Page 11 of The Banned Books Club
I’m so sorry about your mom.
It was painful seeing her tonight. So much has changed since I was here last summer.
I’ve noticed that Margot has been pretty subdued lately. I was afraid that meant things weren’t going well.
My mother being so sick has been hard on her.
Gia had already figured out that having a front-row seat to her mother’s illness wasn’t going to be easy on her, either. It might even be more excruciating for her than it was for Margot. Margot could at least feel good about her relationship with their mother. Gia had never been able to connect with Ida in a meaningful way, and it made everything worse to see the opportunity to build a stronger relationship in the future disappear.
I feel terrible for both of you.
Thanks. Want to get together for lunch or dinner tomorrow?
That sounds good.
Should we have Ruth join us?
I bet she’d love to come. I see her at spin class. I could talk to her tomorrow morning.
I can text her. She shouldn’t be in bed yet. But if she comes, we’ll have to make it dinner or drinks after. I don’t think schoolteachers get much of a lunch, do they?
If we want to do lunch, we’d probably have to go there and eat in her classroom.
Not quite what I had in mind.
To avoid the clumsiness of continuing to text, Gia called Sammie, and they decided on drinks so Gia’s parents would be in bed before she left the house. Then Sammie asked if she was currently seeing anyone, and she said she wasn’t, even though Mike had talked her into waiting until she got back to make a final decision about their relationship. He was hoping she’d miss him and change her mind, of course, but she already knew she was more comfortable backing away.
Sammie indicated she was dating the same on-again, off-again boyfriend she’d had for years—a concrete contractor—and said her only sibling, a brother whom Gia had briefly dated in high school, had moved to Hawaii to become a surf instructor. Sammie was a little disgruntled that he was so far away because their father had shingles, and she’d had to take several months away from her own job working as a paralegal for two attorneys in town to help him keep up with his soybean farm.
“What do you think of getting the Banned Books Club together while you’re here?” Sammie asked as the conversation was winding down. “We could meet at the elementary school in Ruth’s class.”
“The chairs there are tiny—for third-graders,” Gia replied. “We should plan a night out at a restaurant or something.”
“Want me to send a group email inviting everyone to The Jukebox for a meal and drinks?”
“That sounds like fun.”
They decided on a week from Saturday to give everyone enough notice so that even some of those who’d moved away might be able to come back.
“You’ve got the list?” Gia asked, making sure.
“The one I’ve been using every Christmas, but—” there was a slight pause “—what about Cormac Hart?”
“What about him? We haven’t been inviting him to our Christmas parties.” Gia had taken him off the list long ago. She knew there was no way he’d ever want to hear fromher.
“I know, but he still lives in town and might hear about this one. Seems kind of mean to leave him out. I mean...hedidn’t do anything wrong.”
Gia gripped her forehead as she talked. “He hates me, Sam. He thinks I was lying.”
“But you weren’t. Maybe he’s come to realize that.”
“I doubt it.” Gia would never forget the day Mr. Hart was fired. Cormac had approached her right after, at her locker, red-faced, red-eyed and livid. He’d said some terrible things and hadn’t spoken to her directly since, but she could remember his smoldering gaze as she sat in the witness box, testifying against his father...
“What’s he doing these days, anyway?”
“Mr. Hart or Cormac?” Sammie asked.
Just hearing the name of her former teacher made Gia’s stomach churn. She’d thought so highly of the handsome, distinguished English chair. Generally, she refused to talk about him, tried not to remember how everything had been turned on its head. But if she was going to be in Wakefield for any length of time, she figured she should find out for sure if he was still around. “Let’s start with the father.”
