“What . . . day exactly?” Bianca asks carefully.
“When you decided to settle down, start a life . . .”
“This is . . . I . . . I don’t know what to say . . . I . . . This is too much . . .”
She’s going to scream or cry or throw up her guts. Right here at the table, in front of everyone, in front of Xavier, and she just cannot.
“It’s no more than you deserve. We’re so happy for you,” her dad says, his smile wide and proud, eyes a little glassy.
“I . . . I . . . Excuse me . . .” she says and she’s up and out of her seat, striding out of the room like a bullet.
She pushes through the front doors, out into the warm air, the scent of delicious Greek fare replaced by asphalt and car exhaust.
Fuck.
Inhaling, she tries to keep her breathing slow and even as she marches down the street toward the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard. Maybe she’ll just walk home. It did her a world of good the other night when she got out of Izzy’s car. Maybe a nice long walk will make this gut-churning nausea disappear.
“B!” a voice calls behind her. “Bianca, c’mon, slow down. Bianca!”
Lexi’s legs are way longer than hers and she’s wearing sensible flats and she’ll catch up to her easily enough, so Bianca just stops and braces herself for impact.
“I really don’t want to hear it, Lex, so just—” she starts, turning to face her big sister.
But Lexi cuts her off. “First, tell me something. Are you okay?”
“What?” Bianca blinks in confusion.
“Are you okay?” Lexi repeats.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine. What was that back there?”
“Did you . . . did you see . . . it was . . . it was so much money. Money that they were just . . . never going to give to me if I never got married?”
“You don’t know that.”
“I think I do. I think they were saving it for now or until I just got old enough that they, I don’t know, lost hope?”
“So . . . what do you want to do? Do you want to go back in there and tell them that?”
“No, I don’t want to make a scene, not in Theíos’s restaurant. I just . . .” She trails off, clearly at a loss.
“You don’t have to take the money.”
“I’d be an idiot to not take the money.”
“And you’re the opposite of an idiot.”
“I feel like one right now.”
“You’re not. Take the money. Like they said, they did the same thing for us when we got married.”
“It’s not even about the money. I’m grateful for it. I really am. It’s actually life-changing. That’s not the problem. It’s that they don’t seem to understand me and I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. You see how fucked up it is, right? That they didn’t think to offer it up for grad school or my doctorate?”
Lexi shrugs helplessly. “You know Mom and Dad. They’re old school. It didn’t occur to them.”
Bianca doesn’t know what to say to that. Lexi’s right. She’s not going to change her parents. They love her, but even if she explained to them why she was so upset, they still wouldn’t understand.
