take care of my dishes and then made the call. I used my old phone since my parents never answered numbers they didn’t recognize, but I deleted all the voicemails and texts I’d gotten while I’d kept it off unheard and unread.
They’d all been from my parents and Freedom, anyway.
“Aline?!” Mom’s voice was frantic, and a stab of guilt shot through me.
I couldn’t let that distract me or make me reconsider what I had to say. “Hi, Mom. Is Dad nearby? I’d like to talk to you both at the same time.”
“Oh, yes, just a minute.”
I could hear her calling for my dad, and then, about half a minute later, Mom put the call on speaker. I imagined they were sitting in the front room, enjoying their usual after-breakfast cups of tea and coffee.
“We’re both here, dear,” Mom said finally.
“What’s wrong? Are you in trouble?”
Dad’s questions had me closing my eyes and counting to five. Of course, that would be exactly where his mind went. Another time, I could’ve written it off as completely natural concern, but taken in context, it was just another part of the whole problem.
“I’m not in trouble,” I said calmly. “I needed time to think before we talked, and we need to talk.”
“Is Freedom with you?” Mom asked.
Another count of five.
“No, Mom. I’m staying with Martina, and I haven’t talked to Freedom yet.”
“Martina? Martina Chavez?” Mom sounded surprised.
I wondered if that surprise was because they hadn’t thought to reach out to her or if they hadn’t realized that Martina and I had maintained our friendship this long. They’d always liked her, so it wasn’t an issue of that, but I suspected they’d never really given any thought or consideration to any relationships I’d formed on my own.
“Yes. I’m staying in her guestroom right now.” My stomach churned as I forced myself to bring up the main reason I’d called rather than just sending a text to let them know I was okay. “We need to talk about why I left, and this isn’t easy for me, but it needs to be said.”
There was a long pause, and I imagined them looking at each other in concern. Dad finally broke the silence. “All right. We’re listening.”
My teeth grated together. I wished I could be certain that it was only my imagination that he was speaking with the same indulgent tone he’d used when I was a child, but there was a good chance that it wasn’t in my head.
“I love you both, I want you to know that. You’ve always given me everything I needed, and you’ve always had my best interests at heart.” Emotion threatened to choke me, but I swallowed it down. “But I’ve been suffocating slowly. I thought when I turned eighteen, the same age Freedom was when she went to college, things would change, that you’d start treating me like an adult. And I thought the same thing when I turned twenty-one. Then again when I graduated from college. But all of you still treat me like a child. Like I can’t take care of myself.”
I took a slow breath and released it.
Before either of them could speak, I plowed on. “And part of it is my fault. I never told you how I felt. I just let it happen. Maybe I thought everything would magically straighten out on its own. Maybe a part of me liked not having to think about adult issues. Either way, this isn’t all on any of you.”
“We-we never knew.” Mom’s voice didn’t sound as steady as it normally did. “We just want you to be safe.”
“I know.” I paced over to the window. “And I should’ve brought it up sooner. This never should’ve come out the way it did. That’s on me. But Freedom completely overstepped her bounds when she interfered in my private life.”
I didn’t explain that it wasn’t the first time she’d put herself between Eoin and me. I also didn’t share that she’d gone to him after I’d left to blame him for me walking out. Those were things that I’d need to discuss with her at some point. But not any time soon. I wasn’t even close to being ready for that discussion.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Mom said quietly. “We’ve only ever wanted to protect you. And that’s not an excuse. We should have done better.”
“We will do better,” Dad said. “I just ask that you be patient with us. It’s not an easy thing, letting a child go.”
I swallowed hard around