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She leans her shoulder into mine and sighs. “OK,” she says. “That’s fair.”
We sit like that for a good twenty minutes before her parents return. Mr. Amherst takes a seat in a chair while Doris sits on the other side of Aria.
Amherst clears his throat, then says, “OK.”
“OK?” Aria asks. “What’s that mean?”
“It means I have conditions,” he continues. “First, Aria lives here.” He points to the floor. “At home.”
“Done,” I say.
“Second, you do not pick her up from school. That’s my job. And you do not see her during the school week.”
“Done,” I say.
“Third…” He sighs.
“Go on,” Doris says. “Finish it.”
“Third,” he repeats. “You have lunch with us every Sunday in the city. And that’s the only day you two get to see each other until the summer is over.”
“Dad!” Aria protests.
“Done,” I say.
“Ryker,” she says, turning her frustrations to me.
“It’s all good, Aria. One day a week is a very good start to a new relationship.”
“No,” Aria says, standing up. “I get to negotiate too. I’m capable of making my own decisions.”
“I told you,” her mother says.
Her father looks at her and nods. “OK, Aria. Renegotiate then.”
“One,” Aria says, pacing the floor in front of the couch. “I live here but Ryker can come visit any time he wants.”
Amherst glares at me, but he nods. “Done.”
“Two,” Aria says. “He can pick me up from school on Fridays. There’s only two left anyway. And,” she continues, “we get to have a date that night with no curfew.”
Her father hesitates so long on this one, her mother intercedes. “Done,” Doris says.
Aria smiles, feeling brave. “And three… we can see each other two days a week all summer long. And then all the restrictions are over. I’ll be in college and I can make up my own mind about who I chose to date.”
Her father lowers his head and for a moment I think he’s angry. But then I catch him smiling.
He knew. He knew Aria would put up a fight. He was expecting this. Maybe it was a test, not just for me, but for both of us. A test to see if I respected him enough to give in and if she was grown-up enough to fight for what she wanted.
“You drive a hard bargain, Aria,” her father says, hiding his smile before he looks up. “But you’re going to make an excellent businesswoman one day. Done.”
Doris makes a big production of sighing, then she sniffles a little as she wipes her eyes and says, “Would you like to stay for dinner, Ryker?”
And I reply, “I can’t think of a single other place I’d rather be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE – ARIA
I learned a lot about myself during that negotiation with my mom and dad. I learned that family matters even though they sometimes make you want to stomp your feet and pull your hair out. I learned that Ryker has a past. A childhood. A mother. A friend who was there for him.
Which I hadn’t thought about before that moment, but it gave weight to his argument that we needed to take this slow. New relationships can destroy old ones if we’re not careful.
And sometimes that can be bad or it can be good.
Ryker’s mom gave up Ryker for a man. That’s what I was about to do with my family before Ryker told his story and made me really think this through. My family didn’t do anything to deserve a severing of ties. So I’m glad Ryker told me about his experience so I didn’t have to make the same mistake his mother did.
But letting go of old relationships and forging new ones can be good sometimes too. Ryker let go of his mother and found Ozzy. Sometimes it’s necessary to move on, sometimes it’s necessary to cling to the past.
It’s hard to know which is which, so having people you trust—people who love and support you and give you good advice—well, that’s something money can’t buy. It has to be earned.
There’s a lot more to this grown-up stuff than having sex, and moving out, and getting your own car. You need to be careful with people you love and not take those feelings for granted.
I did get a car. My parents bought me one for graduation today. And the moment I saw it sitting in our driveway with a giant red bow on the roof I understood why I got the ring for my birthday.
The ring was a symbol of our family ties. My parents wanted me to know that yes, I’m an adult now, but they will always be here for me.
The car is a symbol of freedom.
Which is great when you know freedom doesn’t really have anything to do with driving away and there is always a home base to come back to.
Ryker and I are sitting in his car driving to his place. Graduation is over, the celebratory dinner with my family is over, and now we’re on our way to his place for our Friday night date.
