The Daughter They Abandoned Is The Doctor They Can’t Reach Chapter 14
My phone had barely gone dark when a voice call request popped up on social media.
Tessa.
I stared at it for a few seconds, then answered.
“Nora, this is amazing!” Her excitement was completely unhidden. “A full scholarship! I knew you could do it!”
“Thanks.”
Her congratulations sounded sincere, which somehow made me more tired.
The problem had never been only her.
“Uncle and Auntie have been talking about you all day,” Tessa said, lowering her voice. “Uncle Mark was even looking up Duke’s parent weekend online. He checked hotels and the campus map, too. They really want to be involved.”
I looked at the glass of water gone cold on my desk.
“They’re just starting to look into it now?”
She paused.
“Are you still angry?”
“No.”
I really wasn’t.
Anger meant I was still hoping for something. But whatever changed in that house now, whoever regretted what, whoever suddenly wanted to play parent—it had nothing to do with me anymore.
Tessa seemed to want to explain more. “They just didn’t realize before—”
“I’m in the library. I can’t talk right now,” I cut in. “I have to go.”
“Okay.” She went quiet for a moment. “Nora, you’re all alone out there. Take care of yourself.”
“Mm.”
I ended the call, silenced my phone, and went back to my desk.
My textbook lay open at my elbow. The code on my computer screen was paused where I’d been debugging it. Outside, lights across campus were coming on, illuminating students walking back from late classes.
Those two calls felt like they were coming from very far away.
I used to live in the shadow of that house. I used to think that if I could just be a little more understanding, a little easier, I’d finally be seen.
But I was already out.