Losing the Moon by Patti Callahan Henry

Author:Patti Callahan Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2004-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

Nick stood in the closet doorway, where he could see Eliza’s reflection in her vanity mirror. She leaned forward, wiped below her eyes, brushed upward against her eyebrows, then lifted tweezers from her flowered makeup bag to pluck one stray hair from the outside line of her perfectly arched brows. Can’t have anything out of place now, can we? Eliza was a beautiful woman, not much different from the beautiful girl he’d married. She was what people called “well-preserved,” as she should be, considering all the time and money she spent on herself.

She did draw attention—she and her family. He was lucky, men told him. Watching her was almost like observing a stranger. Then, as if a fist had been shoved into his stomach, he realized he really didn’t know her at all. He bent over with the force of this knowledge, with the intensity of wondering to whom he was married. She had loved him well these years, loved him in spite of himself, taken care of their life, their children; but he didn’t know her, and he wasn’t sure he loved her.

This thought, this truth, came so clearly to him, he wondered why the words had never formed in his mind even before Amy had reentered his life. Amy had been a force beneath everything he felt, but had not been fully present until now.

He and Eliza had never discussed Amy after he left the jail. The day he was released, he’d asked Mr. Carreira, one more time, if he had heard from Amy. “Nick,” the lawyer said, “I think you need to let this go.”

“No,” Nick had replied, knowing Amy was coming, still coming.

The damn lawyer had looked up, staring everywhere but at Nick. “Eliza did a little research, found out she is engaged to some hometown boy.”

The anguish that had entered him then had been more cutting than the broken ribs and horrific nights spent listening to cockroaches crawl around in his bed. Right there, in the dank jail cell, he’d turned the grief and longing into rage and decided he would never speak to or think about Amy Malone again. He would hate her for the rest of his life for betraying him when he needed her most.

The day he’d walked out into the blazing sun, into the heat of freedom, Eliza had been standing under a banana tree, her blond hair reflecting the light. She’d been a mirage of the American beach girl. She was waiting only for him.

Eliza’s joy at seeing him was so complete that she had cried the minute he touched her. He had only seen her once in the year he was in jail: the morning of his so-called arraignment. Yet he knew she’d been working behind the scenes all along, that she was the reason he now stood free. The school had left him to what they considered his due. His mother was too damaged by his drunken father to tolerate even the slightest problem.

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