Chapter 26

Having breakfast with just Mom and Dad seems so strange. Rory and Jesse are in Europe, of course, and the tour is going really well. We all want them concentrating on that and not the problems back here.

Callie, of course, as Donny's fiancée, was invited to the big Steel meeting at ten o'clock today.

I have no idea what it's about. I didn't ask Dave. I don't want to horn in on anything, and I know Callie won't tell me either, unless she's been told it's not confidential.

I'm not a member of the Steel family. My three siblings are, but I'm not.

I have to learn to be okay with that.

"More eggs, Maddie?" Mom asks.

I rise and take my empty plate to the sink. "No thanks, Mom."

"You have everything packed up?" she asks.

"Just a few more things I need to get together. Oh, by the way, Dave asked if he could drive me to school this afternoon at two."

Dad lifts his eyebrows and looks away from his paper. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I kind of told him he could. I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not." Mom smiles.

She's no doubt hoping to get another Steel-in-law out of this.

Dad cocks his head. "Anything we should know about, Maddie?"

"We're dating," I say, "but I wouldn't expect anything. Dave has made it clear that he's not one to fall in love quickly, even if the rest of his family seems to be."

Mom's shoulders slump.

Yeah, I was expecting that.

"Sounds like he's a sensible young man," Dad says. "I have no doubt that Donny, Brock, and Brianna love your sisters and Jesse, but it did happen awfully fast."

"Apparently that's how it happens in the family," I say. "Except for Dave."

"You just turn on your natural charm," Mom says. "He'll come around."

I resist rolling my eyes. "I like him a lot. I may even love him, but I don't want him to"—air quotes—"come around unless he feels the same way."

"How could he not?" Mom asks.

"Mom," I sigh. "You just don't get it, do you? I'm not Callie or Rory or Jesse. There's nothing special about me at all."

My mother doesn't reply at first. She's no doubt trying to think of something to say.

But my dad rises, comes to me, takes both my hands in his, and forces me to meet his gaze. "Madeline, I don't want to hear you say that ever again. You're perfect just the way you are, and you are just as special as your sisters and brother. It's not easy being the youngest, and it's not easy following three siblings who are all amazing. But you're not in their shadow, princess. You never were. You are you. You're beautiful and smart and talented."

I scoff. "I don't have a smidgen of talent."

"Of course you do. Perhaps you just haven't found it yet. You're an excellent writer. I read all your papers from English class."

My dad is trying to be nice, but my papers are simply college papers. Sure, I get straight As. Big deal. I'm an English major. I'm not going to law school like Callie.

"You're going to find your place in life," Dad goes on. "Maybe your siblings found it earlier than you did. Maybe they knew what they wanted earlier."

I close my eyes, rub my temples. "It just all came so easily for them."

Dad laughs then—a great big raucous laugh.

I wrinkle my forehead. "What?"

"Do you hear yourself? Jesse has been trying to make it big for years. He's thirty-two and only now getting his chance. Rory wanted to be an opera singer, but that didn't work out for her. She taught for years until she found her true calling with Jesse and the band."

I shrug. "They went for creative jobs. They knew going in that it was going to be tough. Either of them would have done fine in a more traditional job, like Callie. She always knew what she wanted to be."

Dad frowns. "Callie knew she wanted to be a lawyer from day one, but after college, she couldn't go straight to law school because we just didn't have the money. She's twenty-six and going now."

My jaw drops.

My dad is right. How did I forget all that?

"You're so young," he continues. "Twenty-two years old, Madeline. Your ship will come in. Don't be so eager. Let the good things come to you when you're ready to receive them."

Mom joins us, cups my cheek. "Your father is so much wiser than I am, and he's right. I'm glad you're going back to school, and I'm glad you get to finish your final semester on campus. I know you're bummed that you didn't get to continue the European tour, but things happen for a reason. I believe your father's right."

I look at my feet. "Maybe."

Mom tips my chin back up, and then looks at my dad, beaming at him. "I don't know how you do it, Frank. I don't how you're able to keep such a good outlook after everything we've been through. But I'm glad you are, because I don't know what I would do without you."

Dad gets to his feet and hugs my mom. "You'll never know, Reenie."

I step away from my parents then. This is a moment for them, and I want them to have it.

Because I already got what I need out of this moment.

A different outlook.

And maybe, just maybe, that's all it takes.