suck up to people so they’d buy my paintings, I could do it.
She could be fake for a few hours, even if she despised it.
Look at what she’d done that morning. She was fake
married, so maybe she was well on her way.
It was late, well after dinner, before Emily heard the front
door open and the sound of her parents’ voices.
She didn’t rush downstairs. She didn’t want to ambush
them. She also didn’t want them to go off and get involved in
their separate evening activities. She did leave her room right
away but didn’t run down the hall or gallop down the huge
staircase. She didn’t burst out with her news, leading the way
with her ring finger held out before her like a human miming
an elephant.
The image did make Emily smile, but then she remembered
what Dani said about smiling. Had she been serious? Was
there really anything wrong with a smile?
“Mom? Dad?” Emily found her p
arents in the living room.
They were just sitting down for a few minutes. She knew
that they’d talk about whatever they’d been doing all day for a
bit, then they’d go their separate ways. Her mom would
probably make herself a cup of tea and head to her studio. Her
dad had his office further back on the main floor, a few rooms
down from the big open kitchen and living room. He’d likely
go there and work on whatever political nonsense he had to
do.
Not nonsense. Why am I so mean sometimes?
If she wanted her parents to hear her out, to see her, to
respect her and what she wanted, she should learn how to
respect them. To see them as more than just her mom and dad.