Page 94 of The Banned Books Club

Besides, his family had accepted the truth about his father, and his sisters were slowly beginning to speak to him again. Louisa had acted more like herself on Friday than she had in over a week. Part of it was because he’d told her he wasn’t involved with Gia anymore, that whatever had flared up between them was already over. If letting go of her a little early helped to placate his sisters, he felt that was probably the best way to go.

But that approach sounded better during the day when he was working with Louisa than at night when he was home alone and could be seeing Gia. And now she’d sent him a direct text, so of course he had to respond:

You mean about my dad admitting what he did? Long story. But they’ve been told. And as hard as that was for them—especially with my dad acting like such an ass and still trying to deny it—I’m glad everyone knows *you* aren’t to blame for anything.

He set his phone aside and went back to watching the game, but he found his mind drifting almost immediately. He was waiting for her to respond.

Five minutes passed, then ten minutes, then fifteen. When all he got was a mere thumbs-up an hour later, he realized that was probably all he was going to get, and he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t invited further conversation. He’d purposely held back so hewouldn’tspark more interaction.

“Just hang on and see it through until she leaves,” he told himself when he was tempted to send a follow-up text.

Turning the channel to a sports news program he could listen to while cutting up vegetables to take to work with him in the morning, he moved into the kitchen. But it was only a few minutes later when he saw the porch light snap on over at the Rossis’ and found himself running up the stairs to look out his bedroom window.

Sure enough, Gia was getting into the hot tub.

Cormac knew Gia had to have heard the gate open when he came through it, but she didn’t look over. “Hey,” he said.

She continued to stare up at the stars as if he hadn’t spoken.

He’d taken the time to throw on a pair of sweats before coming outside. It was growing colder by the night. “How are things going with Margot?” he asked, walking to the edge of the hot tub.

She still didn’t look over at him. “They aren’t going,” she said. “Nothing’s happening there. We haven’t heard from her, don’t know where she is.”

She’d said it mechanically, as if she’d repeated it a dozen times, which let him know that was the official statement she was giving everyone. He wondered if it was true. “I’m sure you’re worried about her. I’m sorry.”

“We’ll manage.”

With that simple two-word response, she’d already dismissed him. He should leave. After all, he was the one who’d put this distance between them with how he’d behaved this week and how he’d just responded to her text, which might’ve been her way of trying to reestablish communication with him.

But he’d always been attracted to her, and that hadn’t changed, so he couldn’t help trying to engage her again. “Sheldon’s been saying a lot around town—about how he’s going to find her and take custody of the kids.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“You’re not concerned?” he asked.

“He wasn’t a great father to begin with. Those boys are better off with their mother.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “But you won’t be the one who gets to decide, right? He’ll take her to court if he finds her. It’ll turn into a battle.”

“With any luck, hewon’tfind her.”

“She plans to stay gone indefinitely?”

“Ithink so.”

He whistled. “Wow. She’s serious.”

“We obviously didn’t understand how truly unhappy she was. I feel bad about that.”

“Gia...”

At the change in his tone, she finally looked at him. “Is this where you tell me you still want to be friends, Cormac?” she asked.

He stared down at his tennis shoes, trying to figure out what he really wanted to happen from here. He knew he’d be a fool to go back to what they’d started. She had a life somewhere else. That was why he’d backed away to begin with—but it didn’t hurt that it helped patch things up with his family, too. “I honestly do, you know.”

“Fine. Consider us friends,” she said and grabbed her towel as she got out and went back inside.

Margot was so excited her hands were shaking. Getting a new identity opened up the world. She could sell the Subaru, buy a new car, get a phone, rent an apartment, apply for jobs—start over. So much had depended on a new social security number and driver’s license. And it hadn’t been that hard to get. She’d had to brave the dark web and pay in Bitcoin, and she’d had to trust the unnamed person on the other side of the transaction to deliver with authentic-looking documents. But what she got looked real. Amazingly so.

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