She stiffens, then abruptly pulls into the parking lot of a Wendy’s. My mother does not eat at Wendy’s.
She parks the car and turns in her seat to fully face me.
“Youarelike your father.”
Well, shit. I guess I was asking for it.
She reaches over and lifts my chin, forcing me to meet her gaze. “You’re funny and fierce and driven.Like your father.People are complicated, Nora. Just because he’s…an asshole doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any good qualities. I wouldn’t have stayed with him for so long otherwise.”
“Oh my God,” I exclaim, “I think this is the second time in my life that I’ve heard you swear.”
She gives me a prim smile. “Don’t get used to it.” She stares intently at me for a moment and then tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Unlike your father, you have a conscience. Do you think you’d be in this car, moping, if you didn’t? Do you think you would have bothered trying to save José from Pansy atall? If all you cared about was your own self-interest, you could have told Pansy you were dating Cormac and left it at that. You tried to break them up because you were worried about him.”
“I also don’t ever want to see her again.”
“No one could blame you for that.”
I swallow a laugh. “But Mom, I know you don’t want me dating Cormac. I saw the look on your face when I told you.”
“Well, no, I’d prefer it if you weren’t dating my new stepson, but he’s always been a smart, sweet boy. If things don’t work out, it could be awkward, but Nora…”
I feel tears burning behind my eyes again.
“I’ve never seen you carry on like this about a boy.Never.And if you really love him, it’s worth the risk.”
“Like you loved Dad?” I ask, my voice like sandpaper.
I want to crawl under a rock as soon as the words come out. We both remember how diminutive she became in that relationship.
She takes a ragged breath, then says, “I wasn’t a good role model for you.”
“I didn’t need one.”
She wraps her hand around mine. “We all need people, Nora. All of us.”
“But most of us don’t need as many people as Dad did,” I say, laughing a little, even though I’m sniffling.
“Well, yes. But Cormac is nothing like your father. Neither is Eugene.”
“No, he’s not. ButIam. If I really love him, I should convince him to leave. He’ll be happier if he’s pursuing his dream.”
“That’s horseshit.”
I blink at her.
“If you really love him, you’ll let him decide what his dreamis. You won’t try to decide that for him.” She rubs at an imaginary smudge on the window. “Nora I didn’t think I was good enough for your father. I didn’t think I was pretty enough or interesting enough to keep him. He encouraged me to think that way.That’swhy I stayed. I taught you to be independent because I didn’t want you to make the same mistake, but it would be just as much of a mistake to avoid getting close to people who value you. Who love you the way you deserve to be loved.”
“What if he…” I take a deep breath. “What if Cormac chooses to stay here, with me, and he regrets it?”
She gives me a sad smile. “That’s the kind of chance we all have to take.”
I’m dumbstruck by what she just said, my thoughts running rampant. She puts the car back into drive, and the next thing I know we’re in the drive-through line.
“This isn’t a day to worry about diets,” my mom says.
“Are you going to tell Eugene?” I give her a sidelong glance, my chest tight with worry.
“About the Wendy’s?”
