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I sit on the floor cross-legged and make eye-contact with Dad.
“Mr. Andrews is holding your job,” he says.
“About that.” I clear my throat. “I did a lot of thinking on my drive.”
“Good, honey.” Mom smiles. “Have you spoken to Joe?”
“No, Mom. I haven’t spoken to Joe. I’d appreciate it if you don’t speak to him either.”
Her lips form a straight line.
“What were you thinking about?” Dad asks.
My breath is shaky as I inhale. “Well, I’ve been thinking about moving to New York.”
Mom gasps right on cue. “Carla, you can’t be serious.”
Dad’s quiet, watching the twins chase each other around the dining room table.
“I’m serious, Mom. I … I don’t want to stay here anymore. Charlotte made a new life in New York, and she’s happy. I’d have her there with me.”
“But that’s so far from home.”
“It’s a quick plane ride. We would visit each other.”
“Where would you go to school?” Dad asks.
“At the community college Charlotte goes to.”
“Where would you live?”
“I’d get an apartment. Charlotte’s friend, Mallory, said she’d be my roommate.”
“And work?”
“I can work at the bakery with Charlotte.”
Dad’s quiet again. I prepared myself for his questions. I know how his mind works, because mine works the same way. If he can’t find a flaw in the logistics, he can’t argue.
“It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind.” Mom’s shoulders slump forward, the worry lines deep between her eyebrows.
“You guys have your hands full here with the boys. I had a plan but it got all messed up. Now it’s time for me to figure out a new one.”
“And you need to be all the way in New York to do that?”
I shrug. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“When will you go?”
“I’d have to deregister from the classes I signed up for. Luckily they haven’t started yet, so I won’t lose any money. Mallory’s apartment hunting so I guess it depends how long it takes her to find one.”
Dad nods. “You should use some of the money Nana left you to help with the deposit.”
A disgusted sound leaves Mom’s throat as she stands. “You’re discussing this like it’s just some business transaction.”
“She’s moving. It is a business transaction.”
“Our baby girl is leaving us, Robert.”
