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“I am. I said I’d take her on a road trip once we finished the year. A senior trip of sorts.”
My dad chuckled, then turned into full-on laughter. “This is about a vacation and a girl?”
Of course that’s all they could see, not my identity crisis when it came to my last name and job.
“Look, son.”
Oh, I’m son again?
“If she really likes you, she’ll understand your responsibilities.”
“Right,” I swallowed.
“Glad that’s settled,” my mom beamed.Go ahead, sweep it under the rug mom, just like you always do.
“I’ll tell Ken you’ll have the paperwork for him by next week.”
All I could manage was a small nod of my head as I left the room, tail tucked between my legs.
Itold her exactly two weeks before we were set to leave.
“What do you mean you can’t go?” She swallowed hard. I’d just made her dinner and primed her with a big glass of wine. We were set to go out to a few bars with some friends and Rosalie in a few hours. I figured I’d just tell her, watch her be sad for a little, then drink and dance her sorrows away.
“I can go,” I nodded. “Just not when you planned.”
“Whenweplanned. You helped me with all the details! We are even stopping by that rock garden spray paint attraction thing you wanted to go see!Weplanned this.”
“And we can still go, just in October, or next year.”
“Why?” She had tears welling in her eyes. “What came up?”
“An internship.”
“I knew it.” She sniffed hard, drank a gulp of the wine, and stood. “I saw some paperwork on your desk at your parents’ place. Figured you’d tell me about it sooner if that was the case. But no, you wait until it’s too late for me to get a refund or reschedule things. What happened to the Cristo Internship? It’s perfect for you! You seemed so interested in it. You sent in your application, right?”
I winced. I’d wanted that position. “Not good enough for my parents.” The application was sitting in my drafts folder of my email, just waiting for me to hit send.
She scoffed. “It was perfect for you! Restoring historical bridges and churches? What better fit could you find?”
“I couldn’t get them to see it that way.”
“Pity.” She gathered up her things in her backpack, pulling on her shoes.
“Where are you going?”
“To Rosalie’s place. I’ll catch a ride with her.”
“Why?” I asked, panic rising in my chest.
“I doubt your mommy and daddy approve of you hanging out with me.”
“Eliza, seriously, what is wrong with you?”
She whirled around. “Wrong with me? Sorry for taking a chance on doing something outside of my comfort zone and sorry for getting excited about it and I’mso sorrythat I am absolutely heartbroken that it won’t be happening with you.”
“I tried to get out of it but this internship literally starts the day after school ends. They did me a favor extending out the start date!”
“Good for you,” she deadpanned.
