“You’ll make new friends,” I said, swallowing the bitter bile in my throat. “And there are good schools in Seattle.”
“But I don’t want to go to a new school.” Tears filled her eyes. “I want to stay here.”
“Madison, sweetie?—”
“I don’t understand what you’re doing, other than making a terrible decision.” Robbie’s voice was cold and controlled. “And that’s saying something, considering you married Dad.”
“Robbie, that’s enough.”
“Why are you doing this?” He crossed his arms. “Give me one logical reason why we should move to Seattle.”
“Because I can’t afford to stay here.”
“What about Grady?”
“What about him?”
“He cares about you. About us.” Robbie’s jaw tightened. “You could talk to him. Figure something out together.”
“It’s not his problem to solve.”
“Why not?”
“Because—” How did I explain this to a fourteen-year-old? “Because we’re not his family. I need to do this on my own. You’re my responsibility, and right now we’re drowning in debt. My parents said they would help, but only if we moved back up to Seattle.”
“Mother, Gradyisfamily, and you know it.” He was staring at me, his eyes glittering. “More so than your parents are.”
“Be that as it may, I can’t keep us afloat here. That’s just a fact. You love facts.”
“Here’s another fact,” Robbie said. “Grady loves you. You love him. What happened between you last night that I’m waking up to find you looking at apartments in Seattle?”
My throat burned. I avoided my son’s gaze.
“He has twenty million dollars now,” Madison blurted out. “I heard him tell you.”
I turned to her. “You what?”
“His father left him money,” Madison said. “And he offered to pay for Robbie to go to the college thing and for new shoes for me, and you got mad.”
“First of all, you were supposed to be asleep, not eavesdropping on adult conversations. And second of all, neither one of you are old enough to understand what’s going on here.”
“His father left him twenty million dollars?” Robbie asked, shaking his head. “Why in the world would that make you mad? It’s what you both need.”
I pressed my hands to my face. “I will not be someone’s charity case. I don’t want him helping us out of pity.”
“Pity?” Robbie stared at me. “Mother, he’s in love with you. He’s been in love with you for years. That’s not pity. He wants to be with you.”
Madison started crying. Quiet, hiccuping sobs. “I don’t want to move. I don’t want to leave Trevor and Grady and my friends.”
“Trevor’s coming with us,” I said weakly.
“But not Grady.” Madison looked at me with those big blue eyes. “Why can’t Grady come?”
“Because we’re not his family,” I said. “What are you not understanding?”
“Mother, it’s simply untrue,” Robbie said. “He wants to take care of us. You won’t let him because you think you should do everything on your own. Accepting help doesn’t mean you’re weak. Voltaire wrote that pride is the mask of one’s own faults.”
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
