Page 78 of The Moment You Know

“Why?”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.”

“You don’t have to be an asshole, David.”

“I’m not being an asshole. I’m simply pointing out that your question was kind of stupid,” he told her. He could push a few buttons, too.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s not stupid to me. I honestly don’t know why you’d want to read her book. So, humor me and explain. And make sure to use small words so I understand and don’t have to ask any more stupid questions.”

“I’m going to read the book because I want to know what happened to her. I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Because I think it could change some things for me.”

“What ‘things’?”

So maybe that had been a poor choice of words, but they couldn’t be taken back, so he kept going. “Well, it could change the reason why my marriage failed, for starters.”

“Why does it matter? The marriage did fail and it’s been over for almost five years—”

“Because I blamed myself,” he said, louder than he’d intended. “That’s why it matters. And if I can quit blaming myself, then maybe I can get back that part of me that I lost.”

Her expression lost its edge but was still wary. “Is that all you’d want to get back?”

The question gave him pause. “What else is there to get back?”

“Paige. Your marriage.”

He stared at her for so long, that she threw up her hands. “You have nothing to say?”

“I’m just trying to figure out why you would think that.”

“You said Paige’s book could change some things for you. Your relationship with her could be one of those ‘things’. Which, in turn could change our relationship.”

“It won’t change our relationship,” he said, somewhat dismissively. What did she think? That he would read the book, then run off into the sunset with Paige? “And as far as changing my relationship with Paige, it obviously didn’t change things for her. She never told me about the abuse—or the book—and she easily could have. Hell, she could’ve responded to one of my texts and she hasn’t. So there’s no need for you to be thinking what you’re thinking, because—”

“You’ve been texting her?”

Well, shit. “Yes. To see how she was doing after her concussion. But like I said, she’s never texted back.”

There was a bit of a showdown as David waited for her to ask to see the texts to prove what he was saying and he deliberately didn’t offer to show them to her.

“I don’t want you to read her book,” she finally said.

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t care what I want?”

“Not when it comes to this book. I’m going to read it.”

“God damn it, David, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me since that night at Bender’s. Please. All I’m asking for is this one small thing in return. Don’t read it.”

“It’s not a small thing,” he argued. “And I am going to read it.”

Then, done with the conversation—even though she clearly wasn’t—he took the book and left. Deciding he needed a few fingers of Knob Creek (a beer just wasn’t going to cut it), he took a detour through the kitchen before heading to the living room.

He sat on the couch for a while, slowly sipping his bourbon and looking at the copy of The Moment You Know. Finally, after his glass was empty, he opened the book, still in shock that Paige had written it. Slowly turning the first few pages, he came to a quote from Bob Marley, which took him by surprise, if only because he seemed like an odd person to be quoting, even though the quote itself was great: “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”

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