Kyrone wasn’t sure that kids were actually proof of a happy marriage, but he wasn’t about to get into an argument with his mum. Besides, as far as he knew, Zahrawashappy.
“I wanted to talk to you about my future,” he said, changing the subject to a topic that would be no easier to broach with her. “I’ve decided to quit my economics degree.” He’d already filled Jared in on the decisions he’d made on the bus on the way over.
She hissed in a breath. “What?” Her shriek was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the sitting room.
Jared gave Kyrone an encouraging smile and a look that seemed to question if he should stay where he was or come back into the room for support. Kyrone motioned for him to stay put. As much as he would have loved to have Jared beside him, he was best placed distracting the kids. Besides, he wanted to see the finished portrait. He knew it was going to be amazing.
“I hate it, Mum,” he said. “If I stick at it and end up working in finance, the only future I can see for myself is a miserable one.”
“You’re going to throw a year and a half down the drain?” she demanded. “You’re not supposed to love your job, Kyrone. It’s meant to put food on the table and clothes on your back. It’s meant to put a roof over your head and give you the money to raise your own family well.”
It was almost as if she was channelling his dad with the words that were coming out of her mouth.
“And I’ll be able to do all of those things, but I’ll do it with a job I love.”
“Pole dancing?” she hissed. “Or are you planning on joining your boyfriend and becoming a tattoo artist?”
“No, Mum. I can’t draw.”
She narrowed her eyes at his flippant comment.
“And the pole dancing is temporary so I canaffordto go to uni.” Not that he didn’t enjoy it, but he knew it wasn’t going to be a long-term thing for him. Unlike Michael and Mac, he didn’t see himself as a career dancer.
“What are you going to do?” his mum asked.
He’d been afraid of her asking that question. “I’m not sure yet,” he admitted. “I’m going to withdraw from my degree and take a little bit of time to decide what I want to do. That might mean I reapply for a different course, or it might mean I go straight into a job.”
She shook her head, her expression radiating disapproval. “You’re going to throw everything away without a clear plan for the future? I raised you better than this, Kyrone. Your dad raised you better than this.”
Kyrone pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t keep doing something I hate, Mum.”
“What about the promise you made your dad?”
His chest tightened. He’d been hoping she wouldn’t bring it up; it was definitely a low blow. “I shouldn’t have made that promise, and I don’t think Dad would really have wanted me to be miserable for the rest of my life.”
“He wanted you to be successful.”
“And I will be, I promise. I’ll do it in a way that makes me happy. Success isn’t just measured by how much money you earn, Mum.”
She snorted and then nodded towards the sitting room. “Didheput you up to this?”
“No.” There was no way Kyrone was going to throw Jared under the bus. “Mum, please just be happy for me. I don’t need your permission to quit my degree, but your blessing wouldn’t go amiss.”
She turned her face away from him. “All your dad ever wanted was for you and Zahra to be successful,” she reminded him. “He wanted you both to have opportunities we didn’t. He wanted you to be able to give your children opportunities we couldn’t.”
“I don’t need to work in finance to have those opportunities,” he told her.
Their conversation was going round in circles, and as much as he wanted to be able to convince her he was making the right decision, he knew he was going to have to show her, and that would take time.
“At least take more time to think about it,” she said.
“It won’t change my mind.”
“Don’t quit your degree until you know what you want to do and you have a job or a new course lined up.”
Kyrone sighed. He could see sense in her words, but his degree was sucking his money, spirit, and energy away. He didn’t see the point in sticking with it and going through the motions of writing essays and attending lectures and seminars when he knew he was going to quit sooner or later. But it would keep his mum happy. It would set some of her fears to rest. Except he knew she was hoping he would change his mind, stick with it, and end up with a high-paying job at the end of it.
“Okay,” he said at last. “I’ll work out what Idowant to do with my life before I leave my current course.”
