Entertainment my ass. You didn’t get a body like that yelling at actors.
Nero withdraws his hand, but the smile never leaves his lips. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Elias. Your mother’s told me all about you.”
Why has she told this guy about me? And why does he give me the fucking creeps?
“She’s told me absolutely nothing about you.” I meant it to come across as a joke, but I’m no Gabriel, and it sounds accusatory. My mother glares at me, but Nero laughs deep in his belly, his whole body vibrating, sloshing alcohol over the side of his glass. I’m surprised the whole room doesn’t shake like an earthquake.
“There’s nothing much to tell, my boy.” He slaps me so hard on the shoulder that I spill half my drink on the carpet. “I spend my days overseeing my casinos and clubs, and my nights sitting alone in my house drinking my way through my father’s Scotch collection.”
Nero and Mom fall into an easy conversation about Nero’s clubs – apparently, Mom’s visited them all – and the private lives of his celebrity patrons. I stare at my drink in stony silence. Nero must notice because he switches his attention to me and bombards me with questions about current affairs, city zonings, my favorite films and TV shows, and what I got up to over the summer. I don’t think in my entire time growing up my parents ever asked me so much about myself. I can’t wait for this evening to be over.
Maria appears in the doorway. “Dinner is served, ma’am.”
Mom leads Nero by the arm into the dining room. We sit down at the table. I move to take the seat at the head of the table, but Nero’s too fast. He sits down where my father used to sit. Mom sits beside him. The third place is set on Nero’s other side, facing Mom. I deliberately take a seat a few chairs down, sliding the cutlery across the table. Mom flashes her eyes at me, but I pretend not to notice.
“How are your college applications coming along, Eli?” she asks, cutting her beans into demure pieces and popping one in her mouth. My mom believes men don’t like to watch women eat. I think of Mackenzie piling her plate high with food in the school cafeteria and feel a stab of pain.
Not Mackenzie. Claudia.
“Fine,” I say.No thanks to you.I spent the summer working on my application essays and researching programs. I should have started on my letters of recommendation, but I haven’t even chosen a program yet. I don’t know what I want to do or where I want to go, except that it will be far away from Emerald Beach and Dad’s reputation. The idea that this one decision can define the next four-to-eight years of my life weighs on me. I would love to have someone to talk to about it, the way Noah does with Grace, but Mom doesn’t care and Dad’s of the belief that college is a waste of time. “I never went to no fancy school, and I built a multi-million dollar business with my bare hands,” he was fond of saying, as if he were a man of the earth.
And look at you now,I think but don’t say.
“So, you’re heading to college next year?” Nero says. “A bright boy like you, I’m not surprised. What will you be studying?”
“Veterinary science,” I reply. I say it to piss Mom off. Her eyebrows shoot up. She’s always assumed I’d go into the family business – taking the shreds of Dad’s funerary empire and rebuilding it into something that will continue to keep her in mink coats and Dom Pérignon.
But now the words are out of my mouth, hanging in the air like a dirty secret… I like the taste of them.Veterinary science.Caring for sick animals is not exactly the job for the Golden Boy of Stonehurst Prep. But maybe I’m sick of being the steady one who does what everyone else wants without making a fuss.
“Is that a degree at Yale, dear?” Mom is livid, but she won’t scold me in front of company. “Because you know that if you want to use your trust fund for college, your father and I have to approve your courses—”
“Now, Darlene, don’t you worry. Eli here is a young man; he’s got plenty of time to get his head screwed on straight about school. This is the time to follow hispassion.” Nero pounds the table for emphasis. I have to save my glass from spilling. “Passion is everything in life, Eli. Passion and loyalty. Look at me. I never went to college. I followed mypassions– for spinning the wheel and smiling at Lady Luck, for fine food and wine, for music, for blood and circuses – and now I’m a successful businessman.”
The phrase is actuallybread and circuses. Ms. Drysdale spoke about it in her Political Studies class, how the satirist Juvenal usedpanem et circensesto describe how the common people let base pleasures distract them from the wider picture. I wonder if Nero’s use ofbloodis deliberate.
Nero raises his glass and nods at me. “You follow your passion in veterinary science and you may be surprised where you end up. You don’t worry, Darlene – smart people like Eli always come out on top.”
Seriously, who the fuck is this guy? And why is he sticking up for me?
I expect Mom to fight him. Instead, she reaches across the table and squeezes his hand. “Eli, we need to talk about the future of this family.”
I stuff a piece of broccoli in my mouth and deliberately chew while speaking. “What future? Dad’s in prison. The business is worthless. I’m leaving for college as soon as I have my diploma in my hands.”
“You’re exactly right, son. There is no future here for me.” Mom fixes me with a strange expression – part defiant, part desperate. “That’s why Nero and I are getting married.”
I choke on the broccoli, spitting it out on the tablecloth. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Manners. There’s nothing ridiculous about being in love.” Mom bats her eyelashes at Nero. “You’d know that if you ever dated.”
“Itisridiculous. You’ve known this guy a hot minute.” I drop my knife on the table. “Oh, yeah, and you’re still married to Dad.”
“Since when have you been so puritanical, son?” Mom’s fake laugh tinkles in the air like glass shards. “I’ve asked your father for a divorce.”
“And he agreed?”
“Under the circumstances, he has little choice.” She smiles then, a hint of slyness slithering through her outward charm.
I’m angry, and I don’t know why I’m angry. Dad’s in prison. He’s the one who ruined our lives by breaking the law and defrauding hundreds of grieving families. Why shouldn’t I go to veterinary school just to spite him? Why shouldn’t Mom move on?
