Page 66 of Broken Secrets
“Pretty much. And the thing is, I need that college money. I’ve been accepted to Northwestern, but without Mom’s financial support, I can’t afford it.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing yet. I hung up on her and spent the rest of the night crying in my hotel room. Dad doesn’t know about theultimatum; he went to bed early with a headache, and I didn’t want to stress him out more.”
I watch the waves crash against the pier supports, trying to process the situation. “Emma, you can’t sacrifice your future for me. We’ve known each other for less than a week.”
“But you’re my sister. That has to count for something, right?”
“It counts for everything. But Northwestern is your dream school. I’m not going anywhere; we can build our relationship over time, even if it’s complicated by your mom’s feelings.”
“You don’t understand.” Emma turns to face me fully. “This isn’t just about you. This is about Mom thinking she can control every aspect of my life by threatening to take away anything that matters to me. If I give in to this, what happens the next time I want to do something she disapproves of? What about when I want to date someone she doesn’t like, or choose a career she doesn’t support?”
She has a point. This is bigger than just our sister relationship.
“Have you talked to Jeremy about it?”
“That’s the other thing. My mom said if I tell Dad about the ultimatum, she’ll make his life hell through the custody arrangement. She’ll restrict his time with me, make it harder for him to see me. She’s basically threatening to punish him for my choices.”
“So you’re supposed to just disappear? Pretend this week never happened?”
“According to Mom, yes. She wants me to tell Dad that I realized pursuing a relationship with you would be ‘too disruptive to my senior year’ and that I need to ‘focus on my future instead of dwelling on the past.’”
“And you’re considering it.”
Emma is quiet for a long moment. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to fight her, to tell her she can’t control who I love. But the practical part of me knows that without her financial support, my options become really limited.”
My phone buzzes with a text from Jeremy:
Jeremy
Emma’s not in her room and isn’t answering her phone. Have you seen her?
I show Emma the message. “He’s worried about you.”
“I know. I should go back. But I needed to talk to you first, to figure out what I’m going to do.”
“What do you want to do? Forget about the practical stuff for a minute. If money wasn’t an issue, if college was guaranteed, what would you choose?”
Emma doesn’t hesitate. “I’d tell Mom exactly what I think of her manipulation tactics, and I’d spend the rest of senior year getting to know my sister.”
“Then maybe we need to find a way to make that possible.”
“How?”
“You could go to school with me,”
“You mean move here? Leave Michigan entirely?”
“I’m just saying it’s an option. You could finish senior year here, apply to California schools, just an idea,”
“That’s a huge decision. I’d be giving up everything I’ve known.”
“I guess,”
Emma stares out at the ocean, clearly wrestling with the possibility. “What about Dad? He’d be losing me either way; either I go back to Michigan and cut contact with you, or I stay here and Lilly makes his life hell.”
“Maybe it’s time to tell him what’s really going on. Let him make his own choice about how to handle Lilly’s threats instead of protecting him from the truth.”
