Part 115 (1/2)

it.”

”I haven't tried to change it yet.” He frowned at Marianne. ”You're

awfully quiet.”

”I've been warned. I've already been through all this with my parents,”

she added quickly. ”They don't particularly like it, but we're set.

Emma and I are both eighteen now. We know what we want.”

He felt suddenly, uncomfortably old. ”And being eighteen means you can

do as you please?”

”We're not kids anymore,” Marianne began before Emma put a hand over her

mouth.

”Sit down, Marianne, and be quiet.”

Emma took her gla.s.s back from Johnno. ”I know how much I owe my father,

and you. Since I was three years old, I've done everything he's asked

of me. Not just out of grat.i.tude, Johnno, you know that, but because I

love him more than anyone in the world. I can't go on being a child for

him, being content in whatever safe little box he's picked out for me.

You wanted something, and so did he. You went for it. Well, I want

something, too.”

She walked over to her suitcase, popped it, then took out a portfolio.

The nerves had faded. The energy hadn't. ”These are my pictures.

I'm going to try my hand at making a living from them, and I'm going to

go to school here, to learn how. I'm going to share an apartment with

Marianne. I'm going to make friends, and go out to clubs and walk in

the park. I'm going to be a part of the world for a change instead of

standing right on the edge looking in. Please understand.”

”How unhappy were you?”