down with Emily in the living room.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Emily said. “I was going in ready for this
huge fight, but I guess they’d done a lot of thinking too. It
wasn’t just me who had things to figure out.”
“Your dad is a tough bargainer,” Dani insisted. “It’s hard to
believe he could change his mind.”
“I think he was just being tough on the outside in order to
protect me. He would have kept the deal as it was. It wasn’t
some kind of trick or test, but when I came to talk to them, he
changed his mind. I’ve always seen them as so rigid and strict
and unreasonable, and they weren’t really like that at all.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Dani said cautiously. “Maybe they
were just waiting for you to show them that you could do this
on your own. All of it. Your career, your school, your personal
life.”
“I had this idea that they were always saying no, that they
wouldn’t listen, but maybe I was equally as stubborn. Maybe I
wouldn’t listen either, or maybe I wasn’t saying and doing the
right things. Or saying one thing and doing the other. I don’t
know. It’s still really hard for me to sort through it all.”
“I guess maybe you just need some time.”
Emily reached out and took Dani’s hand. She threaded their
fingers together and grasped tightly, smiling at her so warmly
that it thawed any remaining ice around Dani’s heart. She’d
been so relieved to see Emily come back. Even though she
said she would, Dani was used to being the one left behind. No
one had ever fought for her before. No one had ever wanted
her to stay, and no one had wanted to stay either. But Emily
was different. When Emily said she’d be coming back, she
meant it.