“What are you doing?” he asked me.
“What does it look like?”
“Okay, but do you have a plan?”
I zipped up my suitcase. “Yes, I have a plan. I’m staying at the Cousins house until the wedding. I can’t deal with her.”
Jeremiah sucked in his breath. “Are you serious?”
“You heard her. She isn’t changing her mind. This is the way she wants it.”
He hesitated. “I don’t know.… What about your job?”
“You’re the one who told me I should quit. It’s better this way. I can plan the wedding better in Cousins than I can here.” I was sweating as I heaved up my suitcase. “If she can’t get on board this train, then that’s too bad. Because this is happening.”
Jeremiah tried to take the suitcase from me, but I told him not to bother. I lugged it down the stairs and to the car without a word to or from my mother. She didn’t ask where we were going, and she didn’t ask when I was coming back.
On the way out of town, we stopped at Behrs. Jere waited for me in his car while I went inside. If I hadn’t just had a fight with my mother, I never would have hadthe nerve to quit like that. Even though people came and went all the time at Behrs, especially students… still. I went straight back to the kitchen and found my manager, Stacey, and told her I was sorry, but as it turned out I was getting married in two months and I couldn’t keep working there. Stacey eyed my stomach and then my ring finger and said, “Congratulations, Isabel. Just so you know, there’s always a place for you here at Behrs.”
Alone in my car again, I cried loud, ragged sobs. I cried until my throat hurt. I was mad at my mom, but bigger than that was this overwhelming, heavy sadness. I was grown up enough to do things on my own, without her. I could get married, I could quit my job. I was a big girl now. I didn’t have to ask for her permission. My mother was no longer all powerful. Part of me wished she still could be.
chaptertwenty-seven
We were half an hour from Cousins when Jeremiah called and said, “Conrad’s been staying in Cousins.”
My whole body went stiff. We were at a stoplight, and Jeremiah’s car was in front of mine. “Since when?”
“Since last week. He just stayed after the whole thing at the restaurant. He came back once to get his stuff, but I think he’s gonna spend the summer out here.”
“Oh,” I said. “Do you think he’ll mind that I’m staying there?”
I could hear Jere hesitate. “No, I don’t think he’ll mind. I just wish I could be there too. If it wasn’t for that stupid internship, I could be. Maybe I should just quit.”
“You can’t. Your dad will kill you.”
“Yeah, I know.” I heard him hesitate again, and then he said, “I don’t feel right about the way we left thingswith your mom. Maybe you should go back home, Bells.”
“It won’t work. We’ll just fight again.” The light turned green. “You know, I actually think this could be for the best. It’ll give us both space.”
“If you say so,” Jeremiah said, but I could tell he didn’t completely agree.
“Let’s talk more when we get to the house,” I said, and we hung up.
This news that Conrad was in Cousins left me feeling uneasy. Maybe staying at the summer house wasn’t the answer.
But then, when I pulled into the empty driveway, I felt such incredible relief to be back. Home, I was back home.
The house looked the same, tall and gray and white. It made me feel the same. Like I was right where I belonged. Like I could breathe again.
I was sitting in Jeremiah’s lap on a lounge chair when we heard a car pull up. It was Conrad, getting out of the car with a bag of groceries. He looked taken aback to see us sitting there on the deck. I stood up and waved.
Jeremiah stretched his hands behind his head and leaned back onto his chair. “Hey, Con.”
“What’s up,” he said, walking over to us. “What are you guys doing here?”
Conrad set down the grocery bag and took a seat next to Jeremiah’s, and I just sort of hovered above them.
“Wedding stuff,” Jeremiah said vaguely.
