“He isn’t in his right mind, Bobby,” Tish says, her voice going up an octave. “Don’t you see? He’s under the illusion of being young again, being in control. The things he told me, if only you knew.” Tish pauses and shuts her eyes, as if the memories are too painful to summon. “He has ideas about being in love with her, about starting a new life, a new family. But your father loves you, Bobby. He isn’t himself right now.”
“That may be the case, Mother,” Bobby says, though he doesn’t believe it. Not anymore. “But he’s lost my trust.”
“Are you stepping down?” Alice says, looking at Bobby.
The entire room looks in her direction.
“Are you?” Alice asks again. “Stepping down as CEO?”
“Of course I’m not.”
“Then why should your father be ousted? Eva isn’t his employee.”
“He conspired to have me removed as CEO, Alice. How can you even compare the two things?” Bobby instinctively touches his forehead. He can feel it pulsating, the vein Gina is always talking about, the one that, according to her, measures how stressed he is. “Actually, Alice, I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“You owe me one,” Gina says, taking a step in his direction.
Bobby feels his heart shrink. “Jib, I never meant to…” He stops. “Can we talk in private?”
Gina shakes her head. “I want to talk about this now.” A pause. “Why didn’t you step down when she first came forward? Before the video.”
“Because I didn’t have an affair with her.”
“But you had an affair,” Gina says. “With a subordinate, who had a mental breakdown when you ended the relationship.”
Bobby notes the triumphant look on Alice’s face. The language his wife is using is not her own. This is why Alice has been hanging around Gina for the past two months: to poison Gina’s mind. She’s in cahoots with Eva. She sees this as an opportunity to take Bobby down. Surely, Gina can see she isn’t on their side? She’s never liked Alma or Alma Boots. She has no loyalty.
But most of all, Alice doesn’t know true love. Bobby has observed her with Nick. She tries to get his attention because she’s bored, he barely acknowledges her. They’re like two horny teenagers playing house. She couldn’t possibly understand what it’s like to share what he has with Gina. A partnership that is life-defining, all-consuming. To Bobby, nothing matters more than his wife.
“I made a mistake,” Bobby begins. He moves closer to Gina. To his relief, she doesn’t take a step back. “Several mistakes. The biggest one was hurting you. I betrayed you, and for that I will never forgive myself.” Bobby takes Gina’s hand and brings it to his heart. The second time he’s done this in the last two weeks—he should’ve come clean the first time around. “But I hope you’ll forgive me. You’ve always been a better person than me. So I’m asking you: please forgive me. If you do, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’ll never make another mistake again. Never.” Bobby brings her hand to his mouth, kissing it. “I love you.”
And he holds his breath until she gives him an answer.
Interview with Clarisse Hughes
Member of the Alma Social Club—Third Generation. Enrolled in 2000
We ate up every bit of information like hungry pigeons. We refreshed our feeds like it was a competitive sport. It sucked us dry, it interfered with our lives, but we didn’t care. Or maybe we did, but we certainly didn’t stop. We didn’t just want to know—we wanted to know first. We wanted to be the ones breaking the news to our neighbors, leaning in and whispering, “Have you heard the latest…?” And there was always a latest.
We speculated, too. We made unofficial bets and kept semi-organized score. From the start, we were divided in our guesses. Some thought he did it, some did not. Some thought Eva was pregnant, some did not. We predicted things that never happened. Reasonable things (like Gina and Bobby getting a divorce) and crazy, outlandish things (like Bobby raising Eva Stone’s baby with Gina and never telling the kid about his real mom). Like I said, we were addicted to the gossip. I’m not proud of it.
But here’s the thing: no one thought Bobby would resign. No one wanted him to. Especially not after Gina took him back. It’s not just that we loved seeing them together. We were all too scared of what it would mean for the town. Nick was always a wild card. And Alice… well, let’s just say she was never Alma material. I’ll admit it: I was shocked when I found out about her involvement.
I still think that if it weren’t for her, Bobby wouldn’t have resigned.
Fifty-Four
Malaika
Saturday, November 2nd
She doesn’t have a choice.
These are the five words drumming inside Malaika’s brain like a maddeningly addictive techno beat as she makes her way into the hotel on Park Avenue. It’s one-thirty in the afternoon.
“He’ll meet you at the bar,” Andy had said on the phone.
“How will I recognize him?” Malaika asked.
“He’ll recognize you.”
Before hanging up, Andy had asked if she had any questions and, even though she was basically a vessel of questions, she had said no. There’s no point. She doesn’t have a choice.
Calan has called her twice this morning, but she hasn’t picked up. She feels bad—with all the drama going on in his family, he’ll need a friend—but she’s afraid she’ll back out if she talks to him. Calan sees real life in the same way he sees his graphic novels: right versus wrong, good guys versus bad guys. Real life isn’t so simple. And right now, Malaika needs to embrace ambiguity, to convince herself that the ends justify the means. She needs to think of herself. Especially after what she overheard this morning.
Malaika had been back at her eavesdropping post: perched at the top of the stairs, one hand wrapped around the sleek banister, praying she
