mother daughter book club pies and prejudice

“School is starting in a couple of weeks and there’s a good chance he’s going to pick me to be quarterback this year.” “What am I supposed to tell the football coach?” he’d demanded. “We’re both still getting used to the idea, you know?” “Is he excited about going?” she asks, wiping her nose on her sleeve. She’s had a crush on him since elementary school. Jess, who has been staring down at the floor, looks up at the mention of my brother’s name. “You should have seen us when my parents told Darcy and me this morning.” I was too stunned to say anything at all. Our complete and utter shock must have showed on our faces because my mother started to laugh. “We’re going to England?” I said eagerly. “She’s wanted to go back to England ever since she was a graduate student there.” “It’s all your mother’s fault,” my father said, trying to look disapproving but failing miserably. My brother and I exchanged a wary glance. “But,” he continued, “for once in our lives, we decided to throw caution to the wind and do something a little crazy.”

“Your mother and I have been talking, and we know we should probably put the money I’m getting into fixing a few things around the house, or replacing our rattletrap of a car, or beefing up your college funds.” They’re going to publish his novel, the one he’s been working on for years. Two weeks ago, he got a call from a publisher in New York. “Your mother and I have a surprise for you,” he told my brother and me.

I only found out about it myself an hour ago, at breakfast. Of course I’ll be sad to leave Concord, and all of my friends, especially her.

The thing is, I really want Jess to be happy for me, the way I was for her last year when she got the scholarship to Colonial Academy. “Wouldn’t you want to go, if you were me?” I ask softly. I knew that breaking the news to my best friend would be hard, but I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. “Just for a year! It might as well be forever!” “What do you mean, you’re moving to England?” “‘I often think,’ said she, ‘that there is nothing so bad as parting with one’s friends.

Mother daughter book club pies and prejudice