The Hardest Cut by Jamie Bennett (book club recommendations .TXT) 📕

what I’d been doing with my boss.  That night, she’d also said that I’d always reminded her of my father, not just my unfortunate nose, but all of me: “You’re so like him. Secretive and sly.  He was a liar who didn’t care about breaking up a family.  You didn’t either.”

“I’m sorry,” I’d told her.  I was, both for how I’d turned out and for how my dad had treated her.

She’d shaken her head, because of course, my little apology wasn’t enough.  “You’ll have a lot of amends to make for this, Gabriella, if you ever can.  You father didn’t fix his mistakes.  Look how things turned out for him,” she’d reminded me.  As if I could ever forget that night, with him gasping on the floor…

I stood up now, my chair scraping loudly on that same polished wood surface.  The sound interrupted the memories and the strange ringing inside my mind.  “I’ll bring the car over to you tomorrow,” I told my brother.  I had to leave, to get away from Kristi’s smile and my mom’s disappointment, and everything else.  All of it.

“Bye, Aunt Gaby,” my nephew called after me, and I waved at him as I hurried out.

“Gaby?”

I turned back to my brother.

“You can keep it for longer, ok?  Keep the car if you need it.”

Kristi turned on him, aghast.  “What?”

He waved his hand at her.  “Shush.  Just think about finding something else to drive,” he told me.

I nodded back.  “Thanks, Anthony.”  He and Kristi were arguing heatedly as I closed the door to my mom’s house.  I stumbled back to my car, my ankle twisting sightly under me.  Kristi knew, my brother knew, her guru knew.  Who else?  Everyone at the yoga studio?  All of her mom friends from Case’s martial arts and Mandarin classes, from his school?  Who had they spread the news to?  Had my mom told all of the ladies in her book club, and they told their families, their friends?  Was Shep’s wife going to find out and have her heart broken like Ben’s had been by his cheating spouse?  Whatever came out of this for me, I deserved it, but she didn’t.

I went back to my condo, back to the bright, cheerless rooms I’d poured so much money into to try to make them feel like a home, and I waited for my phone to ring for the first hotline call of the night.  As the calls came in, I listened to the despair, the hopelessness, the fear, and I reminded myself of how lucky I was to be inside and safe.  And I tried to help them—at least I could listen.

After the last call, I didn’t really go to sleep.  It was a long time until morning.

Chapter 12

“Go ahead,” I whispered, bending close to her ear.

“Thank you for coming.”  Tessa whispered, too, but it was loud enough for Zinnia’s mom to hear and smile at the display of good manners.

I nodded and smiled too when Tessa looked up at me, very proud of how she was behaving today.  She certainly wasn’t hiding behind Ben’s leg anymore!  “Let’s show Zinnia where to find her special necklace,” I suggested.  We’d made them for all the guests today, all four of them.  Yes, Tess had agreed to a party, but she wasn’t quite ready for a full-on blow-out.  That was fine with me—I was just so glad to hear her talking to other kids, and as I watched now, playing happily with them, too.  I looked over and saw her father’s eyes on her also, taking in how she quietly smiled at the three other little girls and one little boy as they examined each other’s necklaces.

“Are you Tessa’s mother?” the little boy’s mom asked me now.  I’d already fielded this question from the other parents here, too.

“I’m Gaby, her babysitter,” I explained.  “That’s her dad.”  I pointed over to Ben, at where he was talking now with Zinnia’s mom.  She seemed nice.  Very cute, too, and she was laughing delightedly at something he must have said.  What was he going on about that was so funny and charming?  I tried to listen across the lawn, like I had bat ears, but I didn’t catch a word.

“Gaby?”

I looked up at Cohen’s mother.  “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

She had asked where the bathroom was, and I showed her.  On my way back out of the house, I listened quietly at Kayden’s door, wondering what he was doing in there.  I’d arrived early this Saturday morning to start decorating and I hadn’t seen him once yet, not even to come out to eat or go to the bathroom.  Every time Ben had looked toward the guest bedroom, he’d gotten a huge frown, so I was staying away from the topic of his brother with him today.  That was fine with me, because I was so angry at Kayden for messing with Ben’s wife that I didn’t know what I’d do when I saw him.

Also, there was Ben, and what he’d said about someone hurting me…no.

No, today was a party to celebrate Tessa, so I deliberately moved my mind away from that topic and carried out more of the lemonade we made, which was disappearing fast into the little guests.  I should have made a sign pointing to the bathroom.

Ben walked over and took the pitcher from my hands as I came out into the back yard.  When he opened his mouth, I put my palm over it.

“No, don’t say it.  I will sit down in a second, I promise.  Ok?”  I felt his lips move into a smile and he nodded, so I removed my hand from his face.  My leg was much better, almost perfect.  At least fifty percent perfect, so I was absolutely fine.

Yes, my leg was fine.  Other parts of me, not as much.  Since the disaster of a dinner at her house, my mom had called me repeatedly, but I hadn’t yet been able to