I shrugged, wiggling out of my mother’s powerful grip. “I don’t know… I like design and theory. I don’t know if I want to or can manage and—” My words cut off the second I spotted my beaming mother. I found myself nodding, fighting the grimace threatening to creep onto my face.
“Oh, Lincoln.” She smiled. “You can do anything you put your mind to. You have your dad’s brain and all the opportunities he didn’t, thanks to how very hard he worked. He always spoke about the civil engineers with such admiration.” Her brows bunched, and her eyes grew misty. “Seeing you achieve this is a dream come true. A manager in the family.” She walked away and grabbed her phone. “I must tell my sisters.”
My throat tightened. All the hesitation I had regarding this promotion was replaced by a strong sense of duty. She was right. My dad had worked himself to the bone for us, and he’d have been so proud. We’d spent countless hours driving through town talking about the buildings he’d laid bricks on or tiles he’d grouted. He was the reason I went into engineering.
The longing settled in my bones, in my chest. Everything ached.
Before my mom could say anything more about me, my tentative promotion, or my father, I turned the questions on her. I moved the conversation to her book club, crochet club (not to be confused with her knitting club), and when the new house may be ready for her and her new family to move in.
“Oh.” Mom turned away and wiped the already clean counters. “You know, it’s already ready. It’s just that it takes time to move and pack and…” She inhaled a shaky breath.
She didn’t have to explain how hard it was to leave this place behind.
Despite being as close as can be, conversations with my mom often felt like a game of hot potato. We tossed around the hard topics, afraid of being burned.
Claire snapped her book shut. “Enough boring talk. It’s my turn, and I want to tell you about the hot, grumpy pirate who is, obviously, in love with the girl who has nothing but a knife and determination.”
I grinned as she recounted the three books before this one. For some reason, I was reminded of Lily. Maybe it was because her weapon of choice—in most of the games we played online—was a knife. Maybe it was her sheer determination to win despite being outranked by most of her challengers. Maybe it was because sometimes it felt as though I were falling in love with her.
Whatever it was, once I started thinking about Lily, it was hard to stop. Because thinking about Lily was the easiest thing in the world.
And I thought about her often.
As if summoned, my phone lit up and her username flashed across my screen. I couldn’t resist the smile stretching across my face.
@pancakesareelite:
I’m ready when you are.
2
ELIZABETH
[108 weeks ago]
@pancakesareelite:
What do you do when you’re not playing games with me?
@theanswerisno:
Play games with other people
@pancakesareelite:
Traitor!
@theanswerisno:
I’m an engineer
@pancakesareelite:
Well, duh. I assumed that much. This server was created by an SDSU engineering student for engineering students, wasn’t it?
@theanswerisno:
Yep
