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CHAPTER16
Kyleigh
I chopped the tomatoes Morgan had given me and placed them in a small bowl. “I love helping in the kitchen. Back home I work late a lot so I don’t get to help often. I’m not sure my mom appreciates my assistance when I do. She’s a wonderful cook all on her own.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m wonderful. Luckily, taco salads are really easy. You chop all the stuff, and let everyone put what they want in their own dish. This way if they don’t like it, they only have themselves to blame,” she laughed.
“That’s brilliant. And I can’t believe all the stuff you have for toppings. I’ve never had a taco or a taco salad before, but it looks a lot like something we’d eat back home. Of course, we’d add a lot more spice to our meat. Tabiqians love their food hot.”
“Funny, because you seem to have a sweet tooth.”
“Well, I have always been accused of being different, even as a child. I put sugar in my tea and I never pass up dessert. I can’t believe I don’t weigh five hundred pounds,” I chuckled. “Then again, the temperature is a lot hotter in Tabiq too, so it probably melts off me.”
“I don’t know how you do it. I go to the resort with Shaun once, maybe twice a year on vacation. I spend my time either on the beach or in our suite enjoying the air conditioning. I think I’d rather face the winters here in Boston than what you guys deal with daily.”
“Not me. I’ve never experienced snow myself, but I can’t picture it being anything other than cold,” I said.
“You’ve never seen snow?”
“I’ve seen it in pictures, in movies, but never in person, never touched it. I assume it’s like ice,” I said.
“Well, while you’re here on vacation, we need to get you up north to see the snow firsthand,” Morgan said.
I smiled. “That sounds wonderful, but I’m not here on vacation. I’m here for school. Once it’s complete, I’m going home.”
“I’m sure Shaun can talk Finn into giving you some extra time off so you can get the full USA experience,” she said.
“What is it with everyone talking for me?” I snapped. Morgan’s eyes widened and I hurried to say, “I’m sorry. That was extremely rude of me.”
“No. I think I said something I shouldn’t have. I’m the one who should be sorry. But please, Kyleigh, tell me what upset you so much.”
I sighed, put down the knife, and sat at the table. “It’s just that Liam suggested something very similar this morning.” And I flipped out on him, too.
Morgan took the seat across from me and asked, “Is that what the fight was about? Is that why you want to stay with us now?”
I shrugged. “It’s part of it. Liam invited me to Ireland after my course is over.”
“That doesn’t sound like something worth getting upset over. And, you know? I’ve always wanted to go there,” she said.
“Me too, but it’s impossible. My life is in Tabiq, and he knows that.”
“I’m still confused on why you got angry with him,” she said.
“It’s the fact that he said he’d talk to Finn, I mean, Dr. O’Connor, for me.”
“I’m sure you can call him Finn. I mean, you’re dating his brother,” she said.
“Besides the fact that Dr. O’Connor is my boss, Liam and I are not dating. We are just spending time together. Dating would mean there’s a chance of something more developing.”
“And you don’t believe that you and Liam can have a future together?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. It’s not because I don’t care about him. I do more than I ever thought possible. But…I can’t be with someone from another country.” It would hurt my mom too much. And my happiness is not as important as hers.
“Kyleigh, you are free to be with whoever you want to. Your own president is marrying someone from another country. That is a statement of how far Tabiq has come,” she said.
Did she know about our history? It wouldn’t surprise me. She was married to a Henderson, and they seemed to be heavily involved in what happens in my country, both bad and good. But knowing what has happened and living it are two different things.
“President Florraz and I are different.”
