Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“You ain’t slick,” I say, not lifting my gaze from the phone screen. “No comment. I’m not talking to you about it.”
“So you are sleeping with Ezra Stern?”
“Zee.” I spare her a look long enough for her to know I’m serious. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“And what’s up with that common-law wife of his?”
“She’s…they’re not married.” I give up, setting my phone on the table. “Since you’re not taking no for an answer, like you never do, what do you want to know?”
“I already asked you what I want to know. Number one. Are you fucking him? And number two, what about the woman he lives and has a child with?”
“Number one, yes,” I say defiantly. “I’m fucking the hell out of him. And number two, she let him go and she doesn’t get him back. Satisfied?”
Kayla’s lips twitch. “I think the question is are you satisfied? He putting it down?”
Flashes of Ezra pounding into me against the front door have me shifting in my seat, suppressing whimpers.
“I’m satisfied,” I understate.
“Then let’s head this fiasco with his mom off at the pass so you can focus on staying satisfied.” She smiles and gives me a rare squeeze. “And happy. I’d like to see you happy.”
I think about all the things I have to wade through before I can get to happy. This biography. The situation with Aiko. My damn ovaries.
I want to be your last.
The memory of Ezra’s words soften all the tense, tight parts of me. The road to happy looks long and rough right now, but he makes me want to try.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ezra
“Mom, we need to talk.”
“Ezra, hi. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Did you get my message last night?”
“Message? Where’d you leave it?”
“On the home phone. Your cell voicemail is full.”
“Oh, you know I never check either of those, honey.”
“That might explain why it’s full. My message said we need to speak urgently.”
“Is everything okay with Noah?” Concern spikes her voice an octave. “I checked in on him yesterday and—”
“The point of Noah gaining more independence at camp is to not check on him every day, Mom. I hope you haven’t been long-distance smothering.”
Because I’ve experienced that firsthand.
“Me? Smother? Of course not. He did happen to mention on one of our few calls that you don’t have any mezuzahs in the house.”
This turn of conversation has nothing to do with why I called or anything I’ve even considered. Ever. “Mezuzahs?”
“You grew up with them in our house, Ezra.”
“Of course I did, but—”
“And yet when I asked Noah if he had one hanging on his door, he said no.”
“Mom, how about you bring some with you when you bring Noah back and hang them on any door you see fit. Sound good?”
“Well, it’s your house, of course. It’s up to you.”
Is extreme patience a sport?
“Can we get back to the reason I called? It’s important.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry. What do you need?”
“The truth.”
“Ezra, don’t be mysterious. The truth about what?”
“Did you have an affair with Joseph Allen?”
Shock reverberates in the silence that falls between us over the miles.
“Because that’s what some biographer has written in a book that’s publishing soon. Is it true?”
“It absolutely is not true,” she replies, her voice curt.
“So you deny it?”
“Do I deny having an affair of any kind with Joseph Allen? I unequivocally do.”
“Then what happened between the four of you the night of that argument?”
“That is none of your business. You are my only son, and I’ve sacrificed a lot for you. I’ve done all I could to ease your way in this world, as any mother should, but I do have a private life, and you have no right to it.”
“Mom—”
“You asked for the truth and I gave it to you. It’s a lie. When is the book coming out?”
“If Kimba gets her way, which she often does, it won’t come out at all, but it has been written and it’s due to publish soon.”
“Well, she has to stop it,” Mom says, anxiety tightening her words. “They’ll ruin that man’s reputation. And, oh God. Poor Janetta.”
“Are you worried she’ll believe it?”
There’s a long pause from the other end before my mother answers. “No. If anyone knows that’s a lie, it’s Janetta.”
“You two used to be so close, but after that night, everything changed.”
“People change.” There’s a shrug in her voice, but I don’t buy it. “We moved away and made new friends, new neighbors. Life goes on.”
“Are you telling me that what happened that night has nothing to do with this rumor? If there’s anything you can share that will clear your names, you have to tell me.”
“I’ve told you what you need to know, what you asked me. No, I didn’t have an affair with Kimba’s father.”
“Okay. Then we’ll figure out how to make this go away.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kimba
“This is actually pretty good,” Keith says, flipping through the manuscript Piers managed to procure so we’d have it first thing Monday morning.