Page 36 of The Banned Books Club

Margot started to laugh.

“What?” she said, obviously surprised. “You’re not going to get mad at me for that comment?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Would it do any good?”

“Probably not.” Gia gave her a wicked grin but then sobered. “What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“With the weight loss. It seems kind of extreme. And there are dark circles under your eyes. I’m getting worried about you.”

Margot sobered instantly. “It’s fine. It’s nothing. I just wanted to slim down.”

“By eating red velvet cake?”

Margot laughed. “I didn’t have any. I haven’t had much interest in sweets lately.”

“It’s not just the weight. Tonight’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh since I got home.”

Margot lowered her eyes. “Mom has cancer, Gia. She’s dying. What’s there to be happy about?”

“What’s happening to Mom is horrible,” Gia said. “But...is that all of it?”

“Of course.”

Gia took a bite before leaning in close. “You’d tell me if there was something else, if you were in financial trouble or had bad news about you or one of the kids, wouldn’t you?”

Margot got up, covered the cake and straightened the counters. “The business is going well, and we’re all healthy as can be.”

Gia studied her closely. “Promise?”

Margot was dying to tell her sister the truth. She knew better than to do it, but she needed to talk to someone so badly. She opened her mouth to say something—she didn’t know what—but then a noise at the edge of the room caused her to turn and see Sheldon.

“It’s getting late,” he said with a scowl. “Aren’t you coming to bed?”

Margot’s heart started to race. She’d almost blown everything, almost opened up.

Thank God she hadn’t.

She cleared her throat as she tried to decide how to respond. She knew what Sheldon had said was more than a suggestion. There’d be hell to pay if she didn’t come to bed because he’d interpret that decision as choosing her sister over him. “Yeah, um... I... We were just finishing up.”

Obviously surprised by this sudden turn when they hadn’t even had time for a full conversation, Gia looked from her to Sheldon and back again. Margot recognized the steely determination in her sister’s eyes. Gia was tempted to tell Sheldon to mind his own business and leave them alone. But something about Margot’s sudden panic must’ve shown in her face because Gia seemed to change her mind.

After shoveling the last bite of cake into her mouth—she probably did that to show she’d at least finish her dessert before she let him drive her away—she handed Margot the plate. “Cake was delicious. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“I’m leaving,” she told Sheldon in a voice that sounded likeHave it your way.

Still trying to avert any problems, Margot spoke up before he could respond. “Sorry, we...we have to be up early.”

Gia gave her a brief hug as she said goodbye but simply walked past Sheldon. That was much better than what Margot was afraid she’d been about to do, though.

After the door closed behind Gia, Margot held her breath for fear Sheldon would say he didn’t dare go on his trip if her sister was going to be coming around, hanging out with her and the kids while he was gone. But he surprised her by handing her the knife Gia had given him instead. “Can you believe she brought me a present? That’s a first, isn’t it?”

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