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“I get that.” Mom rocks me, and my heartrate slows. “What about her mother?”
“I want her. I want her so badly.”
“Then you should go to her. It looks like you already have your mind made up.” She sweeps her arm across my room, with open luggage and drawers.
“I do.” I sit up, sniffling and wiping my nose. “I can’t take over Fred’s practice, Mom. I need to be with my family.”
Mom rests her hand on my cheek. “I’ve never been prouder.”
After I pull myself together, I leave my apartment and climb in the backseat of my parents’ Suburban. It feels like I’m meeting the mafia, not my stepfather. He’s in the driver’s seat, sitting in complete silence when I climb in. Instead of getting in the front seat, my mom climbs in the backseat and grabs my hand.
In that moment, I feel her allegiance. Fred doesn’t turn, doesn’t move. All he does is flick his gaze to the rearview mirror.
“Son.”
“Fred.”
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me what happened at the party.”
“It was pretty obvious, Fred. I quit. I’m not taking over your practice.”
“I understood that. I just want…I just want to explain myself.”
I really don’t want to hear what he has to say, but still mutter, “Go ahead.”
“Ten years ago, I saw how you were with that girl…”
“Emily.” Her name causes a smile to emerge from my lips.
“Emily. It was different. You were different. I could tell you were willing to do whatever it took to be with her. We discussed your future, and I really did think you wanted to be a dentist. I didn’t want you to waste all your potential working a manual labor job in a small town so you could be with her. You were too smart to settle for a mundane life just because of a girl, Max. You don’t even know for sure if that child is yours…”
Heat flares in my temples. “She is mine. I would’ve still gone to dental school, Fred. I wanted to be a dentist. We would’ve made it work. I just wouldn’t have worked for you. I know that kills you, that you wouldn’t have someone to take over the practice. Guess you’re just going to have to sell it.”
His head nods, and I see his downcast eyes in the rearview mirror. “Everything I did, I did because I had your best interest at heart.”
“Did you change Emily’s email on that scrap of paper?”
Fred stays silent.
“Did you mess with my phone? So I couldn’t get service?”
Not a peep.
I grimace as I play words and scenarios over in my head. When I say what I need to say, I want it to have meaning. Fred needs to understand exactly what he did.
“Maxwell, all I did was because—”
“You made a little girl—my daughter—think I didn’t want her. You made the love of my life think that I was some cad. A lovely woman named Miriam told me what you said ten years ago to Emily, and I can never forgive you for that. You lied to her, Fred. I wanted to be with Emily. I would have wanted that child with her. You ruined that for us. You stole ten years of my life.”
“I didn’t steal it,” he says. “You were happy. I paid for your school. We helped you out with that down payment for this condo. We’ve given everything to you.”
“That’s not the point. I could’ve seen Olive grown up, taught her things, saw her walk and talk for the first time. Now, I’m doing damage control. Because of you.” I swallow, pushing down my anger and resentment so it lives in my belly.
He nods, and take a deep breath through his nose, the air rattling. He turns and offers his hand to me. I take it, giving it a firm shake. It’s not offering forgiveness. It’s a business transaction. I’m turning down his practice, his course for my life. As far as I’m concerned, we’re over.
I climb out of the car and head toward my apartment, climbing the stairs to my destroyed apartment.
While my heart feels heavy, the look on my mother’s face burnt into my brain, a lightness courses through me. I feel free, like I’m finally doing what I want, not what others expect of me.
