Page 76 of The Banned Books Club

“But for now...she’s out there...somewhere...with the family car,” her father said.

“And everything she could take out of their checking and savings,” Gia added.

Ida lifted her head. “That can’t be right. This...this just isn’t like Margot.”

Gia brought her bowl to the table, too. “Which is why I think we give her the benefit of the doubt. She knows Sheldon much better than we do. There must be something he’s done—or she thinks he’ll do—that has made this whole thing necessary.”

“But it’s unsustainable,” Leo said. “Sheldon and his family aren’t going to sit back and let her have Greydon and Matthew. They’ll search for her and probably find her, and when they do, they’ll force her to recognize their legal rights. Where will she be then? At that point, he might even have a case for full custody because she’s already proven she’s a flight risk.”

“I know, Dad, but—”

Her mother’s phone went off, and Ida’s face turned ashen when she looked down at it.

“Who is it?” Gia asked.

Ida looked up. “It’s Sheldon.”

Cormac breathed a sigh of relief when he heard his sister come in and greet Herman Wise, the owner of their first patient of the day. Louisa was ten minutes late, but at least she’d shown up for work.

He waited until she was settled behind the desk in the reception area before gathering his clipboard and strolling out of his office. “Morning,” he said to the room at large.

She didn’t respond, but Mr. Wise, an elderly gentleman who owned three labradoodles but had only one with him today, stood and came forward to shake his hand. “Morning, Doc.”

Cormac squatted to give Bella a scratch behind the ears. “You didn’t bring Tweety and Tinkerbell?” he asked.

“No, the wife’s got ’em. I told her you’d want to say hi, but she said we didn’t need to fill your whole waiting room.”

Cormac straightened. “They’re always welcome to tag along. But what’s going on with Bella?” He checked the clipboard that listed his appointments and the reason for each visit. “Something about a sore leg?”

“She’s favoring this one.” He lifted his dog’s left hind leg. “I’m wondering if she has a fracture or something.”

“Bring her on back and we’ll take a look.” Cormac motioned for Mr. Wise to follow him and glanced at Louisa as he turned to go into the examination room. But she wouldn’t meet his eye. She was obviously bent on ignoring him, which was how she behaved all day. Even at lunch, she slipped out of the clinic without saying a word and went elsewhere to eat, returning only after their first afternoon appointment had arrived.

It wasn’t until she was packing up to leave for the day that he finally went into the lobby to confront her.

“Is it going to be like this from now on?” he asked.

When she shot him a dirty look and marched past him, he assumed she wasn’t even going to answer. But she turned back at the door. “I can’t believe what you did at the restaurant on Saturday night, Cormac. I’ll never forgive you. I just want you to know that.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But if you’ll remember, I tried to stop you well before it got to that point.”

“You had no right to get involved.”

“Says who?” he demanded. “I had more than a right—I had a duty.”

She gave him an astounded look. “What’s gotten into you? Do you have a crush on Gia again...or what?”

He opened his mouth to deny that he felt anything for Gia. But visions of her naked body entwined with his had been parading around on the stage of his mind since he woke up, and he could still smell the heady scent of her soap or shampoo or whatever it was on his sheets. Normally, he enjoyed his work; today, he couldn’t wait to get home because he knew she’d be close by and might come out to the pool again. “It isn’t that,” he insisted.

She slung her purse over her shoulder. “Then what is it?”

“I told you! I don’t want our family to be responsible for hurting anyone. Especially Gia. She’s been through enough.”

“You don’t know that our family’s been responsible foranything.”

He opened his mouth to tell her hedidknow. Waiting until his mother called a family meeting no longer seemed prudent. He had to work with Louisa every day; this couldn’t go on. But Victor walked in at that moment. “You ready?” he said the second he saw his wife holding her computer bag, purse and water bottle.

Louisa shot Cormac another dirty look. “Yes, I am,” she replied and walked out with Victor.

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