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Trembling and fighting tears, I reach behind me for the doorknob. “You want me to butt out? Okay. I will. But your dad and I didn’t send you here to party night and day, then skip your classes, Troy. We expect some effort on your part. The money we give you isn’t to blow on beer. It’s easy to let yourself get distracted and before you know it, you’ve flunked out. Or lost motivation and dropped out.”
“Maybe I should drop out. I’m only here because…” He flushes a deeper shade of red and looks away.
“Because why?” I ask softly.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Talk to me.”
“Why? So you can spell out what you and Dad expect from me?”
Torn between wanting to shake him and wanting to hug him, I stare at Troy for several more drawn-out seconds. I sense he’s as conflicted and confused as I am. “Maybe we should postpone this conversation until we’ve both had some time to calm down.” I open the door. “Good night, Troy.” Leaving his room, I dodge a string of gawking students in the hallway.
Cold wind bites my cheeks and blows hair into my face when I exit the building. I move quickly down the sidewalk, anxious to escape the chill and my own humiliation. Halfway to the lot where I’m parked, Troy catches up to me, matching my pace so that we’re side by side.
“Mom…I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.” I keep walking.
“It’s just…you treat me like I’m still a kid. I’m sick of it.”
“Then quit acting like a kid, Troy.”
“The beer’s no big deal. It’s not like I drink all the time or anything.”
“I hope not.”
“I don’t need you to do every little thing for me anymore.”
“No, just the things you choose not to do.” He and Taylor both. I reach the car and fumble in my purse for my keys.
Troy fidgets beside me. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
I turn to him, grieving what we’ve lost, the closeness we once shared that I’m desperately afraid we won’t ever find again. “I’m sorry, too, Troy.”
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