Chương 9
After the call, Ethan unfolded the legal pad.
“That number belongs to the security office at headquarters,” he said.
Lena looked at him. “Why would your mother route Claire’s call there?”
“To create a record that someone answered as me.”
“You think someone pretended to be you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t become a detective because your mother lied.”
“I’m not.”
“You have arrows.”
He folded the pad again.
At nine, the foundation issued a correction. It stated that its earlier remarks had not been authorized by Lena or Ethan and that no employee should have confirmed private medical information. Vivian’s name did not appear.
By ten, the correction had become a second story.
At eleven, the foundation board scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday morning.
Ethan received an email instructing him not to access internal systems until the board reviewed communications procedures. His work account stopped syncing twenty minutes later.
He stared at the error message.
“There,” Lena said. “Employment crisis.”
He set the phone down. “Apparently.”
“Are you frightened?”
“Yes.”
The direct answer softened her.
Priya’s children returned at noon. Six-year-old Leela entered the kitchen wearing rain boots despite the sun. Nine-year-old Sam followed with a backpack full of books and an expression of exaggerated seriousness.
Their grandmother had told them only that the wedding had been canceled because someone behaved badly.
Leela looked at Lena’s head.
“Did someone take your hair?” she asked.
Priya closed her eyes.
Lena crouched carefully. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“She was angry and made a bad choice.”
“Did you get it back?”
“I did.”
“Okay.”
Leela seemed satisfied. She removed one boot, forgot the other, and went to find the plastic dinosaur.
Sam lingered.
“I saw it at Nani’s,” he said.
Priya’s face tightened. “She let you watch?”
“It came on before she changed it.”
He looked at Lena. “People at school might see.”
“They might.”
“Do you want me to say it’s fake?”
“No.”
“What should I say?”
Lena considered this.
“You can say you know me and that I didn’t lie.”
Sam nodded. “Can I also say Ethan’s mom is terrible?”
“No,” Ethan said from the table.
Sam looked disappointed.
“You can say what she did was terrible,” Lena said. “People are more than the worst thing they do, even when the worst thing is very bad.”
Ethan looked at her.
Lena stood and immediately wished she had chosen a less mature answer. Vivian had not earned her generosity. But Sam had, and the distinction mattered.
That afternoon, Lena’s sister drove up from Providence.
Maya Hart arrived carrying a duffel bag, two iced coffees, and a fury so concentrated that she forgot to close the front door.
“Where is she?”
Priya took the coffees. “Hopefully at home under legal supervision.”
Maya crossed the room and wrapped both arms around Lena. She was four years younger, five inches shorter, and still hugged like someone attempting a rescue.
“I’m fine,” Lena said into her hair.
“Don’t insult me.”
“I’m not fine.”
“Better.”
Maya released her and turned to Ethan.
He stood.
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Leela gasped delightedly from the hallway.
“Maya,” Lena said.
Ethan did not touch his cheek.
“I deserved some of that,” he said.
“No,” Lena replied. “You didn’t.”
Maya’s hand began to shake. “He let his family stalk your medical life.”
“I didn’t let them,” Ethan said.
“You knew they were doing it.”
“I knew my mother was asking questions.”
“And you kept Lena in the dark because you thought you could handle the rich people.”
“Maya,” Lena said again.
“What? We all have to be restrained because his mother wore diamonds while assaulting you?”
Ethan’s cheek had reddened. “You’re right that I should have told her.”
“Stop agreeing. It’s creepy.”
Lena almost smiled. Maya and Ethan had always disliked each other’s methods while respecting each other’s loyalty. Maya considered him too controlled. Ethan considered her a lit match in a house with a gas leak.
Priya sent the children upstairs.
Maya dropped into a chair. “I talked to a lawyer.”
“Of course you did,” Lena said.
“She said you may have civil claims.”
“May.”
“She wants the video.”
“The entire country has the video.”
“She needs the original.”
“From whom?”
“The person who filmed closest.”
Ethan picked up his phone. “That was my cousin Andrew.”
Lena looked at him. “Don’t call him.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t decided to sue your mother.”
Maya stared at her. “She ripped off your wig in a church.”
“I was there.”
“And then disclosed your diagnosis to the press.”
“I know.”
“What is there to decide?”
“Whether I want to spend the next year explaining my scalp in depositions.”
Maya’s anger faltered.
Lena sat beside her.
“I want one day where no stranger gets a new right to ask what happened to my body,” Lena said.
Maya looked down at her own hands. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry for being angry.”
“I slapped your fiancé.”
“Almost fiancé,” Ethan said.
Maya looked up sharply.
Lena closed her eyes.
Ethan’s face showed immediate regret. “That was a bad joke.”
“It was,” Priya said.
Maya stood. “I’m going outside before I commit a second offense.”
She left through the kitchen door.
Ethan touched his cheek.
“You didn’t deserve that,” Lena said.
“I did lie to you.”
“Not every wrong earns every punishment.”
He nodded.
Lena followed Maya into the backyard.
Priya’s patio furniture was still covered from winter. Maya sat on the low stone wall with her iced coffee and stared at a child’s swing moving in the breeze.
“I hate him less than it appears,” she said.
“I know.”
“I hate that he made himself the gatekeeper.”
“So do I.”
“Are you leaving him?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya picked at the plastic lid of her cup. “Do you want to?”
“No.”
“That seems relevant.”
“So does not trusting him.”
May you like
“You trust him with the cancer.”
“I trusted him with everything about the cancer. Appointments, medications, the night I thought the fever meant an infection. He slept on the bathroom floor after the first infusion because I kept vomiting and wouldn’t let him call the doctor.”
