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)
“Busting up your little love nest has worn me out,” she says, heading for the back door. “I’m going home.”
I walk with her into the yard. She waves to Kimba, who still sits on the edge of the trampoline and waves back with a small smile, her attention obviously on the phone call. I check the garden, a cover for the fact that I want to be nearby when Kimba finishes her call.
“Okay, Piers,” she finally says. “Keep me posted, and thanks.”
I cut through the squash and string beans to reach the trampoline. She extends her hand, a worried look on her face. I walk over, climb up onto the trampoline and pull her inside the net covering with me. I lay us both down and tuck her into my side, pushing the hair away from her face.
“Everything okay?” I ask after a few silent seconds.
She shakes her head and wraps an arm around my waist, squeezing tight. Angling my head down to see the frown on her face, I lift her chin with my index finger. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Piers, a guy from my team who always has his ear to the ground for me, heard something…disturbing.”
“What’d he hear?”
“He found out someone’s written an unauthorized biography about my father.”
“He was a great man. Lots of public figures have biographies written about them. Is there something bad in it? Lies?”
“Definitely lies.” She pulls away and slants a searching look up at me. “This author alleges my father had an affair.”
“What? Who do they say he had an affair with?”
“Your mother,” Kimba says, her voice quiet and questioning. “That’s ridiculous, right? My dad would never…your mom…it makes no sense.”
I don’t respond. When the rift happened, I didn’t understand anything except we were moving away and I didn’t get to see Kimba anymore. That was all I cared about. When I was older, I replayed that night over and over in my head and started assembling the fragments into something that, though horrific, made some kind of sense. Our parents had an affair. I had no idea who cheated with whom, or even if my speculation was right. But hearing Kimba say it aloud, I realize it may have been.
“It’s not true.” Kimba pushes up to sit and look down at me. “You know my father. He’d never…it’s a lie, Ezra. We have to prove it’s a lie. We have to talk to your mom so she knows they’re telling these lies about her. That they’re planning to publish these lies about my father.”
“Yeah.” I sit up and put my arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head. “We will.”
“Why don’t you sound shocked?” She pulls away, peers into my face in the moonlight. “You don’t believe this, do you?”
I stare back, wishing I had learned to lie to her, but I never did. “I don’t know what to believe.”
“Believe me.” She scrambles off the trampoline and walks swiftly back into the house. I heave a sigh and follow. She’s already up the stairs and in the guest bedroom by the time I join her. She jerks my T-shirt and boxers off, tossing them onto the bed and walking over to the chair where she draped her jumpsuit. She pulls it on and slides her feet into the high heels.
“Where are you going?” I ask, as if I don’t know.
“Home. I have to warn my family.” She stops and closes her eyes. “My mother. What am I going to tell her?”
“What did Piers say exactly?”
“He says there’s an early copy going around. Several people have read it, but it hasn’t been published yet. It paints my father as some kind of hypocrite for posturing himself as a civil rights activist and pillar of the community, which he was, while having an affair with your mother, which he wouldn’t do. I know in my bones they didn’t, Ez.”
Considering how evasive my mother has always been, I honestly don’t know what to believe. A tear slips down Kimba’s cheek, which she brushes away impatiently.
“I need to get home, tell my family, figure out a battle plan, including an injunction to shut this shit down before it hits bookstores.” She grabs her bag from the bench at the foot of the bed, pausing to look at me. “Can you talk to your mom and find out why anyone would lie about this? Help me get to the bottom of it?”
I nod wordlessly and follow her down the stairs, reaching for my keys from the dish on the foyer table. “I’ll take you home.”
“No.” She looks from my keys to my face and bites her lip. “I already called for an Uber.”
I frown and glance at the front door where, not two hours ago, we shared our bodies with each other, peeled our souls back for each other. Will it only take a rumor for us to lose that again so quickly?