Page 98 of Before We Say Goodbye
“This isn’t about us,” Rebecca said. “It’s about you and making sure you have a stable environment. You can’t run every time a girl breaks up with you.”
“It’s so much more than that, and you know it. I guess the medicine’s helping, and I kind of want to delete who I was before it.”
Bec grabbed his hand. “Don’t say that, honey.”
“That’s not what I mean. It’s just ... people know me a certain way here. A fresh start wouldn’t be so bad. An adventure.”
“For the record,” Bec said, “the medicine hasn’t changed who you are. You’re still our Michael. It’s just helped your brain process things in a different way.”
“I know, I know. You’ve told me. Whatever it does, it’s working. And this isn’t about running from what happened with Annette. I’m saying that the idea is really exciting.”
Bec looked at him for a while, then slid fearful yet excited eyes to Otis. “Where would we go?”
Otis rubbed his stubble, trying his best to temper his elation. “We’d have to do some research after harvest, wouldn’t we?”
“Look at him, Mom. He’s glowing.”
Bec laughed at that. “He is, isn’t he?”
“I can’t deny that a new adventure sounds delightful,” Otis said, noticing his upright posture and the happy tingling on his skin. “Tryingto re-create what we have here feels like a dull second act, but maybe it’s not about re-creating at all. Maybe it’s about doing something new. Only if you’re really on board. We’d have to talk to Cam too. It’s important for a college student to have a home to return to.”
“Dad, Cam’s not coming home. Are you kidding me? As for me, it was my idea.”
“Fair point, but women make us do crazy things.” Otis looked over at Rebecca and winked.
“I want to walk into a new school and not know anyone, and no one have any opinions of me. Here, I’m the weird kid with a face covered in zits who finally had a girlfriend, then got dumped and then didn’t go to school for a week. Here, I’m Otis’s kid.”
“Oh, come now. You’re more than that,” Bec said.
“Let’s hope so,” Otis said. “Mike, you’re more than I’ll ever be.”
Mike gave a kind smile. “Anyway, I don’t need to sleep on it. Nothing’s tying me down here. What about your parents, Mom? And Jed?”
Rebecca paused and drew in a slow breath. The question had obviously been top of mind. “I can’t take care of them forever. Maybe it would be good for all of us.”
Otis swelled with pride when he heard her say that.
He took the bottle next to him and poured Mike a glass. “By God, let’s toast to the idea of setting sail, fam.”
Mike and Rebecca and Otis clinked their glasses, and Otis couldn’t remember a time when everything felt more right.
“You’re taking our daughter from us? And our last grandchild?” Marshall sat in his trusty recliner in the living room. They still hadn’t painted over the scarlet-red walls—still hadn’t put much effort into cleaning up the place.
“Dad, that’s not what this is about.” Rebecca had stayed incredibly strong since Jed had lashed out at her. In fact, that night had beengood for her. She seemed to have finally found peace with all that had happened. Her decision to leave them verified it.
“You sure that’s not what it’s about?” Marshall asked. “That’s what it feels like. Don’t you think, Olivia?” He looked over at his wife, who sat in her go-to chair where she typically knitted as they watched their favorite news channel. There was no knitting today. She looked exhausted already, and Bec had only just told them.
“I don’t know what to say. Why would you leave?” Her voice was caked in desperation.
“Because we want a new adventure.”
“Where?” Olivia asked. “Why don’t you move to Napa? Then we can still see you.”
“We’re not moving to Napa. We want to find something new, something fresh.”
Marshall groaned. “Rebecca, you’ve always run from things. I don’t know what you’re running from now. Lloyd Bramhall. Us. Your brother. I was raised not to abandon my family, and I’d hoped I’d raised you the same way.”
Sitting by his wife on the couch, Otis waited for her to dig her nails into his thigh, but she held strong. Dammit, he was proud of her.
