Let's Pretend This Is Normal by Miriam Verheyden

Author:Miriam Verheyden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mascot Books
Published: 2018-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Us Against the World

Three days later, heart pounding, I set off to my parents’ house. It’s a three-hour drive, and it’s the worst drive of my life. I’m so scared, I have to stop twice to throw up. My hands won’t stop shaking, and I’m almost crying with fear. How will they react? Not well, that’s for sure.

What parent would be thrilled if their twenty-two-year old daughter announced that she’s dropping out of college to move halfway across the world to live with a married father of four? Not to mention that he’s twenty-five years older, which is almost an aside compared to everything else.

Will they yell? Cry? Slap me? Anything is possible.

When I arrive, I can’t get out of the car. I’m glued to my seat, my hands clasping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turn white. I sit there for what feels like an eternity, frozen to the spot, nauseated and paralyzed by fear. I never understood that phrase—paralyzed by fear—until today. It’s a real thing.

I want to call Richard for moral support, but it’s the middle of the night in Canada. Damn the time difference!

I close my eyes and give myself a little pep talk. “It’s one bad day,” I mutter to myself. “One bad day in exchange for a lifetime of happiness. You can do this.”

I picture Richard, his kind blue eyes looking at me with so much love, and that gives me strength.

My limbs unfreeze, and with a deep breath, I open the car door and get out.

They are in the kitchen. Knowing that I was coming home, but unaware that I’m about to shatter their world, they are relaxed, happy to have finished their long work week. They are drinking coffee and look up as I enter the room, smiling at me. When they see my face, the smiles are replaced with frowns of worry.

“What’s the matter?” Mom asks.

I can only imagine how I must look: deathly white, wild-eyed, and shaking.

“I have to tell you something,” I start, and then burst into tears.

“Hey, what is it? Did something happen?” they urge.

“Y-y-yes,” I stutter, and then blurt out, “I want to move to Canada.”

Silence.

I plow on, “Richard and I love each other, and I want to live with him. I mean, he wants me to live with him. We both want to. I’m not happy here, and he makes me happy. So happy. I have to do this.” I stop to take a breath, and they both stare at me, stunned.

“What?” Dad says.

“Isn’t he married?” Mom asks. “And what about school?”

So far, there hasn’t been any yelling and no slapping—which might only be because I’m careful to stay out of arm’s reach. But I take it as a good sign, and continue a little bit calmer.

I explain how unhappy I have been over the last two years. I pointedly mention Oliver.

I also tell them that Forestry is the wrong choice for me, and that dropping out of college is not the end of the world.

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