The Truth About Leaving by Natalie Blitt

Author:Natalie Blitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Published: 2018-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

I spend the weekend trying desperately to get the ridiculous lovestruck look off my face. My fingers keep finding their way to my lips, as though the imprint of Dov is still there, as though I can capture the feeling again just by touching them.

I can’t.

Maddie is out of town for the weekend, so the only people who have to see me are family members, and if my parents notice, they don’t say a word.

“He seems like a lovely boy,” is all that my mom said after Thanksgiving. My dad squeezed my shoulder. I’m not sure what either of those things mean vis-a-vis Dov, but it doesn’t really matter. I have other more pressing issues. Starting with my college choices.

My mom starts up in full force on Sunday morning, as we begin a lovely breakfast at Walker Brothers. Well, lovely if that’s how you feel about having breakfast with most of the North Shore.

“So tell me again,” she says, her tone sounding more like a mom on a sitcom than a real mom. “You do want to go to Northwestern or you don’t?”

As though I constantly change my mind.

I count to ten. And then I try to remember the numbers in Hebrew that Dov had taught me. My old Hebrew School teacher would be proud that I was finally mastering the basics. ’Echad, shtayim, shalosh, ’arbah, chamesh, shesh, . . .

Well, at least one through six.

“I’m not sure, Mom.” I try using my most polite voice but I’m not sure it comes across that way, based on the odd expression on her face. “The truth is, we’ve never really talked about other options.”

“You were never interested in other options,” she interrupts. “I’d love for you to consider Berkeley for instance, but I’ve never—”

“I’m not interested in Berkeley.”

I cringe when I hear my voice. But I don’t care if they’re offering free tuition and any class I’ve ever dreamed of taking including ballet, I’m not joining my mom across the country.

She narrows her eyes, and I glance at my dad for support. But he’s trying to keep Sam from melting down because he’s dripped syrup on his favorite Batman T-shirt. I’m jealous. I’d rather be dealing with his meltdown than having this college conversation with my mom.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that I’ve been looking around at other college choices. And I’d like to go into all of this with an open mind. It’s very possible that Northwestern will end up being my choice, but—”

“Can I just urge you to consider staying in Chicago? If it’s not Northwestern then Loyola or the University of Chicago if you have to, but we really need your help here next year.”

I flinch as though I’d been slapped.

I remember what Dov asked on the porch just a couple of days earlier, about whether my parents would support my decision to go someplace else. Maybe I’d been too quick to respond.

“I thought we were clear that I really want to have a college experience,” I say, trying not to let the panic out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.