I would like to speak with you in more detail. I would like you to understand where I am coming from. I will not offer you—or anyone—an apology for what I’ve done and said against your husband. I am only sorry I couldn’t do more. But I do owe you an apology for hurting you, and it’s one that I would like to offer in person.
I hope you will agree to meet with me.
Eva
Fifty-Five
Gina
Saturday, November 2nd
Gina and Alice are in the ASC meeting room, sitting at the secretary’s desk.
There are stacks of paper in front of them. The Alma Boots employee handbook. The Shareholders’ Agreement. The report that no one can know about—the damning, secret report. Lengthy documents filled with business and legal jargon that Gina had spent the night trying to make sense of. She has no regrets—it’s not like she would’ve been able to sleep anyway, not after the idea sprouted in her mind.
Now, she goes over her findings with Alice, walking her through her plan.
“Do you have to think about it?” Gina asks. It wouldn’t be unreasonable, of course. But Gina is hoping for an immediate, enthusiastic yes.
“It would work,” Alice says. “But it’s somewhat… unusual.”
“It is,” Gina admits. “But it shouldn’t be.” Surely, Alice of all people agrees with this.
A hesitation. “I’m intrigued.”
“Good. I was worried you’d be opposed to it because of Eva.”
Alice cocks her head to the side. “Is that why you’re doing this?”
“No,” Gina says. True, this will interfere with Eva’s plans. But it isn’t why she’s doing it. “Though I still don’t agree with what she did.”
A sigh from Alice. “I’ve been thinking about that…” Alice clasps her hands together and straightens her already impeccable posture. “I never told you this, but I didn’t graduate from Wharton.”
Gina frowns. Wharton is where Alice got her MBA. At least Gina thinks it is.
Alice goes on to tell her about Thomas Keyes, a professor who assaulted her. Alice reported him, but no one believed her. In fact, everyone turned on her, which led her to quit the program two months before graduation.
“It was a stupid thing to do.” Alice chews the inside of her cheek. “I should’ve bit the bullet and stayed on. Should have graduated.”
Gina thinks back to the words Alice had uttered in Nick’s study. I think men make women do stupid things. Including myself.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” Gina takes a moment to process this new information. Alice not having an MBA is unexpected, but it doesn’t change anything. Not really. It does, however, explain why Alice was so set on having Gina believe Eva. Does Nick know about this? He must.
“Thank you,” Alice says. “But that’s not why I’m telling you. I’ve been thinking about it. And if a friend of mine, a close friend, were to claim that Professor Keyes did to her what he did to me, in order to see justice get served well, I don’t think I’d have a problem with that. Morally, speaking.”
“I’d never want someone to do that for me.” Gina would appreciate the sentiment, but to weave such a calculated lie to upend someone’s life, in this case, her life, but anyone’s life, is something Gina couldn’t stomach.
“No, you wouldn’t.” Alice’s tone is calm but pointed. “But let me ask you this: would you have done it for your brother?”
Gina feels a clutching in her chest. A picture of Alan floods her mind’s eye.
Alice continues, “If you had seen him hurting, if you had seen him broken. And if he couldn’t speak for himself, would you have done it for him?” Alice reaches over and cups Gina’s hand in hers. The gesture should feel odd—theirs is not a touchy-feely friendship, though it is, Gina now realizes, a friendship—but it doesn’t.
Alan. Sweet, funny, clumsy Alan. Who loved music and hot dogs and impersonations—he could mimic any accent to perfection. Gina doesn’t think there’s anything she wouldn’t have done for Alan. She feels her eyes well up.
“It still doesn’t make it right,” Gina says. She removes her hand from Alice’s to wipe away a tear.
“No, but it makes her human.”
Gina doesn’t reply. She can’t talk about Alan. Not now. Alice seems to sense this.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Alice asks, looking down at the papers scattered around them. “Because this is a big move. I’m not trying to talk you out of it. I’m just trying to understand where this is coming from.”
A fair question. Gina could credit Eva’s email, because it was the email. But it was more than that, too. It was the report. It was the books Alice gave her. It was seeing Tish broken by Charles’s selfishness. And Bobby’s instant and unyielding condemnation of his father’s actions—more so than his own. Even Nick’s behavior… Gina can’t think about Nick, not now.
“What Bobby did was wrong,” Gina begins. “I’d like to right that wrong, as much as possible. And this feels fair.” This is something Gina has learned: sometimes doing the right thing is about listening to feelings, not logic. Because, logically, this is a crazy idea. Certifiably insane.
“I’m sure it would mean a lot to Eva to hear you say that,” Alice says. “And to Zofia.”
Gina swallows. “I don’t agree with how Eva characterized Bobby’s actions. He made mistakes, grave mistakes. But he didn’t mean to hurt Zofia. As a society, we clearly have a problem with sexual harassment. I see that now. But the solution isn’t to be at war with men.”
“You think we started the war?” Alice asks.
Gina blinks. “I don’t think we are at war.”
A beat. “If we’re not at war,” Alice asks, her tone patient, “why do men like Harvey Weinstein hire Israeli ex-military to fight off sexual abuse allegations?”
Gina remembers this from one of the books Alice gave her. She even remembers
