and had decided to turn over a new leaf with them. Instead of letting them come to me, I was going to start making more of an effort. Inviting them over on a regular basis, and actually entertaining. As long as I was going to build a life, I decided, I wanted it to be full of the people I enjoyed spending time with. And if the last four weeks had taught me anything, it was that there was no time like the present. I wanted to grab life by the horns and direct it where to go.
Of course I had to decide where I wanted to go before I could start directing. Inviting my closest friends to dinner seemed like as good a place to start as any.
As I was walking back toward my bedroom to unpack my bags – a process that consisted of taking my clothes from the suitcase and putting them directly into the laundry – my phone rang in my pocket. Glancing down, I saw that it was my mother. Probably just calling to check in, I thought. Nothing to worry about. I was nervous, though, when I hit the green button on the keypad. A part of me still wondered if my parents suspected I’d lied to them. Or if my brother had said anything to them.
My mom and I chatted for about five minutes about life and the fact that I was back in my apartment, and then I hung up the phone, relieved. Well that was extremely normal. She certainly didn’t act like she knew anything, and if I could count on anything in life, it was one truth: if I was in trouble, my mother wouldn’t make a secret of it. She didn’t believe in delaying punishments or keeping secrets. If I’d done something wrong, I knew about it immediately, and knew my punishment the moment after that. If she were even a tiny bit suspicious about anything, she would have told me.
I was collapsing on my bed in relief when Tony called. Now this was strange; he almost never called me, and the fact that he was calling right after my mom called made my stomach knot up. When I talked to him yesterday, he hadn’t seemed suspicious, and he certainly hadn’t said anything about seeing me with Tom. He evidently hadn’t called my mother and told her either, and I had to assume that he hadn’t called the police, who would have certainly contacted either me or Tom. But now he was calling me out of the blue. What could he possibly want?
“Hello?” I answered hesitantly, praying that he had a concrete reason for calling. Something other than to lecture me, or tell me that he was going to go to my parents about what I’d been doing. The days of Tony and I getting into trouble together, and then teaming up for each other, seemed suddenly distant. I wasn’t sure I could trust him.
“Hey Izzy, how’s it going?” he asked. I paused. He sounded friendly enough, and very casual.
“Hey, Tony. Things are good, just cleaning up around the apartment, still doing some unpacking from being away this summer. What’s up?”
He went on to ask me about how the internship had been, what I’d learned there, and even whether I thought there might be a future job with that publishing house. When I asked him why he was so interested, he claimed that he’d made a personal resolution to get more involved in his little sister’s life, show her more attention, and be more interested in what she was doing in college.
My mouth dropped. If there was ever an indication that he’d seen me walking hand-in-hand with Tom, this was it. Tony, getting involved in my life and caring about what I was doing? Please. He’d never been interested, not even a single day of his entire life, and I didn’t believe a word he said. Besides, now he was married and they were going to be starting a family of their own. Why would he care what I was up to, unless he was suspicious of me? Still, I thanked him for his concern and told him I was excited about sharing more with him, now that we were grown up. Somehow, I managed to get off the phone without giving a shred of evidence away.
This time I turned the phone on silent and tossed it
Of course I had to decide where I wanted to go before I could start directing. Inviting my closest friends to dinner seemed like as good a place to start as any.
As I was walking back toward my bedroom to unpack my bags – a process that consisted of taking my clothes from the suitcase and putting them directly into the laundry – my phone rang in my pocket. Glancing down, I saw that it was my mother. Probably just calling to check in, I thought. Nothing to worry about. I was nervous, though, when I hit the green button on the keypad. A part of me still wondered if my parents suspected I’d lied to them. Or if my brother had said anything to them.
My mom and I chatted for about five minutes about life and the fact that I was back in my apartment, and then I hung up the phone, relieved. Well that was extremely normal. She certainly didn’t act like she knew anything, and if I could count on anything in life, it was one truth: if I was in trouble, my mother wouldn’t make a secret of it. She didn’t believe in delaying punishments or keeping secrets. If I’d done something wrong, I knew about it immediately, and knew my punishment the moment after that. If she were even a tiny bit suspicious about anything, she would have told me.
I was collapsing on my bed in relief when Tony called. Now this was strange; he almost never called me, and the fact that he was calling right after my mom called made my stomach knot up. When I talked to him yesterday, he hadn’t seemed suspicious, and he certainly hadn’t said anything about seeing me with Tom. He evidently hadn’t called my mother and told her either, and I had to assume that he hadn’t called the police, who would have certainly contacted either me or Tom. But now he was calling me out of the blue. What could he possibly want?
“Hello?” I answered hesitantly, praying that he had a concrete reason for calling. Something other than to lecture me, or tell me that he was going to go to my parents about what I’d been doing. The days of Tony and I getting into trouble together, and then teaming up for each other, seemed suddenly distant. I wasn’t sure I could trust him.
“Hey Izzy, how’s it going?” he asked. I paused. He sounded friendly enough, and very casual.
“Hey, Tony. Things are good, just cleaning up around the apartment, still doing some unpacking from being away this summer. What’s up?”
He went on to ask me about how the internship had been, what I’d learned there, and even whether I thought there might be a future job with that publishing house. When I asked him why he was so interested, he claimed that he’d made a personal resolution to get more involved in his little sister’s life, show her more attention, and be more interested in what she was doing in college.
My mouth dropped. If there was ever an indication that he’d seen me walking hand-in-hand with Tom, this was it. Tony, getting involved in my life and caring about what I was doing? Please. He’d never been interested, not even a single day of his entire life, and I didn’t believe a word he said. Besides, now he was married and they were going to be starting a family of their own. Why would he care what I was up to, unless he was suspicious of me? Still, I thanked him for his concern and told him I was excited about sharing more with him, now that we were grown up. Somehow, I managed to get off the phone without giving a shred of evidence away.
This time I turned the phone on silent and tossed it
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