Page 112 of The Banned Books Club
“Regardless, depending on the charges they ultimately go with, he’s probably going away for five or ten years, maybe longer.”
“I’m happy for Margot, because that gets him out of the picture. But I’m sad, too. If only he’d been a decent human, it wouldn’t have had to be like this.”
“You can’t get someone like Sheldon to play fair. Did you hear what his buddy Waylan said to him?”
“The cop?” She shook her head. “When was this?”
“At the house. He was one of the officers who came to arrest him. I heard him say, ‘I tried to warn you to leave her alone. You just wouldn’t listen.’”
“The police gave him the benefit of every doubt.”
“There’s no way they can smooth this over.”
“Cece should be glad she broke things off as early as she did,” Gia said. “Poor Margot.”
“Have you had a chance to talk to your sister?”
“Not yet. Mom and Dad told her what happened. But the doctor was here with me at the time, so I couldn’t get on the phone, and then the police photographer showed up.”
“Want me to call her?”
Gia had been up almost all night, and the flood of adrenaline that’d kicked in during the attack was taking a toll. “I’m not sure I can do it right now. I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Okay. Sleep,” he said. “I’m right here, and I won’t leave you. When you wake up, I’ll take you home.”
She forced her eyes to remain open long enough to look over at him, and he brought his chair closer, so he could hold her hand. “What am I going to do with you?” she mumbled.
He blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I’m afraid...I’m afraid I’m falling in love for the first time.”
That slightly crooked grin she found so charming curved his lips, and he stood up to drop a peck on her lips. “Would that be so bad?”
“Maybe. What if...what if you’re not falling in love with me?”
He smoothed the hair out of her face. “Gia?”
Her eyes were starting to close despite her efforts to keep them open. She was pretty sure the doctor had given her a sedative to get her to sleep, because she couldn’t seem to avoid the darkness that was quickly swallowing her up. “What?” she managed to say, trying even harder to stave it off.
“I triednotto fall in love with you—but it proved impossible.”
Santa Monica Pier was crowded. This could easily be the last weekend with such warm weather, so everyone was out to enjoy it while they could. But Margot didn’t mind the company. The babble of voices and laughing children around them only added to the festive feeling.
While the boys played in the sand next to her, trying to dig a moat for their castle, Margot turned her face up to the sun. She loved California. If the situation were different, she wouldn’t leave it. But she was going home on Monday. She’d already called Starbucks to tell them she couldn’t accept the job, after all, but she planned to keep her apartment until the lease was up. Depending on what happened with her mother, she might bring the boys back for the summer.
She wouldn’t miss the last few weeks or months of Ida’s life, wouldn’t keep her kids from being with either set of grandparents—providing Sheldon’s folks proved to be decent and fair with her and with them. She had yet to see how Peggy and Ron had reacted to their son’s arrest. She hadn’t talked to them. She was willing to bet they blamed her for everything. But she’d do what she could to be fair, if and when they were ready. She was just glad she no longer had to live under the yoke of fear and negativity that’d plagued her marriage. Now she could heal, grow stronger and live free and happy right in Wakefield.
Her phone rang. She dug it out of the beach bag to see that it was Gia and answered with an eager smile. “Hey! How are you feeling?”
“Much better.”
“Did they let you out of the hospital?”
“They did. I told them Cormac would take care of me.”
“Cormac again, huh? That name keeps coming up,” she teased.
“He’s a good guy.”
