Page 58 of Mostly My Boss
“I wouldn’t bother,” my father told her. “He’ll be discharged in a few hours and we’ll be taking him back to New York.”
“No!” I tried to sit up, but my father put his hand on my shoulder with enough force to flatten me.
“He needs to be watched,” he said. “Round the clock. I can’t count on anyone here to do that.”
“I’ll do it,” she said, and there was a desperation in her voice that pleased me. Always with us, it was usually me relying on her. I liked it when it was the other way around. When I could sense she needed me, too. “I’ll watch him. I won’t let him drink. I promise.”
“You already failed him,” my mother screeched at her. “Edward, tell her to leave.”
“Calm down, Rachel. He’s going to be fine. Julie, I’m sorry, but it would be for the best if you left.”
It’s Julia. Why couldn’t they remember that?
“Ethan, I’ll text you.”
“Jules. Don’t go,” I croaked out.
“I’ll text you,” she insisted.
“Don’t leave.”
“Ethan, hush,” my mother said, again leaning over me so she was all I could see. “This is for the best. You’ll see.”
* * *
Four months later
New York
Jules:Ethan? Are u there?
I glanced at the phone, but quickly put it in my back pocket. They didn’t know I was talking to Jules and I didn’t want to risk them taking my phone away again.
“I think this makes sense, Ethan.”
I was standing in my father’s study. He was behind his desk, my mother stood near the window looking down at the busy street far below.
“I don’t understand,” I said slowly as if I was dimwitted. “The semester starts next week.”
“Yes, but a year break is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. How many people your age take a year abroad before even attending college?”
“Can I go abroad?”
He sighed and removed his glasses as if I’d said something incredibly stupid. “You know you can’t.”
I needed to think like him. I needed to be rational and calm. He was watching me take all my medications each morning before he left for Mt. Sinai to do his rounds. What he didn’t know was that I’d gotten clever at hiding them under my tongue.
But at any sign of temper or frustration, he would suspect his treatment wasn’t working. I needed to act like someone drugged to the gills, even if I wasn’t. I was patting my thigh and forced myself to stop.
“My concern with another year is that I’m already behind. I’ve been home now for four months. I missed all my finals from last semester. As it is, I’ll need to do redo my second-semester credits. Another year on top of that puts me even further behind.”
“Ethan, we just don’t trust you—”
“Don’t say that,” my mother snapped at my father. “We trust you. Of course we do, honey. We just don’t trust the other people who might be a negative influence on you. People who might not have your best interests at heart like we do.”
“I haven’t spoken to anyone from Harvard in months,” I lied. “I should be clear of any negative influences by now. It was as mistake. A bad night I let get away from me. I don’t think I should be punished for a year.”
My father shook his head. “Son, this isn’t a punishment. We’re trying to give you a chance to mature. To understand that you have to take certain precautions given your condition—”
