Page 77 of Movers and Shakers

Once Tom and Ruth had sent it back, Tom looked over at me. “My son is a huge fan.”

“Son?” I asked and then gasped as I turned to Barry. “You’re an uncle!”

“Yeah, yeah. Things have been wild lately with these two.”

“And I’m not helping anything, am I?” I asked.

“It’s fine.”

“So, how do you two know each other?” Tom asked.

Barry looked at me, eyebrow raised.

“He’s helping me with my next album.”

“What?” Ruth said. “Wait,thealbum? The one that everyone is dying to have?”

“How do I get myself in these situations?” Tom pinched the bridge of his nose, looking much like Barry had only moments ago. “But that isn’t what we’re here to talk about. It’s something bigger.”

“It better not be any more shit about Dad.” Barry’s voice was harsh. “If you two have forgiven him—‍”

“We haven’t,” Ruth interrupted. “And we won’t. But we did go see Mom.”

Barry sighed. “And let me guess, she’s sorry for not standing up sooner even though she was just as bad as Dad was.”

“Kind of. We got to see Grandma and Grandad,” she added. “But Mom wanted you there.”

“I’m not interested.”

“And that’s fine,” Tom said. “We’re okay with that. But she told us something that you should know.”

His eyes met mine and I could see the invisible question.Do you want to hear this?

I stayed rooted to the spot, mesmerized by the inner workings of Barry’s family.

“Can you please make this quick?” Barry asked.

“This isbig.”

“Mom cheated on Dad,” Tom said bluntly.

“Wow,” Barry said. “Good for her.”

“Barry, she cheated on Dad twenty-seven years ago.”

“Why should I c—‍” He paused as he put the numbers together. “Wait a second.”

“Our dad is not your dad. She just told us.”

Barry blinked, not breathing as he took in the news. A long, painful silence stretched out between all of us.

Then he shrugged. “Okay,” he said, but his voice was choked. “That’s fine.”

“But—‍”

“It’s fine,” he repeated. “Just another shitty thing Mom did to add to the pile. Whatever. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“I think it does,” Ruth said.

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