The Winner by Teddy Wayne

Author:Teddy Wayne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The next Friday night Conor was at home, readying for his interview with John’s firm so that at least he wouldn’t embarrass himself. Emily was writing in her cottage, and he texted her that he’d come over around nine o’clock.

There was another party on the neck, which he was decidedly not attending; nor would he go to any other social functions the remaining weeks, to preclude further interactions in the same space with both women. Once it was October and his commitment to John was satisfied, he’d return to Yonkers, where, with sex no longer on offer, he could easily cut off contact with Catherine (who would surely stay on Cutters until it was fully safe again) and continue seeing Emily (who’d now said she would come back to Brooklyn once he left). After enough time had passed that they would have to divulge their relationship to her mother, he’d get Emily to pretend that they’d run into each other in New York and begun as a couple only then. By that point—months, perhaps even years if the pandemic wore on—Catherine would not, or might not, care.

It could work. It could. He could put his mistakes behind him from this summer, his anomalous, irresponsible behavior, so long as he was characteristically prudent the rest of the way.

When he was nearing the end of his work, he heard someone approaching his door. It was Catherine, clutching a tall drink topped with a wedge of lime, apparently having come from the party.

“Hi,” Conor said, alarmed by her first unannounced visit.

The sex would have to be fast; he didn’t want Emily wondering why he was late.

But she wasn’t there for that. Her eyes darted around the room. Then she stomped into the bathroom and looked inside.

“Where is she?” she asked.

“Where’s who?” His voice and body language were calm from his desk chair, but this was the moment he had long feared, the moment that, despite his propensity for planning, he still hadn’t precisely figured out how to react to beyond blanket denials.

“Emily,” Catherine said. “Where the fuck is she?”

“Your daughter? How should I know?”

“How long’s it been going on?”

“How long has what been going on?”

She glared at him. “How long have you been fucking my daughter?”

“What?” said Conor.

“Do you think I’m a fucking idiot?” Catherine snapped.

He’d laid on the incredulity a little too thick. But she had to be going solely by the little she’d seen of them together at John’s party and whatever she’d picked up on when they were over for drinks. And she was paranoid, trying to trick him into a confession.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” he said. “I met her at John’s party and then again when—”

“Stop it,” Catherine said. “Stop lying to me.”

He mustered a nonchalant chuckle. “I’m not lying.”

Catherine downed her entire glass as though it were water. There had to be at least two cocktails’ worth in there. She hadn’t appeared too drunk upon arrival, but she would be soon.

“I know you’re seeing her,” she said, slowly and with conviction.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.