Page 26 of The Husband Hour
The sun started to set. Lauren could feel the breeze off of the ocean through the open kitchen window. Outside, her parents and sister were sitting at the table by the pool. Her mother had insisted on dinner together. Lauren agreed it was a good idea. After Ethan’s innocent but nonetheless provocative question—“Do you like my mom?”—she was determined to hit the reset button on her sisterly relationship.
Lauren grabbed the box of leftover muffins and doughnuts from the restaurant and brought them outside to the table littered with crumpled takeout wrappers from Sack O’ Subs, her father’s and sister’s empty beer bottles, and stray kernels of corn from her mother’s tomato and corn salad.
Her mother picked up a doughnut. “Does Nora have someone baking on the premises? These don’t seem very fresh.”
“She gets a delivery every day,” Lauren said, slipping back into her chair. “The muffins are great. People buy them in bulk all year round.”
Beth sniffed. She was a pastry snob. But Ethan’s eyes lit up.
Her father stood and began clearing dishes.
“Wait. Before you go, Dad, there’s something I wanted to mention to all of you.” She didn’t know if she should bring it up, had been debating doing so all dinner. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that the filmmaker showing up at Nora’s house hadn’t been a coincidence. And even if it had, he was getting too close for comfort. All day she had braced herself for him to appear at the restaurant. He didn’t.
Still, not wanting a false sense of security, she texted Henny and asked if her renter had left yet. He’s here for the week, she wrote back. Why? Do you know someone else who wants the room? Give them my number.
If Lauren wasn’t talking to him, what was he doing in town all week?
“So, um, this annoying thing happened at work the other day and I just wanted to tell you guys so we’re all on the same page.” Her mother and sister looked at her expectantly. “It’s not that big of a deal but this guy tracked me down at work and said he’s doing a documentary. About Rory. Obviously, I told him to leave me alone, and hopefully that’s the end of that. I doubt he’d approach any of you but if he does, I just want you to be prepared.”
Her mother looked horrified. “Oh, Lauren. How intrusive!”
“Everyone’s out to make a buck,” said her father.
“Prepared for what?” Stephanie said.
Lauren looked at her. “To tell him to leave you alone—that you’re not talking to him.”
“Why is it your business if I talk to him?”
“Why would you want to talk to him?”
“I just wonder why you think you get to dictate who we talk to. We knew Rory too, you know.”
Lauren’s heart began to pound. “This has nothing to do with you, Stephanie, and you know it. So just stay out of it.”
“If someone wants to talk to me, then clearly they think it does have to do with me. You don’t own what happened, Lauren.”
“Fine, you knew Rory too. So you know the last thing he would want is some exploitative film about him.”
“Girls, please,” Beth said. “This is not worth arguing over. Lauren, of course you’re right. The last thing you need is someone dredging all of that up again. Stephanie, you have to respect your sister’s wishes on this.”
“Well, it’s too late for that,” Stephanie said, looking pleased with herself. “I already spoke to him.”
Lauren stared at her, dumbfounded. “No, you didn’t.”
“Yeah. I did.”
“You better not be serious, Stephanie.”
“Ethan, buddy, come with me to see if there’s any ice cream in the freezer,” Howard said.
“I am serious.”
“You’ve really crossed a line this time!” Lauren turned to her mother. “I’m sorry, but she has to go. I can’t live with her all summer.”
She pushed herself up from her chair so hard it toppled to the ground.
Howard made it so damn hard for her to admit when she was wrong.
