Contracted To Love

“Well, in all fairness, I only moved in here a few months ago. I was at my place in the city.”

“What about grandma’s house? My other grandma,” Andrea said. “Your mama. How come I never went there? Didn’t she want me there?”

Michelle felt her heart go out to her daughter.

“No, sweetie. Nothing like that. It’s just that with all the complications between me and your father… things got… misinterpreted.”

Andrea reached for a quesadilla.

“He told me that everyone in your family chose not to see me but I’m not a kid anymore, I know that he was lying to me.”

Michelle looked at her daughter’s face. It was like in a split second she’d gone from being the little girl to this mature woman in a child’s body.

“Honey,” she started as she stroked Andrea’s cheek. “I know that you’ve had to deal with a lot of change lately but your father… he might not have been the best role model, but he’s still your father.”

Andrea nodded.

“I know but he wouldn’t let me do so much. Like, when my essay won first prize and I had to go to London to accept my prize and have my essay published…” she started and Michelle shook her head.

“Wait, what essay? What are you talking about?” she asked.

“I entered an international competition for creative writers and I won but I had to be present to accept my prize or forfeit it.”

Michelle felt the anger she’d felt against her ex for so long begin to rise again.

“Why?” she asked, confused. “Why would he do that? That’s a great honor. It would look great on your college application.”

Andrea shrugged.

“It was because the prize was a scholarship to Bloomtamam. He said that I didn’t need a scholarship. That I should leave that for people who can’t afford the privilege.” Andrea took another bite. “I never really wanted the scholarship. I just wanted to study there.” She looked at her mother. “Did you know that the school has a special coding program that’s only offered at college level in this country?”

Michelle sighed loudly and reached for her own quesadilla.

“Coding. Is that what you want to do?” she asked and Andrea nodded.

“Yeah, that and write.”

Michelle smiled.

“Coding and writing?”

“I want to travel the world and tell people’s stories and while doing that I would like to make a special app for third world countries.”

Michelle looked at her, surprised.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know that a lot of people struggle with access to clean water and that the little water available is highly monopolized… maybe if they had a system they could do something about it.”

Michelle was getting her mind blown away.

“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?” she asked and Andrea nodded.

“Yeah, I want to go to Africa and maybe even Asia someday. Only when I see the need will I know just what to work on.”

Michelle laughed.

“Look at you speaking with the wisdom of a hundred wise men.”

Andrea smiled and took another bite of her quesadilla.

“Valeria does make delicious quesadillas.”

Michelle nodded, smiling.

“Yes, that she does.”

She took one last bite and then reached for her glass of ice-cold lemonade.

“So, this Bloomtamam school,” she started. It sounded like a school that members of the British royal family would attend. “Isn’t it a boarding school?”

Andrea nodded.

“Wouldn’t you be bored? Homesick?” Michelle wondered out loud and Andrea shook her head.

“No. Not really. I can come home on the weekends. I mean, why wouldn’t I want to be here? This place is freaking awesome!”

Michelle was having conflicting thoughts. She’d never been prouder, but at the same time her heart was breaking. Spending time without her daughter was going to be hard. She wasn’t so sure she was ready to let go just yet.

“Will going to that school make you happy?” she asked and Andrea nodded excitedly. She was nodding so much, she almost looked like a bobble head doll. She suddenly frowned.

“But it’s the middle of the school year… I would have to wait until next year.”

Michelle smiled. Clearly, she had no idea of the family she’d been born into. Or the power the Favre name wielded. She was somewhat proud of that fact. At least her daughter wasn’t a snob.

“Let your stepfather take care of that,” she said in a soft voice as she stroked her cheek. “And I like that you’ll be coming home for the weekend. It will give me some time to teach you something your father never could.”

Andrea shrugged.

“What’s that?” she asked. Michelle took a curly strand of her hair and twisted it around her finger.

“How to manage that beautiful curly mane.”