My eyes darted around the room. “There’s nothing to fix. Nothing is broken. I didn’t make this decision on a whim. I don’t want this.”
“Yes, you do. You’re just confused. The stress got to you, and you panicked.”
“You’re right. I have been stressed. I’ve also been getting migraines so bad that I throw up.”
She dismissively rolled her eyes.
“You have no idea how many times I had to leave a lab or a lecture because I couldn’t take watching or even listening to the lessons about surgery. I almost passed out, just sewing up a cut on Liam’s eyebrow.”
“You’ll get past all of that.” She sighed and shook her head. “You don’t just quit school because it’s too hard. Not after everything we’ve been working toward.”
We?
I stiffened with anger. “You’re not hearing me. I’m not happy. I haven’t been for a long time, Mom.”
“You’ve always wanted to be a doctor. Are you sure that boy”—she pointed over my shoulder to the front door—“hasn’t gotten inside your head and messed it up?”
“That was always your dream for me. Not mine. Liam only helped me realize my potential.”
She scowled. “Your potential for what exactly? What are you going to do instead?”
I lifted my shoulders. “I don’t know yet. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to not have every moment of your life planned out. If life has taught me anything, it’s that your mental health is more important than making someone else happy.”
“Do you have any idea how much it cost me to pay for your school? Your housing?”
“Oh no. You don’t get to guilt me for something you insisted I do from the start. If money is what matters to you, then I’ll set up a payment plan and start paying you back.”
“With what income?”
“I have a bachelor’s degree, Mom. I’ve already started applying for jobs.”
She pressed her lips together tightly and refilled her glass, twirling its contents around. “You’re going to regret this. Do you think you can just wake up one day and decide who you’re going to be?”
“Why not?”
All of my answers were making her angrier. “What would your dad think about you giving up? Huh?”
Smiling slightly, I thought about the fact that he’d probably be clapping for me right now or pulling me into a hug. “I think he’d be proud that I’m walking away from the wrong path.”
She stopped twirling the glass in her hand and threw it into the sink. The high-pitched sound of glass shattering was enough for me to realize the conversation was over. It wasn’t going anywhere, and she would never understand.
I turned on my heels and started for the hallway.
“Don’t you walk away from me, young lady.”
I ignored her and kept walking.
“Avery!”
I paused when I heard the emotion roll through her. I turned and saw her broken face was already hardening again.
“If you do this, if you walk out that door …” She took a moment to gather herself.
“What? Are you going to cut me off like you did to Danny for following his dreams? Just because they’re not your own doesn’t mean they’re any less admirable.”
Her jaw tightened as she took careful steps toward me. “So, that’s it then? You’re just going to leave me?”
I closed the distance between us. “You’re the one pushing me away by telling me I’m not good enough.”
