Page 54 of The Banned Books Club

“You would do that with a friend.”

Shocked, Gia began to pace in the kitchen. “In the middle of the day? When he’s supposed to be at work? He doesn’t even help out with his own kids!”

“That’s not true. He...he provides for all of us.”

“He does what he wants to do and grudgingly pays the bills so you’ll continue to serve him. But that’s beside the point. What is he doing hanging out with his ex-girlfriend?”

“There’s nothing going on, G.”

“Nothing going on,” she repeated. “You’re letting this asshole betray you and make a fool of you in front of everyone you know, and you won’t stand up to him or do anything about it? What’s wrong with you?”

“My life is exactly how I want it,” she insisted. “It’s fine. Especially now that you’re here to help with Mom. That’s what I needed. That was...crucial.”

Gia found this an odd choice of words. “To...”

“What do you mean?”

“What is it crucial to?”

“My peace of mind, okay?”

Gia shook her head. Clearly, there was something going on that wasn’t quite right. “You were about to tell me something the other night before that caveman you’re married to so rudely interrupted and ordered you to bed. What was it?”

“I don’t remember,” she said. “And I can’t talk right now. The bell just rang. I have to get Greydon from class.”

“If you won’t handle it, I’ll have to say something to Sheldon, Margot. You’ve put up with a lot. The least he can do is remain faithful.”

“Don’t say anything to him!” she said. “Please! I’ll call you tomorrow after Sheldon leaves on his hunting trip. We can discuss it then.”

Gia pivoted at the stove and started back across the kitchen. Having Sheldon in Utah for a week might give her the chance to make some inroads with her sister, get Margot to see how unfairly she was being treated and make her demand more. “Fine. Okay. We’ll talk then.”

Margot disconnected without a goodbye.

Cormac had almost forgotten that he had plans for Friday night. A patient who had a single niece had set him up on a blind date. Amy Floccari was a nurse, like his mother, who’d just moved to the area and worked at the same regional hospital. He’d seen a picture of her—and she was just as pretty in person—but he was so preoccupied when he took her to dinner that he couldn’t imagine he was very good company. He kept checking his phone, wondering if one of his sisters or their husbands would contact him to tell him they were planning on showing up, uninvited, to the Banned Books Club meeting tomorrow night.

But that message never came. When he dropped off Amy where she was staying, he hadn’t heard from anyone, and it was getting late enough that he could only assume he wouldn’t. No doubt Louisa had mentioned his sudden change of heart, so they weren’t including him. Now he didn’t know whether he should warn Gia, whichwouldreally seem like a betrayal of his family, or try to convince his sisters and their husbands not to follow through.

Talking to his sisters seemed the better course—the more conscionable course given his sudden reversal—and since he knew Louisa was mad at him, he tried Edith. She didn’t answer, but before he could call Louisa, Edith called him back.

He hit the talk button as he was pulling into his garage. “Hello?”

“You called?”

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Tomorrow night.”

The slight hesitation that followed his response told him she was surprised he knew they had something planned. “What about it?”

He could sense her defensiveness and it concerned him. He could almost see her walling him out, and he needed her to be receptive if he was going to derail his family’s attack. “There’s no way any of us should show up at that meeting, Edith.” Even though he’d actually been invited. He’d found the email when he checked his inbox at lunch today.

“It’s at a public place, Cormac. We have as much right to be there as Gia does.”

“It’s a restaurant, and I’m sure the staff, not to mention the people who’ll be dining there, won’t appreciate a screaming match. Think, for a second, about how tomorrow could go down.”

“She won’t be able to say or do anything. She’s been gone for so long, everyone there will know us better than they do her. It’s time she got the reaction she deserves—instead of an outpouring of sympathy. The fact that she doesn’t care about what she’s destroyed makes mesoangry.”

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