Excerpt from We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride, Jo Piazza, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"It's just ... I get it. I don't want you to do something you're not comfortable with, Riley, but it's already starting, everyone saying terrible things about Kevin. We need his side of the story out there. It was a mistake, an awful mistake. It would help for people to understand that he isn't a bad guy, which he isn't. I mean, you know that."

But the way Riley is looking at me, it seems she doesn't know that. It seems like I have to allow for the possibility that she thinks my husband is a bad cop or, worse, a racist. Surely she can't think that? It's dawning on me that she expects me to be ashamed of my husband. And that, more than anything, starts to piss me off.

"Well, let me ask you this: Would you do the interview if Kevin shot a white kid?"

"Jen ... I don't ... it isn't just ..."

I've seen Riley lock words away and hide behind silence; I've never seen her at a loss for them though. Why did I have to bring up race? It's never mattered between the two of us.

Finally, she meets my eyes. "I don't know, maybe, Jen. Maybe." It was like admitting that cost her something. "And, well, it's not usually white kids being accidentally shot by police, is it?" This time there's no stammering: the question glides out of her mouth and slices like a knife.

"Look, I don't want to turn this into a conversation about what kind of lives matter. This isn't even about race, Riley. It's about Kevin."

"How can you even think this isn't about—"

I cut her off. I hate where this conversation is going. The anger that's been simmering beneath the surface since I sat down is building into a furious blaze. It's the only reason I say what I do next. "You never liked Kevin. That's the real reason you won't do the interview. Admit it."

I don't even know if I believe that. It's more like an idea I'm trying out in the moment, and the accusation, being on the offensive, it feels good. Or maybe it is true. Maybe Riley tolerated Kevin all these years but never really liked him, and that's why she won't help us. I'll always have to wonder, because I'm out the door before she can even open her mouth.

Copyright © 2021 by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. From We Are Not Like Them: A Novel by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. Reprinted by permission of Atria Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.