Page 29 of Rivals to Lovers
Maybe a little.
Mo read clearly and straight through, without looking up. When she came to the end of the final paragraph, she cleared her throat.
There was silence. Gary stared at her, then clapped softly. Estelle joined, but her daughters didn’t.
“Did I miss it?” Talia asked, gesturing with her empty glass. “Does she drive further down the road and hit a tree or something?”
“No, she doesn’t die.”
Gus laughed without humor. “How can it be an adaptation without having the same ending?”
“Well, I wrote it. I say it’s an adaptation. What else do you need?”
“Honey, we’re just saying that without the original ending, it’s a different book.” Flor sounded so condescending that Mo wanted to throw her manuscript at the wall.
Mo let herself look at Estelle’s face. She smiled slightly, a real smile. The kind where the tips of her eyelids rose. Being from the Midwest meant that Mo was used to dissecting the language of smiles, picking out the false from the real. “Well, good for Liza,” Estelle finally said, when she realized Mo was focused on her.
“Mom, it’s a different book with that ending. Don’t you think readers will hate it?” Flor spoke as if Maureen weren’t even there. “It could have been written by someone who only read the Wikipedia article about the book and decided to do her own thing.”
“You seemed perfectly willing to read the horror movie abomination version,” Estelle noted. “I didn’t hear any complaining when an ax murderer entered the adaptation.”
“Mom,” Talia said. “You’re being silly. Everyone would read the horror version. No one would read that.” She gestured with a hand dismissively in Mo’s direction.
Mo felt like she’d been slapped. She couldn’t stop herself from jumping back in. “I love your grandmother’s original book. Love it and respect it. I tried to do honor to her characters while also making the story fresh for modern readers.”
“Modern readers seem to find nothing wrong with the original book,” Flor said, tone cold. “As we’ve seen year over year in the royalty statements.”
“No need to argue,” Estelle said. “Especially since I’ve been reading the entire novels and will be making my determination without external input.”
“Then why even invite us?” Talia said, swaying. “What’s the point?”
“I thought you wanted to see what I’ve been doing lately,” Estelle said. “Plus it’s been a little while since you’ve come over for dinner.” Talia seemed ready to interrupt. “Without trying to shove a makeup crew in here and put me on television.”
“That was one time,” Talia protested.
Gary raised his eyebrows, and Mo knew those were stories she wanted to hear—she’d probably have to start watching thatRich Wivesshow. Mo felt better that Estelle didn’t seem to hate the ending. She felt sure that once she read the whole novel, Estelle would come to see the ending not as a cop-out but as a reinvention worthy of Morgan’s name.
No one had stormed out, but the discussion was clearly over. Gary told Wes and Mo that the family wanted to chatalone, and moments later, Wes caught her arm and led her gently out of the room.
“Well, that could have gone better,” Mo said. All the confidence she had managed had drained. Despite the deflating feeling in her stomach, she couldn’t help but laugh. “For me, at least. It went well for you.” His readinghadgone well. She had barely breathed while he spoke. His ending felt natural but hurt her heart. The twist was expected but unexpected at the same time.
“Only Estelle’s opinion matters.” Wes led Mo outside, and the front door closed behind them. The sisters’ cars were parked in the long front drive. The two cars together cost more than her parents’ house in Iowa, she was sure. The cool air brushed against Mo’s cheeks. She hadn’t realized how warm she had gotten inside, even without drinking much. After the embarrassment last night, she had been determined to stay in control. Instead, she’d ended up fighting with the daughters of the woman she came to impress. She pictured what her face looked like when she got angry. When she blushed, it looked pink and childlike. As if she needed another reason to lower her credibility. It was too late now to do damage control, except in her own thoughts.
“I thought you might want to take a walk,” he said. The sun had set, and as they strolled around the edge of the house, they could see into the front room they’d left behind. The window was slightly open, Flor smoking out of it, and raised voices came through the crack. “If I wanted to really know what they thought, I’d go listen,” Mo said.
“Let me appeal to your better angels and say you shouldn’t give a damn what they say.”
“Angels don’t know much about damnation,” Mo said, but she looked away from the window, trying to tune out thechorus. It was bad when you assumed people were saying mean things about you. It was worse knowing for sure that was happening. As they walked farther, though, it was less obvious that other people were even inside the house. Aside from the scattered outdoor lighting, the yard was shadowy. Mo could imagine fireflies darting in the back grass in a few months, how lively things would be with the pool full. Splashing grandchildren. Ugh, splashing grandchildren with camera crews circling for reality TV.
By the time they got to the large cement patio overlooking the pool, her legs felt alive after sitting for so long. “Can you ever see the stars out here?” Mo was used to the long, gray sky at night in the city but didn’t know if they were far enough outside of it to see the stars again. She saw none tonight, but a thin veil of cloud clothed the moon like a scarf.
“Sometimes,” Wes said, then he paused. “I don’t usually look, to be honest. My mom would know.”
“Your mom would know because it’s her job to know everything that might be interesting to anyone.”
“For a price.”
“Nice work if you can get it,” Mo said, without really knowing what she meant by it. She wanted to fight someone who could fight back. She was in a bad mood and tried to focus on the scenery—the darkening lawn and the cool breeze that blew suddenly around them. She felt the skin on her legs prickle. “It’s cooler than I thought it was.”
