Page 52 of The Banned Books Club

“Oh, man, the kids have been sick. Some sort of flu. What a nightmare.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope they get well soon.”

“Fortunately, I think we’ve seen the worst of it.”

“Good. You still want to go fishing?”

A child started to cry in the background. “I’d love to go somewhere,anywhere—even if it’s just grabbing a drink. But I don’t know when I’ll be able to do it. At the moment, I’m not only dealing with sick kids, I’m building a new house while juggling two remodels.”

Tyler was a general contractor, so he was probably racing to get the new house roofed before the weather could turn ugly. “Too much work is better than too little, I guess,” Cormac reminded him.

“Don’t try to be positive. I’m complaining right now.”

“Sorry.” Cormac laughed. “Then...poor you.”

“That was weak, dude. Fortunately, gaining your sympathy isn’t why I called. You’ve probably heard that Gia’s back in town...”

“Of course.”

“Figured word would spread quickly.”

“How’d you find out?”

“She went through Mel’s checkout line the other day.”

Tyler’s wife worked at Higgleston’s. She was the same age as Edith and had been over at the house quite a bit when they were growing up, so Cormac had known her fairly well even before she married Tyler. He doubted Gia would’ve had any reason to associate with her, though. She probably didn’t even realize the woman running the register at the grocery store knew who she was. “She came back to be with her mother, who’s dying of cancer,” Cormac told him. “Do you know Ida or Leo?”

“No. I never even knew Gia very well. But I got invited to the Banned Books Club reunion.”

That must’ve been a mistake. He couldn’t imagine Gia meant to invite him. She knew he and Tyler were friends. “You did? Are you going?”

“Hell, no. I only joined because you twisted my arm.”

Cormac hadn’t wanted to stand out too much. There hadn’t been many boys in the club and even fewer athletes, so he’d talked Tyler into joining with him.

“We were only in it for the girls, remember?” Tyler went on. “You had a thing for Gia until—well, until she did what she did, which is downright evil. I’m guessing you didn’t get an invitation, but you’re going anyway, right?”

Cormac blinked in surprise. “No. Why would I be going? Like you said, I wasn’t invited.”

“Well...neither were your brothers-in-law.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Dan told me that he and Victor and Louisa and Edith are going to confront Gia. They want to get a retraction out of her at last—in front of everyone.”

Cormac came to his feet. “Wait...what?”

“You didn’t know? They’re sick and tired of what their wives have been going through. It’s been so long. They figure it’s time they did something about it.”

“Dan told you this?”

“Yeah. He and I ride dirt bikes together. He asked me if I’d received an invitation to the Banned Books Club meeting.”

“And...”

“And when I said I got an email about it, he asked me to forward it to him, so I did. I know how much you want to reach the truth, too. I figured you’d be going with them.”

“Oh, my God...”

---