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“I’m not picking a fight,” he said carefully. “I’m trying to have a rational conversation with you. That’s all.” Then he shook his head. “You know, just last night I was thinking about how we need to be able to talk to each other even when we don’t agree, and the way you’re reacting right now is why we haven’t done that until today.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, you want everyone to agree with you, and when they don’t, you get all…like this!”
“Everyone gets upset when they’re right and no one agrees with them,” she countered tightly.
“Or maybe you need to think about why you’re the only one who thinks you’re right.” Pausing, he let out a long breath. “I don’t want to argue with you, but I’m also not going to lie to you. So, if this is how you feel and what you think about me, then I’ll go. But…”
“You should go,” she said, not looking at him. “This is all too much right now and…” She swallowed the lump of emotion that was threatening to choke her. “Just go.”
With a curt nod, he walked away and toward her family. She had no idea what he was saying to them, but there was a round of nodding and a few handshakes before he walked out of the cafeteria.
Good riddance.
What kind of crappy person did something like this in the middle of a family crisis? Couldn’t he have just changed the subject or simply agreed with her for the sake of argument?
Talk about rude…
“This sucks,” she mumbled before walking back across the room and was confused by the strange looks everyone was giving her. “So, um…”
Her mother stood, hooked her arm with Lily’s, and led her back to the other side of the cafeteria.
“Mom? What in the world…?”
One thing about her mom was that she rarely got angry. She stood up for herself and could be a strict parent, but she rarely got mad.
She definitely looked mad right now.
“I know this isn’t the best place to have this discussion, but we’re having it,” Emma said firmly but softly. “It wasveryimmature of you to get angry with Noah for simply saying how he felt.”
“Is that what he told you? ThatIwas being immature? Because…”
“No,” her mother swiftly interrupted. “It’s what we all saw, Lily. I don’t think you understand the ramifications of stalling your surgery. And the fact that Noah was able to say it, with your father and everyone staring at him like they wanted to strangle him just for being here with you, speaks a lot to his character.” Then her whole face pinched up. “Yourcharacter is the one I’m disappointed in right now.”
Her eyes went wide. “Mom! Seriously?”
“Robert was telling us how great Noah was today and how both he and your grandfather think so highly of him,” Emma went on. “And with as much of a brat as you just were, he still walked over and apologized for raising his voice over here and asked that we call him when William is out of surgery.” She shook her head. “Honestly, Lily, I…I don’t even know what to say.”
Good grief…
“Noah and I have been dating, Mom,” she said defiantly, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized how bratty and immature she sounded.
Great.
She let out a long, weary breath. “All of this stuff with Grandpa…that’s what brought Noah and I together. There was still a lingering…something there from three years ago.” And dammit, tears stung her eyes again. “We thought we’d…you know…fling it out while you were all gone and possibly be done by now.”
“But you weren’t.”
Shaking her head, she swiped the tears that spilled over. “This is seriously all too much for me to deal with. I could handle just my stupid injury, but now there’s all this with Grandpa and my relationship with Noah…and I still have no idea what it is I actually want to do with my damn life! I keep going from one dancing gig to another and none of it makes me want to stay! But this last month? Being with Noah? It confused the hell out of me because suddenly I wasn’t so eager to leave.”
It was the biggest admission she’d ever made.
“Oh, sweetie,” Emma said, pulling her in for a hug. “I hate that we were gone while you were dealing with so much.” Then she took a step back. “But more than anything, I hate that you haven’t been completely truthful with us. It sounds like you’ve been keeping a lot of stuff to yourself and I don’t know why.”
The snort was out before she could stop it. “Please, in a family of overachievers, you think I want to be the one who fails in front of everyone?”
Her mother’s eyes were the ones to go wide this time, but Lily was on a roll and couldn’t seem to shut up.
