Family Secrets by Nancy Thayer

Author:Nancy Thayer [Thayer, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-553-39103-9
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2014-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

Checking into Howard Johnson’s was like returning to their own home. “All right,” Sam said, shutting the door. “What’s this all about?”

Julia sat against the headboard of one of the double beds. She was fully clothed, but chilled even so. She yanked the covers up to her chin.

“I just couldn’t be there anymore,” she said. “I had an appointment with Mrs. Derek this morning. This getting into college business. It’s such a crock. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“Why do you say that?” Sam sat on the end of the bed, not quite in reach.

“Okay, maybe it’s great for some people. You got through it. But I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the tests, the pressure, the expectations—”

“So you don’t want to go to college?”

“Not at all. I’m sick of teachers. I’m sick of rules.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“Really? I’d like to work in a restaurant.” Julia waited for his reaction, and when he only looked at her calmly, she continued. “I’d like to work in a restaurant and marry you and put you through school and live with you.”

Sam got up. He walked across the room. He pulled the drapery cord so that the curtains opened to let in a hazy light. He pulled the cord and the curtains shut.

“It’s not so impossible,” Julia said. “You’re twenty-two. I’m eighteen. Those are reasonable ages to get married.”

“Your parents would kill you.”

“My parents are going to kill me anyway for what I just did.”

“Gressex will probably expel you.”

“I don’t care! I hate it there. I want to be with you, Sam.”

Sam walked over to Julia’s bed. He sat down close to her and took her hands in his. His face was earnest. “I just don’t know what to say, Julia.”

“We’re right for each other. I know it. I’ve always known it.”

Sam didn’t reply.

“You know it, too, Sam,” Julia said. She leaned over and grabbed his face with both her hands. She turned his face toward hers and, looking in his eyes, she saw what she needed to see. He did love her.

But Sam pulled away. “Just because we’re right for each other doesn’t mean we should get married.”

Julia put her hand lightly on his arm. “Will you at least think about it?”

Sam slid his arm up and turned it so that his palm touched hers, and he closed his hand upward, lacing his fingers through hers. His touch was warm and steady. “Yeah, okay,” Sam said softly.

“ ‘Yeah, okay,’ ” she echoed solemnly. They sat together for a while, silent, intensely in love, until Julia broke the mood. “Oh, Sam, I love you!” She laughed, throwing herself at him, smothering him with kisses. Then she stood up, briskly straightening her clothes. “I’m starving!” she declared.

They went out for a pizza, which they brought back to the room and ate in bed as they watched Wayne’s World on the pay TV. Julia felt her anxiety level drop and float away. But when the movie was finished, Sam looked at her and said, “I wonder if the school has called your parents.

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