Chapter 2 Noah part 2

“I’m not going to miss out on your last year in high school. I want to

enjoy my daughter before she goes away to study. I told you a thousand

times, Noah—you’re my child, I want you to be part of this new family. For

God’s sake! You really think I’m going to let you go that far away from me

without a single adult?” she answered, keeping her eyes on the road and

gesturing with her right hand.

My mother didn’t understand how hard this was for me. She was starting

a new life with a new husband she supposedly loved. But what about me?

“You don’t get it, Mom. Did you never stop to think that this is my last

year of high school? That all my friends are here, my boyfriend, my job, my

team? My whole life!” I shouted, trying to hold back tears. The situation

was getting the best of me, that much was clear. I never, and I mean never,

cried in front of anyone. Crying was for weaklings, people who can’t

control their feelings. I was someone who’d cried so much in the course of

my life that I’d decided never to shed another tear.

Those thoughts reminded me of when all the madness began. I still

regretted not going with my mother on that damn cruise to Fiji. Because it

was there, on a boat in the middle of the South Pacific, that she’d met the

incredible, enigmatic William Leiste.

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t hesitate a second to tell my mother

yes when she showed up in the middle of April with two tickets so we could

go on vacation together. They’d been a present from her best friend, Alicia.

The poor thing had broken her right leg, an arm, and two ribs in a car

accident. Obviously, she and her husband couldn’t go off to the islands, so

she gave the trip to my mom. But come on now—mid-April? I was in the

middle of exams, and the volleyball team had back-to-back games. My

team had just climbed from second place to first, and that hadn’t happened

as long as I could remember. It was one of the greatest joys of my life. Now,

though, seeing the consequences of staying home, I’d happily give back my

trophy, leave the team, and fail English Lit and Spanish just to keep that

wedding from ever happening.

Getting married on a ship? My mother was out of her mind! And going

and doing it without telling me a single word! I found out when she got

back, and she said it all blithely, like marrying a millionaire in the middle of

the ocean was the most normal thing in the world. The whole situation was

surreal, and now she wanted to move to a mansion in California, in the

United States. It wasn’t even my country! I had been born in Canada, even

if my mom was from Texas and my dad from Colorado. I didn’t want to

leave. It was everything I knew.

“Now, you have to realize I want what’s best for you,” my mother said,

bringing me back to reality. “You know what I’ve been through, what we’ve

been through. And I’ve finally found a good man who loves and respects

me. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. I need him, and I know you’ll

come to love him. And he can offer you a future we could never have

dreamed of before. You can go to any college you like, Noah.”

“But I don’t want to go to some fancy college, Mom, and I don’t want a

stranger paying for it,” I replied, feeling a shiver as I thought how, at the

end of the month, I’d be starting at a new fancy high school full of little rich

kids.

“He’s not a stranger, he’s my husband, and you better get used to the

idea,” she added cuttingly.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***