Farrah sniffled as she cried, and a few tears rolled down Dan’s cheeks. She took a steadying breath before continuing.
“His inability to know what an amazing son he had will always be his tragedy. But not mine. I love you. All I ask is you find happiness. You deserve it. Everyone does.”
Dan wiped a hand down his face.
“I’ve thought about it, and I’m selling the practice.”
Dan’s head jerked back. He’d have been less surprised if she’d just told him that every night she sprouts wings from her back and flies around as the tooth fairy.
“You are?” he finally asked, still in a state of shock. “But what about money? What about … everything?”
“I’ve talked with an accountant. I even hired a consultant. Everyone assures me the practice will sell well.” She was silent for a moment, lost in distant memories. “That had just never been an option before.”
“But what about the name? And Dad? That practice was everything to you two.”
Farrah stared at him. “That practice being everything is exactly why I need to let it go. Somewhere along the line, I got lost in his dreams, not my own. Work like this was never what I wanted. I never intended to have this kind of devotion to a building. To a man’s ambitions that weren’t my own. That was never supposed to be me.” She took a sip of tea. “I don’t want that to be you either.”
Farrah took his hands, hers aged and soft as she held on to his, stroking her thumbs across his knuckles. “It was wrong of me to do this to you, habibi. My grief was never your burden to bear. Your father’s visions were never yours to fulfill, and I’m sorry those things were placed on you. That’s never meant for a child to endure.”
“Mom, I—”
“Let me finish. Whether you want to be a dentist or work in finance or wait tables, I want you to do it for you. And only for you.”
Dan sat there absorbing her words, a lightness slowly flooding his chest until he thought he might float. For the first time, he faced freedom, absolution from the crushing sense of duty that had plagued him for so long.
He knew what he needed to do.
CHAPTER 34
HARPER
“You look like shit.”
Harper started so violently at the unexpected voice that she bit down on her tongue and cracked her knees on the underside of her disaster of a desk. She clutched a hand to her chest and turned to see Thu leaning in the doorway.
“You scared the hell out of me! How did you get in here?”
Thu dangled Harper’s spare key from an extended finger.
“Jesus, Harps, when was the last time you slept?” Thu narrowed her gaze. “Or showered?”
Harper ran a hand through her greasy hair. She’d been so lost in studying, it had been longer than she cared to admit. More than a week had passed, and Harper had isolated herself as much as she could through it. To her dismay, her concussion had forced her to take a few days off from clinic, which felt like dumping gasoline on the already roaring fire of anxiety in her chest. When she’d finally gone back, she’d taken great measures to avoid everyone, picking up extra night rotations to catch up, sprinting home to study into the early hours of the morning. Detaching as much as she could.
If she continued to drown herself in work, she wouldn’t have to think about what happened with Dan.
“Your desk is atrocious,” Thu noted.
Harper could only nod. She used to keep it so clean and orderly, but lately it had dissolved into chaos, herds of coffee mugs and stacks of papers making it difficult for her to find anything.
Thu continued to study Harper. Something she saw made her face soften in sadness.
“Come on,” Thu said, nodding her head toward the living room.
“What are you doing here?”
Thu didn’t bother answering, already making her way down the hall. Harper sighed and saved the work on her laptop before following her friend.
Thu was laying carryout containers on the kitchen table when Harper entered. A six-pack of beer sat next to the food, and Judy jumped onto the table to investigate.
“What are you doing here?” Harper asked again. She wanted Thu to leave.
She wasn’t mad or annoyed at her friend’s invasion. She didn’t have the energy for such complicated feelings. She just wanted Thu gone so she could go back to work, back to reading word after word until her body was numb and her mental image of Dan’s pain-stricken face was blurred.
Thu turned, anger flashing in her eyes.
“What am I doing here? Oh, I don’t know, Harper. Maybe it has something to do with you having a massive meltdown? Or maybe it has something to do with you avoiding me at school? Or ignoring my texts and calls for over a week? Or maybe it’s the fact that I knew if I broke into your apartment, I’d find you greasy-haired and tearstained, hunched over a textbook, looking like Gollum?”