Package Deal (57 page)

Amanda
slept uneasily and rose the next morning feeling no more rested than she had the night before.
If h
e
r moth
e
r notic
e
d
, sh
e
said nothing
during breakfast
.
When
Amanda and C
e
c
elia
took h
e
r to th
e
airport to s
ee
h
e
r off, th
e
old
e
r woman h
e
ld h
e
r tongu
e
until sh
e
was r
e
ady to board th
e
plan
e
.

“I’ll
email
you wh
e
n I g
e
t hom
e
. Th
e
r
e
’
s som
e
thing
we need to discuss
.”

Th
e
look in h
e
r
e
y
e
told Amanda h
e
r moth
e
r w
ould not b
e
dissuad
e
d
.
Sh
e
drov
e
hom
e
wond
e
ring what qu
e
stions that
email
might
contain.

Chapter 15

Th
e
day
after her mother flew home to Minnesota
,
Amanda pick
e
d
up th
e
phon
e
hoping it was Marcus.

“Amanda?”

“Oh, h
i,
M
oth
e
r. Did you g
e
t hom
e
all right?”

“Y
e
s.
I said I was going to
email you
. I chang
e
d
my mind.
We need to
talk.”

Amanda
pac
e
d
b
e
tw
ee
n th
e
stov
e
and th
e
tabl
e
. “About what?”

“About that man—Marcus.”

“What about him?”

“Wh
e
n ar
e
you going to l
e
arn? C
e
c
e
lia told m
e
you said you lov
e
d
h
im, but h
e
refused to tell you
he loved you
. I
s that tru
e
?”

She bit her lip. “
It’s not
quite
that simple.
”

“
I’v
e given this a lot
of thought,”
her mother continued
as if she hadn’t heard her
.
“I
n my opinion, y
ou hav
e
to stop mooning
over
him and mov
e
on.
If a man cannot
state his
—his intentions
—
how he feels about you
and Cecelia
—
then
h
e
’s
not worth your tim
e
.”

H
er mother,
whose own life h
ad been so traditional,
until
her husband
, Amanda’s father,
died
.
Her mother, a re
cently converted women’s libber?

“You mad
e
on
e
mistak
e
—with Dylan
—w
e
ll, actually two, but who’s counting
?
You can’t afford to mak
e
anoth
e
r on
e
.”

“What
ar
e
you g
e
tting at
, Mother
?”
Amanda turned on the stove.

“You hav
e
a child to tak
e
car
e
of. C
e
c
e
lia is mor
e
important than any man
—even a good-looking one.
Y
ou
have to
know that by this time. Cecelia’s friend,
Sam
,
told me he’s
‘
hot
’
—where
she gets such language, I don’
t
even
want
to
imagine
.
”

Amanda’s fac
e
burned
as she imagined her mother tut-tutting
with lips pursed accusingly
.
“
You
do, too,
know where she gets that language
. F
rom Brittany
.
”
She turned off the stove when the tea kettle began to sing
.
“
I’m sure that’
s where Sam gets her ideas. And
y
ou don’t hav
e
to t
e
ll m
e
what’s important
, Mother
. What do you think I’v
e
b
ee
n doing
,
ever
sinc
e
C
e
c
e
lia’s birth
?”

“You’v
e
b
ee
n trying to mak
e
a lif
e
for h
e
r. I know that.
That’s why you broke down and got that dog. I thought
you were making
a
big
mistake
there, too
,
except
he i
s cute.
Thank God he was already house
broken. I have no idea how you could have taken care of
that
animal
, too,
with your busy schedule.Anyway, Cece
lia
d
e
s
e
rv
e
s to hav
e
a fath
e
r, but not just any old p
e
rson who’s willing to r
e
ad h
e
r stori
e
s. Sh
e
told m
e
h
e
do
e
s
that,
or
used to
.”

Marcus i
s mor
e
than that to C
e
c
e
lia
.
“H
e
g
e
ts along
well
with
her
.”
I know he cares for her.

“But sh
e
do
e
sn’t lik
e
him any
more
. Sh
e
told m
e
that
, too
,
”
her mother continued.

Amanda sucked in
her
lower
lip
to prevent her
self
from snapping at her mother. Quietly,
apprehensive
of
what her mother might say
,
she asked,
“What
e
ls
e
did C
e
c
e
lia say?”

“Sh
e
said h
e
mad
e
you cry. That’s why sh
e
do
e
sn’t lik
e
him any
mor
e
. I know you, Amanda. You
always
fall for th
e
handsom
e
ones
. T
hey are so shallow, thinking all they have to do is crook their little finger and
any
girl they want comes running
.
I hav
e
to admit I thought Dylan had a futur
e
—if h
e
’d gon
e
into law or m
e
d
icin
e
, lik
e
h
e
plann
e
d
—
b
e
for
e
th
e
Army
got
him
.
Why don’t you find a man who’
s happy
just
to mak
e
a
living
—so you can stay hom
e
and tak
e
car
e
of C
e
c
e
and maybe have more babies
?
H
e
do
e
sn’t hav
e
to b
e
th
e
b
e
st-looking man on th
e
block.
And y
ou can always do your writing at hom
e
if you insist on
your own
car
ee
r
.”

“And
if I did that
, what a
perfect excuse
for you
to
accus
e
m
e
of wasting my
e
d
ucation!”
Amanda
shot back.
“
How many tim
e
s have
you
said that
, Mother
—b
e
for
e
and aft
e
r Dylan,
after Cecelia’s birth,
even
aft
e
r
I
got my
d
e
gr
ee
?
Y
ou like
to
r
e
f
e
r to
me
as
‘
my daught
e
r th
e
doctor, my daught
e
r th
e
prof
e
ssor,’
to your
fri
e
nds
, but you
have
never
once
said you’re proud of me—for anything I’ve done since—since Dylan died
.
Are you jea
l
ou
s of my
accomplishments
? Is that why you didn’t want me to go back to school aft
er Cecelia was born
…
after she was old enough that I could leave her
for a few hours a day
to make a future for myself,
and for her?”

“
Amanda
Jane
,
since when do you question my motives? I’ve never wanted anything but the best for you
! You w
e
r
e
th
e
on
e
who insist
e
d
on g
e
tting your doctorat
e
—and limiting th
e
numb
e
r of m
e
n who would want to—to
—to
g
e
t clos
e
to you.
I told you that would happen
, didn’t I?
How
often
have you gone out since you went back to grad school? Three, four
times
? And
those men
were
all church-mouse poor
,
just
like you. And what about since you
went
out
w
est
? Is
this Marc
us fellow the only person you’
ve dated
in
that
little town
? Cecelia told me about
the first time you went out
with him—”

Her eyes were filling, her throat burning
,
wanting to ask what else Cecelia had said
.
But her mother anticipated her question.