James was crestfallen at the uncharacteristic outburst and quietly finished his last few bites of breakfast while checking his phone. A few minutes later, leaning on his God-given restraint, he said, “I’m not sure if I would be the best person to take her. Let’s not have this be a repeat of that blow-up in middle school. Maybe you could figure out how to help her.” He left for work without his usual peck on the check.
Anneliese was stuck in the kitchen for a while longer with a hollow feeling. As busy as Ella was with school and social activities, she had adjusted things to have time to go for a bike ride with her father before Ryan’s. This struck a tender chord– Ella had made time for what mattered to her. The hard-won numbness Anneliese wore as a shield these last several years was failing to protect her from the growing regret that accompanied her inadequacies. Flustered, she stood up to discard cold coffee and left for the train to work.
The following week, Anneliese walked into an evening conversation in the family room, where James was sitting on the couch, and Ella was standing with her bag and car keys, behind on the sofa coach on her way out to meet friends.
“Did you make a decision on the Prom House?” Ella asked, half-turning.
“What Prom House?” Anneliese asked as she picked up the remote control and sat at the other end of the couch.
James raised his chin to peer at her, “Are all your friends doing it? How many kids are we talking about here? Ella, a bit more information would be good. And how are you all going to get from Center City to a mountain house in the Poconos so late at night?”
Ella turned around to leave, “Dad, it’s a tradition. It’s gonna be fine. Can we talk about this later? I gotta go!”
Anneliese felt muddled after Ella’s ignoring her and the abrupt departure, which of course was connected to how she had embarrassed herself earlier that day. But had Ella talked about the Prom House before? Was she asking to sleep in a room with Derek, a boy she barely knew? Things were changing very quickly. A few hours earlier, Anneliese was getting home from an errand after work and was about to pull into the driveway, when she saw Ella and Derek leaning close together on his car, parked in front of their house. She saw a glimpse of his tall curl-topped head and brown muscular arm before she even neared the house, and wondered if she could drive past the house, avoiding them all together.
Home was where one could go to feel comfort or hide from the world. Ella had introduced Derek into their lives, and now he could be found there any time without advance notice. She was going to have to walk past them to enter. She felt heat on her face and hated how she looked, dragging home from a long day at work. They sprang apart as she approached.
