Thirty Sunsets by Christine Hurley Deriso

Author:Christine Hurley Deriso
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: teen, teenlit, teen lit, teen novel, teen fiction, ya, ya novel, ya fiction, young adult, young adult fiction, young adult novel, eating disorder
Publisher: Flux is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Published: 2014-05-12T04:00:00+00:00

“Is it true?”

Dad looks up from his baseball game.

“Is it true that Mom is auditioning her church friends to adopt the baby?”

“Forrest! ” Mom snaps, walking into the family room from the kitchen, a cheese grater in her hand.

“You had a family lined up for Brian’s baby? The only thing left to do was break the news to him and Liv? Is it even possible to be that controlling?”

Dad lowers the volume on the game and pats the sofa for me to sit down, but I don’t move.

I stare Mom down, expecting her to erupt in defiance. But instead, she stuns me by dissolving into tears.

Whoa. Mom never cries.

Dad walks over and hugs her loosely. “Can we dial it down?” he asks me.

“Sure,” I say, planting my hands on my hips. “Once you guys stop blindsiding me with a secret du jour, I’ll stop reacting with ‘What the hell.’”

But my petulance is half-hearted. I hate seeing Mom cry. (Have I ever actually seen Mom cry before?)

Dad nudges her toward the couch, and they both sit down. I sigh, then plop in the easy chair next to them. “How could you have imagined Brian would ever be willing to give up a baby for adoption?” I ask Mom.

Her hand fumbles by her mouth.

Dad squeezes Mom closer. “Your mother was just trying to help … to come up with some ideas, some options … ”

“Did Brian and Olivia ask for options?” I challenge.

“What do they know?” Mom asks through tears, her defiance roaring back. “They’re eighteen! They can’t know what it means to become parents!”

“No one can know until they do it,” Dad says, trying to sound conciliatory but inciting Mom even more.

“We don’t need platitudes, Michael! We need answers! We need a plan, a plan that will be in everyone’s best interests, including my grandchild’s !”

She crumbles into a fresh set of tears.

“But it’s not your decision to make,” I say quietly.

“Oh, thanks for the memo,” Mom says, surprising me again. Sarcasm is rarely in her repertoire.

“But you had some couple lined up,” I say, pitching forward.

“Oh, of course I didn’t,” Mom says dismissively, wiping her eyes. “It’s common knowledge that this lovely couple in church can’t have children and wants to adopt. I was just making mental notes. It’s not like I was hustling them to an attorney’s office in the dead of night.”

I almost laugh in spite of myself. “Well, Brian is major-league pissed,” I say instead.

“Oh, Forrest, you’re just full of breaking news today,” Mom says. Sarcasm again? I’m seeing whole new dimensions of my mother.

“Brian will be fine,” Dad assures us. “Our conversation was just a little more … indelicate than we would’ve liked.”

“I was plenty delicate,” Mom says, narrowing her eyes at him. “But what do I know? You two are obviously the experts on how to handle a family crisis.”

“Just for future reference,” I suggest, “let’s file this away as Exhibit A of how not to do it.” Dad chuckles, and a room full of tension suddenly seems to dissipate.

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