Nick answers the door himself. He looks tired but composed. “Please come in. There’s something you need to hear.”
“Judas’s rationalization?” Bobby says.
“Does that make you Jesus?”
“Go to hell, Nick.”
“You’re making an assumption without knowing all the facts,” Nick says.
“There’s no assumption.” Bobby is seething. “You stabbed me in the back.”
“You can hate me inside. We’ve put enough of a show on tonight, don’t you think?”
Gina eyes him curiously. Nick looks worn out, but his tone and demeanor are definitely not of a man caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Has he found a way to justify his behavior to himself? Gina gently pulls at Bobby’s hand. Let’s go inside, her gesture says.
Nick leads them to the living room. “Have a seat.”
“We’ll stand,” Bobby says.
Gina doesn’t disagree—this isn’t a sitting sort of moment—but her legs feel watery. She would very much like to sit. She would also very much like to understand why Nick would hurt her like that. Hurt them like that.
They are standing around the modern coffee table, the one with pipe-style frames and light glass top. Gina has never understood Alice’s choice in furniture—why would anyone choose a glass centerpiece? Glass is opposite of homey, the opposite of inviting. And what if Allegra were to bang her head against its sharp edges?
“I’m not having an affair with Eva Stone,” Nick says, delivering his words in a calm, measured tone, looking at both Gina and Bobby. “When you came over before, I didn’t understand what you were accusing me of.”
“I couldn’t care less if it’s still going on,” Bobby sneers.
Gina moves closer to Bobby and places her hand on his arm. His face is now as white as the thick, plush rug on the floor. (Yet another decor choice Gina will never understand: a white rug in a house with a toddler.)
“I’ve never had an affair with her.” Nick’s tone is firm.
Gina blinks. Hadn’t he just confessed? Bobby said he didn’t even bother to deny it. Why go back on it now?
Bobby shakes his head, bewildered. “You said you love her.”
At this, Gina looks around the room for signs of Alice. No woman should have to hear that her husband loves someone else.
“Hear me out—”
“You were caught on tape, Nick,” Bobby says. “My own son filmed you. He and Malaika followed Eva and saw you meeting with her!”
Before Nick can answer, Alice steps into the living room. She looks at them like they’re made of air, like she’s lost in a hypnotic lull. But she must’ve been listening because she glances at Bobby, cocks her head to the side, and says, “Malaika saw Nick?”
Of all the things they’ve said, this is what has stood out to her?
“She did,” Bobby says. He looks at Alice with an expression of heartbreaking kindness. “I’m sorry, Alice. You deserve better than my brother.”
Alice gives Nick a wordless stare. He doesn’t return her gaze. What will she do now? Gina hopes this will be a teachable moment for Alice. Humbling, but ultimately character-defining. She had been so adamant in her defense of Eva, so certain of Bobby’s guilt. How will she reconcile her narrow morality with her husband’s infidelity?
“You said they filmed me? Calan and Malaika?” Nick says.
“You bet they did,” Bobby replies.
“Then listen to the recording,” Nick continues. “I was telling her to back off.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Nick?” Bobby asks. “You confessed.”
“I wasn’t talking about that!” Nick lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Then what the hell were you talking about?”
Nick opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He gives them a helpless look.
“Nick didn’t have an affair with Eva, Bobby.” Alice walks over to Nick’s side, placing a tiny hand on his arm. The four of them are facing each other, two even teams.
“I’m sorry, Alice, but that’s not true.” Bobby looks at Nick. “Why’d you do it, Nick? Did you want to be CEO that badly? Because it’s not my fault you blew through your trust fund while you were off living like Peter Pan.”
A sharp intake of breath from Nick. “You don’t know what you’re—”
“Jesus!” Bobby says, palming his own forehead. “It just occurred to me: you were going to frame me for her pregnancy. Have her take a DNA test and let the world think the babies are mine. Who would know? We’re twins.”
At this, Gina shivers. It hits too close to home.
“He didn’t do it.” Alice tightens her grip around Nick’s bicep.
“Alice, I went to see her.” Gina keeps her tone soft. “I just came back from the city.” Truth be told, Gina doesn’t know what took her so long. Why has she spent the past two months being updated by social media instead of confronting Eva?
“She told you I was having an affair with her?” Nick sounds skeptical.
“She didn’t have to,” Gina replies. “I saw your cigars there, Nick. Partagas D-4 in matte black.”
Nick closes his eyes for a second. When he opens them, he sounds tired—but not guilty. “Those aren’t mine.”
Bobby turns to Gina. “This is pointless. Let’s go.”
“Enough,” Alice says, and her voice fills the room. Gina didn’t know she had the lung power. “Gina, I spoke with her, too. My husband hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Gina feels her blood boil. She narrows her eyes in Alice’s direction. “My son saw him meeting with her in a dingy coffee shop. Nick confessed to Bobby. I saw his favorite brand of cigars—Cuban cigars, I should add, extremely hard to come by—at her apartment.” She pauses, feeling overwhelmed, angry. “What happened to ‘I’d believe the evidence,’ Alice?”
“The evidence points to Bobby’s guilt.” Alice crosses her arms. There’s a note of challenge
