CHAPTER 17
Dinner had been doomed from the start. During the entire time Kimmie was dealing with Pip and his night terrors, she’d left the chili on the stove. By the time she realized her mistake, half of the meal had turned into black crisp.
She would have never served it to her stepdad, but that was the last of the chili, so she added a few prayers and half a can of water, hoping to mask the burnt taste and stretch the meager offering out as much as possible. She scooped the top portion, the part that was the least scalded, into a bowl for Chuck and split the rest between herself and Pip. Even though Chuck never ate the heels of his bread, Kimmie couldn’t serve the portions to Pip at the table without infuriating her stepfather, so she slipped them beneath her sweater to store for late
