Chapter 22

She shakes her head as if she doesn’t believe me.

“Mom? I’m the same. I just…” I sigh. “I love Travis. I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit into your plan for me, if it isn’t who you want me to be, but it’s who I am. I’m sorry.”

She wipes her eyes with shaking fingers, smearing eyeliner into a smudge that makes her look like a scared little girl playing in her mother’s makeup. With a loud sniffle, she glances up at the ceiling and blinks her red, raccoon-rimmed eyes in an effort to compose herself. My dad doesn’t speak—he’s waiting for her lead, as always.

Behind me, Travis’s hand clenches mine so hard, I’ve lost all feeling in my fingers. Across the room, the cabin door looks so far away. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it that far if they really throw us out.

Then my mom looks back at me, and I see the same woman she’s always been, strong and sure of herself and more than the world to me. “Well, don’t just stand there. Introduce us.”