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Again, Elena had to grit her teeth together to keep from retorting.
“Are you sure you don’t just want to try the juice, Elena?” Bridget cut in. “It’s so good. A new blend.”
“I said I wasn’t in the mood, Mom.”
“It won’t hurt you to try new things,” her mother persisted.
Elena sighed. “Alright. Pour me a glass.”
“Anyway,” Emily continued easily, ignoring the interruption, “to answer your question Elena, I’m doing fabulously. I just booked another event for the coming week and I have two more meetings with potential clients. They’ve been to some of the events I’ve managed, so they know what discriminating standards I have.”
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“Your standards are very discriminating,” Elena threw in.
Emily seemed to consider whether or not Elena was being sarcastic. She seemed to decide against it, so she paused only a moment and went on with her monologue. Bridget set down a full glass of juice for Elena, who took a distracted sip.
“And in other news,” Emily said with barely contained glee, “I’m engaged!”
Elena was momentarily stunned by the news. She hadn’t even realized that Emily was seeing someone. She took a quick glance at her sister’s hand but there was no ring. Emily seemed to notice the direction of her gaze, because she supplied the answer immediately.
“Oh, Donald wants to take me ring shopping this weekend,” she said, “so I’ll have a ring on my finger by Monday.”
Elena smiled tightly. “That’s great news Em, congratulations, I didn’t realize you were even seeing someone.”
Her sister’s smile seemed to tighten, but she replied in the same tone, “Donald and I have been together for almost a year.”
“Yes,” Bridget said delightedly, “such a wonderful boy, darling. You already know how Daddy and I feel about him. No doubt you will come to love him as much as we do, Elena.”
“You never mentioned you were seeing anyone,” Elena said, ignoring her mother’s fluttering.
This time, Elena was conscious of Emily’s forced smile. Her tone was slipping too.
“Well, let’s be honest,” she said, “you were never very interested.”
Elena willed herself to remain calm. “I just returned the favor.”
“Meaning what?” Emily asked, dropping her smile altogether.
“Meaning that none of you exactly supported my life choices,” Elena said, abandoning her efforts to remain unconcerned.
“Really, Elena,” Bridget’s voice was annoyingly stoic, “there’s no need to take that tone, or to throw unwarranted accusations in our faces.”
“They’re not exactly unwarranted, Mother,” Elena insisted. “You and Dad didn’t even attend my graduation.”
“We were in Florida, Elena,” Louis said, as though that excuse was valid.
“I don’t care where you were,” Elena spat, “you should have done whatever it took to be there. You made the effort for Emily’s graduation, but I get it, you were trying to send me a message. You’ve always been ashamed of me.”
Bridget shook her head. “You’ve always been so dramatic.”
Elena stood abruptly. She looked around at all three faces. There was no understanding there. She wondered how she could be so different from all of them.
“Excuse me,” she said with exaggerated restraint, “I think I’m going to spend the rest of the evening in my room.”
There were slight protests, but Elena ignored them. She walked out and upstairs, into her room. She lay flat on the bed, glaring up at the ceiling as though it had personally offended her. After a while, she closed her eyes and tried to think things through logically. She had a big decision to make and this trip to see her parents had been a part of the decision-making process.
Her parents were not bad people. Elena knew that. They had been raised a certain way and that had shaped their thinking. They were people of habit and tradition. There were things they expected; foremost among them was the desire that their children grow up to live the lives they themselves had lived. Emily had complied with this desire, but Elena had been unable to conform.
