Page 83 of The Banned Books Club
“Are you telling me you’renotsleeping with her?”
“I’m not telling you anything, because it’s none of your business!”
“She was wearing your sweatshirt and nothing else. I saw her fuckingpantiesas she ran up those stairs, Cormac,” Evan said.
Gia felt her face burn with embarrassment. She’d never dreamed they’d be so rudely interrupted, not this early.
“There’s no question about what you’ve been doing,” Evan railed. “And itisabsolutely my business because it would color your judgment! I’ve been dealing with a deck that’s suddenly been stacked against me. This explains everything.”
“That isn’t what influenced my opinion, Dad. If you want the truth,you’rethe one who convinced me by the way you’ve behaved. Can you even see yourself these days? Look at you! You never get up this early, so I’m guessing you haven’t even been to bed. You probably read until you were too tired to see straight. Then you started drinking. You smell like you just crawled out of a bottle, for God’s sake. Why wouldn’t you sleep, shower and get ready for work like most other people? Please don’t tell me you’ve called in sick again.”
“I need a mental health day, thanks to you,” Evan exploded. “How do you expect me to work when you’re going around telling everyone that I admitted to inappropriately touching one of my students?”
“That’s molestation, Dad. You molested Gia when she was your student. Let’s finally call it what it is. And maybe you could quit lying while we’re at it!”
“You’d better not tell Louisa and Edith I admitted to anything, because I didn’t!”
“Wait, hold up,” Cormac said, his voice changing tone. “You’ve talked toMom? Did she call you, or—?”
“We’re still friends, you know,” Evan broke in.
“Friends?”Cormac echoed. “Since when?”
“She’s older and wiser than you and understands how nuanced life can be.”
“I won’t argue that there are a million shades of gray in life, but trying to get one of your students to sleep with you isn’t the least bit nuanced. It’s just plain wrong. So tell me, did Mom call you?”
Gia could tell that having Sharon go to Evan felt like a betrayal to Cormac. That his mother would contact her ex-husband made it appear as though she was siding with him. Gia could understand why that would upset Cormac, and yet Evan was also right. It wasn’t just life that was complicated—it was relationships. Sharon had married him once. She had three kids with him. Maybe she still cared about him or was acting for some other reason.
“She came over when she got off her shift at the hospital an hour or so ago,” Evan said. “Apparently, she feels more loyalty to me than you do.”
Now dressed, Gia hovered in Cormac’s bedroom, out of sight and watching the clock on her phone nervously as it drew closer and closer to the time her parents normally got up.
“That’s why she came over?” Cormac asked. “That’s what she said?”
“She’s worried about what this could do to our family, Cormac, and so am I.”
“You’re worried about what this could to doyou,” Cormac corrected. “That’s what you’ve always been worried about, why you would never admit the truth, even though that would’ve been far better for Gia and the rest of us. That way, we wouldn’t have continued to defend someone who’s guilty and who doesn’t deserve it. That way, we couldn’t be split in our opinions on the matter and end up exactly where we are today!”
“Cormac, listen to me,” Evan said. “Please don’t say anything to Edith and Louisa. Why would you want to destroy their good opinion of me? It’s the last thing I’ve got left!”
At this, Gia couldn’t help herself. Throwing the bedroom door open, she walked out onto the landing, which overlooked the living room below. “Don’t tell them, Cormac,” she said. “Just...leave it. The past is the past. And I’ll soon be gone, so hopefully you won’t feel you have to continue to defend me.”
When Evan looked up at her, he seemed taken aback thatshe’dshow him such mercy, but he was quick to take advantage of it by turning supplicating eyes on his son. “Come on,” he said to Cormac. “Even she says you shouldn’t tell them. Whatever you think, I’ve been through enough. After the horrific public ordeal of that trial, I lost my job, my reputation, my marriage...”
“And you’ve done nothing to try to build it all back,” Cormac said. “That’s my point.”
“But I will,” Evan insisted. “If you let this go, I’ll pull myself together and put it behind me at last.”
Cormac looked from Gia to his father and back again. “But it’s not fair.”
Gia sighed. “If we can stop this thing from continuing to hurt people, I think we should.”
“That’s just it,” Cormac said. “Youhaven’t hurt anyone. And yet you’re having more compassion for him than he is for you.”
Gia’s parents got up at seven. She wanted to be home and in her own bed well before that.
She checked the time again, saw that it was edging closer to six thirty, and jogged down the stairs. “The people who matter most believe me. I’ve got a thriving business to go back to, where none of this really affects me anymore. I can forget and move on, but—” she jerked her thumb at Evan “—he may never be able to repair his relationships with Louisa and Edith. Just...let them think they’re right. Maybe it’s better if they believeI’mthe bad guy.”
