She handed him two cans of soda. “You know where to find it.”

  Again he nodded, then turned to walk away.

  “Stevie,” she said, and motioned for him to lean close so that she could whisper in his ear. “When you’re eating, honey?” she told him. “Make sure you chew with your mouth closed. Women like a man with good manners.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My thanks, as always, go out to Sandy Lu, literary agent par excellence, and to Jessica Tribble, Charlotte Herscher, and the entire team at Thomas & Mercer, and, of course, to the unnumbered but never forgotten readers who give this story and every story their reason for being.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2016 Maddison Hodge

  Randall Silvis is the internationally acclaimed author of sixteen novels, a story collection, and a book of narrative nonfiction. He is also a prize-winning playwright, a produced screenwriter, and a prolific essayist who has been published and produced in virtually every field and genre of creative writing. His essays, articles, poems, and short stories have appeared in Discovery Channel Magazine, the Writer, Prism International, Short Story International, Manoa, and numerous other online and print magazines. His work has been translated into ten languages.

  Silvis’s literary awards include two writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; a Fulbright Senior Scholar research award; six fellowships for his fiction, drama, and screenwriting from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; and an honorary doctor of letters degree for “distinguished literary achievement.”

  Learn more about Silvis’s work at www.randallsilvis.com.