Page 130 of The Husband Hour
“Hey,” Stephanie said.
“You have a great boy there,” Emerson said.
“Thanks.” She looked at Lauren and shifted uncomfortably on her feet.
“I’d really like to see him now and then. Have a relationship.”
Stephanie nodded. “I appreciate that. And it will be good for him to have a man in his life. But I need some time. I’m going to tell him about his father. I’m just not sure exactly when. Before the film comes out, obviously.”
“You’re worried about the documentary?” Emerson said.
“That, and the other one.”
“What other one?” Emerson said.
Stephanie told him about Neil Hanes and finding the script in his house.
“I’d like to give that guy a piece of my mind,” Emerson said. “And my fist.”
“Well, it’s your lucky night—he’s here.”
Stephanie pointed to Neil, who was sitting at a corner table refilling a young blonde’s wineglass.
“Ladies, excuse me for a minute.”
They watched Emerson cut across the crowded room.
“I almost feel bad for Neil,” Lauren said.
“I don’t,” said Stephanie. And then: “Lauren, I know I just said I would tell Ethan the truth. I just don’t know how I’m going to find the words. Maybe I’m weak, but it’s just…I don’t know. I can’t do it.”
“You have to.”
“I wish it could just…happen.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Lauren said.
Stephanie reached out and hugged her, and the feeling of being in her big sister’s arms, alien and so familiar at the same time, brought fresh tears to Lauren’s eyes.
“I love you,” Stephanie said.
“I love you too.”
The sign on the door read PRIVATE PARTY. NORA’S CAFÉ OPENS TOMORROW AT 7 A.M. FOR BREAKFAST. THANK YOU. Matt could see from the street that the dining room was packed with people.
He had been halfway through his shitty craft beer in Williamsburg when he remembered the party. It came to him because a group of hipsters piled in with bags of doughnuts from Dough in Bed-Stuy. They made a big show of offering some to the bartender, who set them out on the bar. And Matt thought of Beth Adelman.
It was Henny who had originally invited him to the party, but Lauren had mentioned it in passing with a casual “You should come if you’re still in town.” That had been before it all went to hell, of course.
Driving for two and a half hours after an abrupt good-bye to a confused Craig, Matt tried to figure out what he was going to say when he was face to face with her. He wasn’t entirely sure; all he knew was that he needed to see her.
Inside the restaurant, he made his way through a throng near the front counter. Lauren was difficult to miss in a pale orange sundress, her dark hair long and loose. How had he not noticed how beautiful she was that very first day when he’d met her in this place? He could see it like it was yesterday, the wariness when he tried to chat her up, her disgust when he’d handed her his card. By some miracle, he’d been able to break through all that and not only get what he needed for the film, but also get close to her as a person.
And then he’d wrecked it.
Lauren needed air. She couldn’t walk around making small talk with the party guests after the intense conversations with Emerson and her sister.
She pushed open the door, and it had barely closed behind her when someone said her name. At first she thought she’d imagined it.
