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He swallowed hard. “Were they okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Fortunately, it was all pretty minor. But they had to go to the hospital to get checked out. So, I volunteered to take care of the kids. I wouldn’t let them pay me, and not because I’d been worried about my visa requirements. I’d just wanted to help.”
Especially after what had happened to my sister. I hadn’t been there for her kids during her diagnosis and after, so in some strange way, helping another family had felt like a redemption of sorts.
“I’m sure they appreciated that.”
“They did, but immigration viewed it as additional hours worked beyond what was permitted,” I continued.
“Thus violating the terms of your visa,” Tristan finished for me.
I nodded. “I spoke with my adviser and the deputy vice-chancellor of international students, and they advised me to seek legal counsel. So, I met with a solicitor who specialized in immigration, but he couldn’t help.”
In fact, he’d merely confirmed my worst fears. I was out of options. Well, except for one—admit failure and go home to the Alondra Valley.
An idea that had filled me with enough dread I could’ve drowned in it.
Moving across the world had been for the best. In Australia, I could start over. Start fresh. I could be whoever I wanted. I could be myself.
Not the mayor’s daughter. Or Tessa’s little sister. But me—Ellie.
“You couldn’t appeal?”
“I could, but only after I’d come home to the US.” I blew out a breath. “What would be the point?”
“Mm.” He nodded. “Does your mom know all this?”
I scoffed. My mother had accused me of being careless. I hadn’t been careless. In fact, it wasbecauseI cared about the family I nannied for that I was even in this mess in the first place.
But I couldn’t reverse the immigration department’s decision, just like I couldn’t change my mother’s mind. She’d always find a way to blame me.
“Let me guess,” Tristan said. “She didn’t let you explain.”
I nodded, wishing I hadn’t gone tonight. It was easier to ignore my parents than face the truth. My parents had been lying to me for my entire life, and yet my mom acted as if I could never do anything right.
If something similar had happened to Tessa, Mom would’ve been sympathetic. Patient. Understanding. She would’ve blamed it on everyone but my sister. They would’ve helped her.
But for me…never.
Nothing I did was ever good enough for Madame Mayor.
“She actually said, ‘Teresa would’ve never allowed something like this to happen.’” I made my best attempt to mimic my mom’s imperious tone.
Of course not. Because Tessa was perfect.
My mother wanted me to be someone I wasn’t. Even now, she was comparing me to a ghost. I wasn’t Tessa, and I never would be.
And in my mother’s eyes, I’d always be a disappointment.
Tristan let out a heavy sigh. “No one’s perfect, but it’s easy to put someone on a pedestal after they die.”
I wondered if he was speaking from experience. I still couldn’t believe he’d cut off my mom earlier when she’d been talking about Tessa. While I hated being compared to my sister, I could empathize with the desire to remember only the good things about someone you loved after they were gone.
“I can appreciate that, but my mom is always so stuck in the past,” I said, thinking more about her anger toward my dad and me.
I could understand why Gloria might dislike what I represented, yet it wasn’tmyfault that my dad had had an affair. Gloria had been holding on to this grudge for seventeen years.Seventeen.I was beginning to wonder if she’d ever let it go.
But Tristan didn’t know the truth about my dad. No one did.
