Page 96 of August Lane
She was quiet for a while. “Doesshelove you?”
He closed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said, even though he did. He’d realized it when he called her haven a prison. He had seen it on her face, an agonized breaking before she pulled away so hard and fast, he couldn’t stop her.
Being entrusted with something so powerful and fragile was scary. It was the same way he thought of August, with her gorgeous fire and poetic mind. She was his mountain on the verge of erupting.
“Are you in love with her?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because I worry about you.” Jessica propped herself up on one arm. “You’re too trusting.”
“I trusted you.”
“Exactly. I cheated on you with Richard. Multiple times.”
“Shit, Jess…”
“Like you care,” she said with a hand wave. “You don’t even like sex.”
“That’s not true.”
“Oh. So, you don’t like it with me. I take it back. You’re an ugly asshole.”
“Can we sleep?” He gave her his back and pressed his head into the pillow. “I’m tired.”
“Did you get her pregnant?”
Luke shot up. “What?”
“Lisa Strayer’s mom works in the office across from that women’s clinic in West Memphis. She said she saw Mavis taking August there a few months ago. It’s where they give abortions.”
“That’s not true,” he said quickly, then realized he wasn’t sure. A fewmonths ago, he barely knew her. A few months ago, she’d just broken up with Richard. But then a memory surfaced, the three hundred dollars she’d used to help a friend, and he was so relieved that it spilled from his lips. “No, if anyone had an abortion, it was her cousin. August just paid for it.”
“Saint Mavis Reed was pregnant?” Jessica laughed. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Believe what you want,” Luke said, lying back down. He closed his eyes and let a drunken sleep take him.
This Is Our Country: Podcast Transcript
Episode 12—“Jojo Lane”
August 21, 2024
[cont.]
Emma:
You had to be shocked.
