Page 84 of The Banned Books Club

Cormac scowled. “It goes against my sense of justice, but...”

“But?” Evan echoed hopefully.

Ignoring his father, he kept his gaze on her. “I don’t want to hurt my sisters.”

“Then patch things up with them and let it go.” Gia squeezed his arm as she passed him on her way to the back door. “I’ll talk to you later.”

She walked out without so much as looking back at Mr. Hart. What he was thinking or feeling no longer mattered to her. This moment was about whatshewas feeling, and she was feeling a new kind of vitality. The past hadn’t beaten her. Although there were moments since she’d come back when it felt as though a frightening specter was reaching out and trying to drag her back into the swamp she’d escaped seventeen years ago, she was no longer frightened. She’d finally slayed that swamp creature, put the past to rest.

Now she was facing a future free of the anger and upset, even the bitterness, caused by the injustice of Mr. Hart’s actions, because it simply didn’t matter to her anymore. By telling Cormac to let what his father had done go,she’dfinally been able to let it go. She was writing it off as a loss, perhaps, but it was a loss she was now confident she’d fully recovered from.

She was finally unencumbered, wasn’t hauling around old grievances.

And that meant everything.

Thanks to his father’s unexpected visit, Cormac ended up having to skip his run, but he got Mrs. Wood and Astro out for a half hour walk, which was better than nothing. After he dropped them off at home, he went straight to the clinic.

Louisa wasn’t there yet. She was still punishing him, he supposed—letting him feel her extreme displeasure.

He heard the bell over the door and Dorothy Backus’s voice, speaking to her two kittens. Their first appointment had shown up before Louisa—a repeat of yesterday. But, fortunately, the sound of an engine rose to his ears only two or three minutes later.

He peered out through the blinds in his office to see her truck pull into the back lot. “Talk about waiting until the last minute,” he grumbled.

Telling himself everything would soon be put right, he pulled on his lab coat while she finished parking and got out. He was planning to meet her as she walked in and ask her to come into his office for a quick chat. As much as he hated to do a mea culpa when he wasn’t really the one who was wrong, he’d decided to take the pass Gia was offering him and his family. If she could be that generous, he figured he might as well accept the kindness for the sake of his sisters, especially since he believed his mother had been colluding with the enemy. He’d never seen that coming.

But when he left his office, said good morning to Mrs. Backus and saw Louisa step through the door, he could tell she’d been crying. Her red-rimmed eyes made it all too apparent.

“Mrs. Backus, would you mind giving me and Louisa a few minutes?” he asked.

The stout, gregarious woman who owned a small card and gift boutique downtown, in which almost everything was cat related, gave him a look that indicated she’d noticed the evidence of tears on Louisa’s face, too. “Not at all.”

Louisa waved a hand. “There’s no need to make anyone wait,” she said, her words clipped, and kept her head down as she rounded the counter to stow her purse.

“It’ll only take a moment.” Cormac was wearing a smile but knew she’d heard the steel in his voice when she removed her sweater, draped it over the back of her chair and followed him, reluctantly, into the office.

“What’s going on?” he asked as soon as he closed the door.

Her voice sounded choked when she responded, “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Does this have to do with Dad?” He was hoping she’d say yes so that he could go into his apology and get it over with. But she surprised him.

“When were you going to tell me, Cormac?” she asked, bursting into fresh tears.

He was at a complete loss. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

His mind grappled for how this might fit into his current understanding of the problem, but he came up empty. “I don’t. Is this related to what happened at the Banned Books reunion? Are we going back to that? Because I’ve been thinking about that...um...situation, and I’m willing to say that I certainly didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t knowexactlywhat happened back when Dad was teaching, so...you should just go on believing what you’ve always believed. For all I know...”

He’d meant to say something likeFor all I know, you could be right. But he knew shewasn’tright and couldn’t conjure those words. “Never mind. Believe whatever is easiest for you, and I’ll go along with it.”

She gaped at him. “If that was supposed to be an apology, it sucked, especially because I know that you’ve been sleeping with Gia. I was right when I asked if you were interested in her, yet you denied it!”

Cormac nearly missed his chair when he sat down. He was so stunned he hadn’t bothered to look behind him. Why would his father go and blab to the girls when he’d been given a “get out of jail free” card he didn’t even deserve? “Dad told you that?”

“Yes, he did.” She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “He said he went over to your house this morning to talk to you, and there she was, half naked in your kitchen.”

Cormac had just shaved and yet he could hear the rasp of fresh beard growth as he rubbed his chin. “Louisa—”

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