Page 56 of No Words

What I did not say was,None of the interviews I’ve ever read about you have mentioned your parents. Not that I’ve read many, of course. Okay, I’ve read them all.

“Our mother passed away,” Will said shortly, then busied himself with doing something to the console that made the boat engines quieter. He must have noticed my suddenly stricken expression, however, since he added quickly, “A long time ago. Chloe was just a toddler.”

Whoa. There was nothing in any of Will Price’s bios about his mother dying tragically young.

Then again, most publications limited bios to one hundred words or less. It’s why mine read merely,Jo Wright was born in New York City. She is the author of over twenty books, including the #1New York Timesbestselling Kitty Katz, Kitten Sitter series. She lives in Manhattan with her cat.

“I’m so sorry,” I said to Will, meaning it. “That must have been terrible. How did she die?”

Of course you’re not supposed to ask “How did she die?” when someone mentions that a loved one has passed away. That’s rude and none of your business and also probably painful for them to talk about. At least that’s how it had been for me, until time and therapy had softened the blow of my mother’s passing.

But if you’re a nosy writer trying to put a story together that’s more than a year late and you’re talking to the person responsible for making it late (more or less), then it’s okay to be rude.

Or at least, that’s what I decided in that moment.

Will threw me an expressionless glance. For a few seconds I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but finally he said, “Embolism.”

“Oh.” I winced. “That’s awful. And your dad?”

“My dad.” Will said the word like it tasted bad. “My dad. He was—how can I put this?—ill-prepared to assume the responsibility of single parenthood.”

“Oh.” I nodded. “Like Johnny’s dad?”

Now the look he threw me was startled. “Johnny?”

“Yes. Johnny Kane. FromThe Moment. Or are you telling me that’snotan autobiographical work?”

Slowly, he began to grin. “So. You’re reading it.”

“Of course I’m reading it. It’s a free book that someone left in my hotel room. How could I not read it?”

The grin widened. “And what do you think of it?”

“Well.” It was always so delicate when another author asked what you thought of their book, especially when that author was your sworn enemy, and yet you couldn’t put their book down. “Johnny and Melanie certainly seem to have had a lot of trauma in their lives. But that isn’t stopping them from having a lot of sex with each other.”

The grin froze. His gaze became very still—almost wary—on mine. “And what do you think about that?”

“Well, on the whole, I’m a fan of sex, as long as it’s between consenting adults.” What was happening here? Why was he looking at me that way? “But since I haven’t finished the book yet, I’m reserving judgment. I presume you’re going to kill Johnny off at the end, since you’re such a big fan ofcatharsis.”

The wary look left Will’s face, and the grin returned. “Oh, you never know. I might surprise you this time.”

“I doubt it. Anyway, I thought we were talking about yourdad. I hope he didn’t die in a mine collapse like poor Johnny’s father.”

“Not exactly. But like poor Johnny’s father, my dad only loved three things: his wife—my mother—gambling, and alcohol. After she died, he threw himself into the latter two with impressive abandon.”

I was genuinely shocked. Not only because the normally tight-lipped Will Price was suddenly opening up to me, but because none of this matched what I’d assumed I knew about him. “Will. That’s... that’s really horrible.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug of those enormous shoulders, as if nothing he was saying mattered. “I suppose. But however bad it was for me, it was much worse for Chloe. At least I got to spend a dozen years or so with a loving parent, who introduced me to so many wonderful things—books and reading. My mother loved them. Chloe didn’t have that. I tried as best I could in my mother’s place, but—”

He shrugged again, this time with a helplessness that almost broke my heart. I couldn’t believe I was feeling sorry for Will Price, of all people.

“That’s a lot of pressure,” I said gently.

He didn’t look very convinced. “I suppose. When I got into university, I didn’t even want to go. Who was going to take care of Chloe?”

This sounded so much like something Johnny Kane would wonder about his sister, Zoey, I began to ask myself ifThe Momentwasn’t slightly autobiographical after all.

“My dad agreed,” Will went on, staring sightlessly off intothe sea. “He thought university was useless. He wanted me to take over his construction business, which was failing thanks to his betting habit. What a mess I would have made of that, eh?”