Maureen said something about Oliver starting to get college information already (“I guess the publicity is good for something, right?”), but Oliver’s eyes were locked on me. He raised an eyebrow and gestured a little with his fork, and when I just shook my head in an “I’m fine” gesture, he paused for a minute, then spoke up.
“I think Emmy should go away to college.”
My fork fell to my plate.
“Well, it’s a little late now,” my mom said, laughing.
Oliver just shrugged. “I dunno. I just mean, she’s smart, you know? Like, really smart. And she’s responsible. She could go away to school. And you know, maybe she should.”
I sat frozen. If he said anything about UCSD, I would kill him and then the whole discussion would be a moot point because I’d be going to prison, not college.
“Oliver.” Maureen didn’t even try to hide the edge in her voice. “You don’t tell people how to raise their kids.” She smiled at my parents. “Sorry, you two.”
“I’m not,” he said, and Oliver wasn’t hiding the edge in his voice, either.
Maureen just gasped. I hadn’t realized that the two of them shared the same stubborn streak, but now, sitting across the table from each other, it was like an invisible current connected them. For the first time since Oliver had come home, ironically, they seemed just like mother and son.
“I’m not,” Oliver said again. “I just think Emmy doesn’t need to be so protected, that’s all.”
The conversation was taking a dangerous turn and I instinctively gripped the edge of the table, hanging on for the ride.
“Are you doing this because I grounded you?” Maureen finally exploded. “Is that what this is? You want to embarrass me in front of our friends because you think I embarrassed you?”
“That’s right, Mom,” he said. “It’s all about you. I forgot.”
“You were late!” Maureen cried. “You were late coming home, and Keith is still out there somewhere and—”
My mom started to stand up. “Maybe we should go,” she started to say.
“No, Elizabeth.” Maureen gestured to my mom to sit down. “Please, stay. Sit down. This conversation is over.”
But now Oliver was standing, too, his napkin balled up in his hand. “Do you really think he’s gonna kidnap me again? Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know!” Maureen yelled, and now she was standing, too. My mom sat back down reluctantly, then reached for my hand under the table. “I didn’t think he would take you the first time, but guess what? He did!”
“I’m almost eighteen!” Oliver said. “What, do you think he’s just going to drag me away somewhere? I’m five inches taller than him!”
“You are?” Maureen blinked. She seemed to sag a little and her lower lip trembled for a second, but then she regained her composure. “Oliver, listen to me. Keith committed a crime, a big one. He is a criminal. He is not to be trusted. You need to accept that.”
“Stop talking about him like that’s all he did!” Oliver shouted. “He raised me, okay? He taught me how to ride a bike, he took care of me when I was sick!”
“He was an alcoholic!” Maureen cried. “I had no idea if you were hungry, if you were starving . . .”
“Dad never drank!” Oliver said. “You think you know everything and you don’t! I was fine!”
“What if you got sick? Do you think he would have taken you to an emergency room or a hospital? He didn’t even take you to the goddamn dentist!”
“He and I were there, Mom. You weren’t!”
“I looked for you!” Maureen screamed, and now she was crying. My dad’s face was pale and Rick was standing up now, too, a reluctant referee. My mom’s grip on my hand was iron tight, and I was pretty sure I was hanging on to hers the same way.
“I spent every day looking for you!” she continued. “All of my money! All of my time! I tried to find you!”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t.”
“Hey!” Rick said sharply. “That’s enough, Oliver. You’re putting your mom through hell, you know that?”
“Why is this always about her?” Oliver yelled back. “Everyone acts like it was my idea to disappear but actually, I’m the one who decided to come home!”
Maureen froze. So did the rest of us.
“Every time I asked Dad about you, he would just say he didn’t want to talk about it!” Oliver yelled, his face flushed. “And then one day, I went to the library, the big one with the lions, and I tried Googling you, and there were all of these articles about me and I saw your picture for the first time in ten years, Mom, okay? Ten years! And I knew then what Dad had done so when they asked for fingerprint volunteers on that stupid field trip, I said yes. And now sometimes I wish I hadn’t because I just fucked everything up for you, didn’t I?” Oliver’s eyes started to fill with tears. “You had this perfect life with the twins and Rick and I just messed it all up.”
“Oliver, no, honey—” Maureen said as she started to cross the room to him. I was still in my chair, and my mom’s hand felt clammy in mine.
“No!” Oliver yelled, and Maureen stopped in her tracks. “Just don’t, okay? You still love the kid that left, but I don’t think you like the one that came back! I don’t think you—”