“Yeah, more than a year ago,” Mom said. “That semester off just keeps getting extended, and you’re not doing anything about it.”

“How do you know what I’m doing?” Zack accused. “You complain about how I don’t tell you anything, but then you make all these assumptions about my life. When was the last time you asked me what my plans are?”

“We ask you all the time,” Mom said.

“No, you ask me when I’m going back to school or when I’m getting a better job. You’ve never asked me what I want to do with my life. Maybe I don’t intend to go back! Maybe I didn’t want to go to college in the first place!”

Silence descended on the kitchen again, though this time it was deafening. Zack decided he’d had enough. He jumped up, rattling the table. His mom grabbed his elbow, but he shook her off.

“I need air,” he offered as a catchall explanation.

The second Zack got outside, he put his hands on his knees and breathed deeply. It took him a few moments to get his temper under control. Once he did, his head slowly began to clear, and he realized that leaving in a fit of pique was likely not the most mature exit. He wiped his face with both hands. Of all the ways he’d hoped this dinner would go, storming out had not been high on the list.

“God,” he muttered to himself, “I’m such an idiot.”

“No arguments here,” said a light voice at his elbow.

Zack straightened up. “Bianca.” He sighed. “I don’t suppose you’re here to tell me Mom and Dad had a complete change of heart and want to apologize.”

“Not quite,” she replied. She was standing with her arms behind her back, looking out toward the street. “Dad is telling Uncle Robert everything that’s wrong with millennials, and Mom is aggressively clearing the table.”

Zack cursed under his breath. “I should have pretended to be sick. Dad even told me what was going to go down at this dinner, and I still didn’t have the sense to cancel.”

“Yeah,” Bianca agreed, “but there is a plus side.”

“What’s that?”

“I grabbed the wine on my way out.”

Bianca produced the bottle from behind her back and grinned impishly.

“You are the best sister ever.”

Bianca passed him the bottle, and Zack took a long swig from it before passing it back.

Bianca did the same and then tapped it thoughtfully with her fingernail. “You know our parents love you, right?”

“They have a funny way of showing it.”

“To be fair, you’re the one who lost your temper and stormed out like a moody teenager.”

Zack frowned, mostly because he couldn’t deny it. “Well, they should learn to leave me alone already. Clearly I’m a lost cause.”

“Look, you’re only twenty-one. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do with your life. I agree that Mom and Dad need to realize that you’re not going to make a decision until you want to. But you’re going to have to forgive them for wanting to know what you’re up to. And for being stuck in the mind-set that going to college is the only path to a good life.”