Page 43 of The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean

“It’s a great position, and they won’t be able to hold it for you,” Dad said. “You really need to think about your future. You got to do your thing in college, but now it’s time to be serious.”

“We just want what’s best for you,” Mom said.

It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since Mandy received her diploma. What happened toLet’s celebrate tonight and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow? Would that have been so hard to say? And Mandy was very serious about her artwork, so what the heck was Dad even talking about?

“You need to think practically,” Dad said.

Luckily, before Mandy could answer him, her phone rang.

She flashed the screen to show her parents who it was and picked up.

“Congratulations!” Isa yelled into her ear.

“Tell her we say hi,” Mom cut in.

“Thank you. My parents say hi. How were your tests?”

“Hi back,” she said, and Mandy waved to her parents like it was Isa waving to them while Isa continued to talk. “Ugh, so brutal. I would’ve much rather been there.” Isa sighed. “Oh, Tally says congratulations too.”

Mandy bet Tally was sitting right there, listening in on everything Mandy and Isa talked about. “Tell her thank you.”

Isa mumbled, “Thank you,” in the background and then much louder said, “Tell me all about it.”

The overwhelming chatter that surrounded Mandy, along with the clinking of silverware against plates, faded into the background as she recounted the day’s events with Isa. If the noise was a problem on her end, Isa didn’t mention it as she said, “Uh-huh,” in all the right places. Mom and Dad sipped their wine and had their own conversation, only butting in a few times to point out something Mandy had forgotten to mention. In a way it almost felt like Isa was there with them. Almost.

As the appetizer plates were taken away, followed by the salad course, Mandy’s battery was getting low, and Isa had to get back to Tally, so they said their goodbyes.

“Love you for real,” Mandy said.

“Back atcha,” Isa responded, and a pain slammed into Mandy’s chest. Did she not say it because Tally was there? Did Mandy do something wrong? As she slid the phone into her purse, questions spiraled through her head, and she replayed their conversation over again trying to figure out where things had gone off track or if they had at all. This was the first time one of them didn’t say, “Love you for real back,” and for all the wonderful things that had happened to Mandy that day, this one moment crushed them all.

“So how is she?” Mom asked.

“Good. Isa’s good,” was all Mandy could say.

“Now that we’ve got your attention again, we can talk about you moving back home.”

“Yeah, sure, Mom, whatever.”

“So you agree?” Mom’s voice brightened.

“It’s for the best, right?” Home was exactly where Mandywanted to be right then—curled on the couch, crying on Mom’s shoulder—but she couldn’t ruin the night for her parents. Mandy slid her napkin from her lap and placed it on the table. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She plastered on a smile. “Bathroom,” she said, but that wasn’t where Mandy was headed.

Chapter Twenty-Two

April 2019

Mandy stood in frontof the full-length mirror in her hotel room. After the fire alarm, and the evacuation, and everyone standing out front while the fire trucks arrived, they’d been told that someone had brought a toaster with them and just burned their morning bagel, which set off the alarm, and it wasn’t anything more serious. (People were so weird sometimes.) But the timing of it all wasn’t accounted for when Mandy had made her schedule, and with everything else, she was very far behind. If it weren’t for a nice older woman who insisted Mandy get to be at the front of the line for the elevators, she’d probably still be waiting downstairs.

Ashley, forever the professional, sat Mandy right down to finish the job. Mandy had never seen anyone work so fast. She wasn’t on time, but Mandy was back on track. When Ashley had finished, Mandy’s hair was beyond amazing. The only direction she had given Ashley was that Mandy wanted it to be elegant, and it was. And despite the amount of hair spray, it still lookedsoft, but Mandy was sure even gale-force winds wouldn’t blow her updo down.

Her makeup was just right too. Simple yet pretty, and both eyes were symmetrical, with little wings on the ends of her eyeliner. She couldn’t have looked better.

That was if she weren’t standing in her underwear.

Her beloved dress still hung near the window, and no matter how hard Mandy tried, she couldn’t force herself over there to put it on.

She looked perfect.

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