Mike held out his arms. “I’m sorry too.”
She took the two steps toward her husband and they gave each other a long, warm hug. Relief washed over her, swiftly followed by the tension of knowing she had news that would upset him.
“Let’s just agree to clear the air right away from now on,” he said, and they both knew the chances of that were slim. Their habit of letting things ice over for days at a time had worn a deep groove in their relationship.
“Agreed. You go change and I’ll pour some wine.”
By the time they were seated at the table, Jessica was brimming with excitement. She couldn’t wait to tell her family about her big decision. She sipped her drink as she thought of how to start.I have a big announcement.No, too dramatic.I have some news. Too scary.Does anyone remember how I wanted to be a lawyer?
She opened her mouth and said, “I made a decision today,” but no one heard her because Mike, whose voice was louder, asked Noah if he’d gotten his physics test back.
“Nope, tomorrow probably.”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Noah snapped. “What is with you two? I get good grades. You don’t have to worry about my education anymore. I’m on it.”
“You wouldn’t be getting good marks if we weren’t on top of it.”
“Yes, I would.”
“I doubt that,” Winnie said.
“Not helpful, Winnie,” Jess told her.
“It’strue.”
“It’s not your concern,” Mike said.
“Anyway, speaking of education…” Jess said, a little louder this time.
“You know what?” Winnie asked her dad. “Itismy concern because he doesn’t do his homework and you two go ballistic and it ruins, like, every evening around here.”
“Yeah, when I was in middle school maybe,” Noah said. “But not anymore. And just stay out of it.”
“I’ll stay out of it when you stop being such a screw-up,” Winnie said, popping a bit of salad into her mouth and smiling at him while she chewed.
“Okay, that’s more than enough,” Jessica said.
Noah glared at his sister. “No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend. No guy wants to go out with a raving bitch.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s enough!” Mike yelled, slamming his hand on the table. “Both of you. I don’t want to hear another word out of either of you for the rest of this dinner.”
“She started it,” Noah said.
“And I ended it,” Mike told him, leaning across the table toward his son. “Not another word.”
They ate in silence for a full minute before Mike said, “Jess, you were trying to say something.”
She shrugged. The moment was gone. “I’ll tell you later.”
“What was it?”
Screw it. The apple cart was already upset, she might as well let a few more apples roll onto the ground. “I made a pretty big decision today actually.”
She looked around at her family, but everyone was too busy concentrating on their meals to bother giving her any eye contact. “I, um … well, remember how I wanted to be a lawyer?”
