Chasing Justice

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Book: Read Chasing Justice for Free Online
Authors: Danielle Stewart
Tags: Romance
the day.
    She browsed over each link and settled for the blog including five easy steps of dinner party etiquette. She figured she couldn’t possibly go wrong with five easy steps. She pulled out her notebook and proceeded to jot them down. She always seemed to retain more information when she was writing it for herself.
    Step 1: Always bring a gift or dish for the host and hostess.
    Step 2: Unfold your napkin and place it across your lap. When your meal is finished place the napkin neatly back on the table.
    Step 3: Wait your turn for food. It is traditional to serve the most senior lady at the table, then the other ladies in descending order of rank (usually equating to age unless you have royalty staying), and lastly the gentlemen. Never start eating until the hostess begins to eat.
    Step 4: With many different sets of cutlery beside the plate, start at the outside and work in. If in doubt, look at what the other guests are using.
    Step 5: Make polite conversation with those guests around you. Dinner parties are not just about the food; they are intended to be a sociable occasion.
    Piper closed her notebook feeling like those were pretty manageable rules to follow. Now she just had to pick something to wear and which dish she would bring for Betty, considering her plates were all pretty plain.
    As Piper approached the house at the address Betty had given her, she felt tightness in her chest. Social endeavors of any kind were something she avoided. She continued to remind herself this would all be worth it when she was working at the cable company and coming and going out of people’s houses without having to put breaking and entering onto her record.
    Betty’s home was fairly unassuming and old-fashioned. Parts of it teetered on being in disrepair in Piper’s opinion. The clapboard siding was faded with the paint chipping and peeling. The bones of the house seemed tired but the attempts at keeping it fresh were easy to see. The garden was full of fresh blossoms and the hedges that hugged the outside of the house were well-kept and blooming beautifully. The windows were sparkling, and white cotton sheer curtains were blowing in and out of them with the breeze. The front porch had an old style hanging swing with floral cushions that Piper immediately found inviting. She imagined how relaxing it would be to waste away an afternoon there.
    It was farther outside of town than Piper expected. She didn’t realize Betty had a twenty-minute drive to work each day and that the house would be tucked so far from the road. The long dirt driveway was lined with trees and an old stone wall that had seen better days. It was quieter here than any place Piper had ever been. The only real noises she heard were the idling of her own car engine and the birds chirping in the trees.
    As Piper parked her car she saw Betty’s rusted blue sedan and a shiny, red antique pick-up truck parked ahead of her. She reached into the back to get her purse and the plain blue empty plate she had brought. And finally it hit her. The article she read didn’t mean to bring your hostess an empty plate; it meant a dish, like peas or salad! “What an idiot,” she thought to herself, feeling grateful that she hadn’t brought the stupid plate in with her. She rummaged through her glove box to see if she had something that would qualify as a gift for her hostess. Nothing. Well, rule number one had been broken.
    Piper walked toward the house and heard the swinging of a screen door as Betty stepped out onto the porch to greet her. Betty’s smile wasn’t a cosmetically pretty one, but the way it spread across her whole face made it striking.
    “I’m so glad you found the house. We’re so excited to have you, and I hope you’re hungry. I know you’re not from down South, so I made you some good ol’ fashioned country food for you to try out.” Betty hardly took a breath as she spoke, and Piper only had time to nod and follow her obediently into the

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