Now That I've Found You - Kristina Forest Page 0,87
dinner. Mark Antony and Cleo keep meowing at her feet. They haven’t left her side since she walked through the door. Kerri sits beside me, her phone placed facedown on her lap.
“Why didn’t you answer any of my calls this week?” Mom asks Gigi. “Are you feeling any better?”
Gigi glances at me and smoothly says, “Loads better. And something was wrong with the landline, but it’s all fixed now.”
“What made you change your mind about the ceremony?” Dad asks. “Why weren’t you already in your seat?”
Mom follows up with “And, Evie Marie, why weren’t you in your seat at all?”
Gigi and I exchange a look. I can either keep them in the dark about what happened this week, or I can tell the truth. I decide to go with the latter. And when I’m done telling them everything, they look so confused.
“Why would you keep this from us?” Dad says, frowning.
“And how could you leave Evie Marie here alone?” Mom asks Gigi.
“Wait,” I say, stepping in. “It’s not entirely fair for you to point a finger at Gigi when you and Dad have left me alone too. I didn’t tell you the truth because, after this summer, I was so tired of being a disappointment. I didn’t want to let you down even more or for you to blame me for Gigi having left.”
“And that wasn’t her fault,” Gigi says across the table. “It was my decision alone.”
My parents look at each other, then look at me. “I’m sorry we’ve made you feel as though you’re a disappointment,” Mom says. “You’re not.”
“We love you, Evie Marie,” Dad says. “Whenever you find yourself feeling that we don’t have your back one hundred percent, I want you to tell us.”
I nod, and the weight that has been sitting on my chest all summer lightens a little. I can’t help but think that their work will always come first, but if they’re willing to try, I’m willing to believe them. I have to start somewhere. “I love you too.”
A silence passes over the table. Gigi is the first to break it.
“Marie, baby, why don’t you tell us about Botswana?” she says. Unable to resist discussing their work, my parents launch into a long discussion about their documentary.
While they’re talking, Kerri fidgets in her seat beside me. Now that she doesn’t have any emails to send, she doesn’t know what to do with her hands.
When Gigi and I said we were going to forgo the remake discussion, Kerri smoothly and quickly had it handled. James wasn’t surprised. He said he basically expected as much when Gigi decided to go to the ceremony.
I don’t know if I’m going to do the remake anymore. I really need to take a step back and figure out what I want to do for me. I don’t want to make decisions based on my family’s legacy, and I’m done with trying to figure out what will make other people happy. I won’t pretend that this doesn’t frighten me, just a little. Since I started at McKibben, I always had a plan for what I wanted. I have no idea what my future looks like now.
I told Kerri as much, and she understands, even if it means her life will be a little less busy.
“Thank you,” I say now, leaning into her.
She stops fidgeting and smiles at me. “For what?”
“For being great at your job. And for being a good friend.”
She squeezes my hand but doesn’t reply. This is a lot of affection coming from her.
“I’m going to get changed,” I say, excusing myself from the table.
I lift the skirt of my ball gown as I walk upstairs. My French bob wig is the first thing I see when I enter my room. I hold it in my hands as I sit on my bed. This is a great wig, and it served me well. But I don’t think I’ll wear it again anytime soon. Not unless I need it for Halloween or something.
A knock at my door makes me raise my head.
“Can I come in?” Gigi asks.
I nod and move over to make room for her on my bed. She settles down beside me, light as a feather.
“I’m so sorry, Evie Marie,” she says. “For keeping things from you. I thought I was doing what was best. But I should have trusted you to understand where I was coming from. And I know that it’s not right for me to disappear whenever I feel stressed. I’m going to work