coffee, and he’d always find a way to bump into me, or he’d give me a squeeze with his arm around my waist, only his hand would be up near my boob. Sorry, Uncle Harold.”
Lila sighed. “Everyone in the office hated me, because Lester liked me so much. They were all jealous, except Missy. She was thrilled. I guess Lester would tell her how glad he was that I was there. How I was his conduit to millennial culture or whatever.” Lila shifted, giving another pained hiss. “I didn’t want to get Missy in trouble. But I didn’t want to have to, you know . . .” Her voice trailed off. Rain had started pattering against the sunroof and the windshield. Harold flicked the windshield wipers on. “Anyhow. The first Friday of every month, Lester would take everyone for drinks at the King Cole Bar in the St. Regis. The martinis cost, like, twenty dollars. Lester would run a tab. Sometimes, writers would come, or agents, or other editors, or book scouts. Important people. At least, Melissa said they were important. They all looked like schnooks to me. One Friday, I was coming out of the ladies’ room and Lester was there waiting for me.”
Bethie swallowed hard, remembering her uncle, his smelly breath, his scratchy face. She was old now, so old that sometimes her own face in the mirror startled her. She’d attended her thirtieth high school reunion; she’d celebrated her sixtieth birthday; she’d survived the deaths of both of her parents. In all those years, she’d forgotten all kinds of things, names and faces and tastes and sensations, but she knew that she would never forget how it felt to be in Uncle Mel’s car, the stench of his breath, the foggy windows, that feeling of being trapped, of how nothing she could do would free her.
“So Lester kisses me. He jams his tongue down my throat, and I push him off me, and he laughs, like it’s some game. He says he likes feisty women, and I tell him if he ever touches me again I’ll go to HR.” Lila was talking fast and breathing hard.
“Did you tell your sister?” Bethie asked.
“Not until tonight.” Lila’s voice was tiny. “Missy worships him. She would talk about how great he is all the time. How he was Philip Roth’s first editor, how he and John Cheever were drinking buddies. How everyone who’s worked for him goes on to have a great career because of his connections. Lester knows all the publishers, all the agents. I didn’t want to get her in trouble or, you know, make her choose. So I just left.” Lila sniffled. Bethie couldn’t see her niece’s face in the darkness of the back seat, but it sounded like she was crying. “He probably found someone else to move the rest of the books the very next day, someone from Smith, or Vassar, or one of those places. He’s probably grabbing some Seven Sisters boobs in the pantry.”
Bethie heard the echo of her mother’s voice in her head. But you can forget about those East Coast colleges, those Six Sisters. Seven Sisters, Jo had said. That’s okay. The U of M is fine.
“You remember something like that happened to me,” Bethie said.
“I remember,” Lila said. “You told me about it. The summer I came to Atlanta.”
In the back seat, Bethie saw Lila push herself upright. “So, what?” she asked. “I’m supposed to tell Missy what happened? You think Missy’s going to save me?”
“I think you should give her a chance to do the right thing.”
Lila gave a sigh. “Yeah,” she said as Harold pulled the car underneath the portico by the entrance for the emergency room. “Yeah, that’ll happen. Because I matter just as much as her career.”
“Of course you do!” said Bethie. Lila snorted again and didn’t say another word until they helped her out of the car.
In the waiting room, Lila hobbled over to the receptionist, waving Bethie and Harold over to the seats along the wall. “Do you know if she has insurance?” Harold asked, his voice low.
“No idea,” Bethie whispered back, so Harold went up to the counter, telling the woman behind the desk that they’d pay for whatever Lila needed. Bethie sighed, thinking about how much she loved Harold, and that he would take care of her, of Lila, of whatever he could. She’d gotten so lucky with him.
Lila filled out forms on a clipboard and sat with her uninjured leg pulled