Page 41 of The Banned Books Club
“Yes, but for me it was more about the lies. That he could do that to Gia and then try to make her look so terrible to save himself. She was only seventeen.”
“I’m sure she bears a few scars.”
“I’m sure she does,” his mother agreed. “So...what do you think?”
“I wish you had more of a smoking gun, that you could tell me Dad confessed to you or something like that.”
“I’m afraid I can’t make itthateasy. But there is one other thing.”
He’d just lifted his cup again; at this, he put it back down. “What is it?”
“It’s...pretty personal, so hard to talk about, especially with you. I wouldn’t mention it if...if you weren’t struggling so much to figure this thing out.”
“Just say it.”
“Okay. In the name of full transparency, your father called me from school the next day to tell me what’d happened—that Gia claimed he’d acted inappropriately and he’d be home late because he had a meeting with the principal. I was so upset that I went through the entire house, searching for anything to prove her wrong.” She took another drink of her coffee before adding, “Or right, as it turns out.”
The acid in Cormac’s macchiato was beginning to burn his stomach. He pushed it away. “And what did you find?”
“A new lubricant I’d never seen before hidden in his drawer.”
“Oh, God,” Cormac muttered. “Why didn’t you say something at the trial?”
“That wasn’t exactly damning evidence, you know? He could easily have bought it for me, so I didn’t think I was holding back anything that would be important in that regard. I also wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt—mostly for the sake of you and your sisters. But finding that... Well, it said a lot tome, especially because I never saw it again.”
“He got rid of it?”
“It wasn’t in his drawer when I looked again. I think he didn’t even try to pretend he’d bought it for me because he knew the timing would be weird.”
“And by that point, it probably represented his guilt, so he was ashamed of what it signified.”
“Exactly.”
Cormac hung his head as he thought about what she’d told him.
“So...are you sorry you asked?”
He slid off the stool to go home and get ready for work. “Yes.”
“You’re late.”
Louisa’s curt response to his greeting caused Cormac to hesitate before continuing to his office. “I have ten o’clock on my calendar.”
“That’s our first appointment. We open at nine. What if there’d been an emergency?”
“You would’ve called me.”
“People expect us to be open on time,” she snapped.
Duke nudged him to the side so he could get through to his water bowl.
“Louisa, this ismyclinic,” Cormac reminded her. “I set my own hours.”
“What would happen ifIdecided to treat my job like that?”
“What would happen to any other employee who didn’t show up for work?”Hecovered her paycheck. Surely, she could see the difference.
“You’dfireme?” she challenged.
