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Chapters (44)
  1. Cover
  2. PART I
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. PART II
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. PART III
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. PART IV
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. PART V
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. PART VI
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. ALSO BY THEODORA TAYLOR
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I mean, I wouldn’t mind being a mom. The idea of having children with a loving husband didn’t upset me. And, I was thirty-two. It wasn’t too late yet, but it might be soon…

“So, it is a dealbreaker?” Lucy asked, making me realize that I had left her hanging on umm.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? They were offering me a job right out of grad school. My program mates had been applying to places all year. They’d kill for this kind of career opportunity.

Yinz Animation was finally my chance to live my life on my terms. There was no way I would give that up.

“No, I’m totally in,” I assured her. “I was just thinking about logistics for the move up to Pittsburgh.”

“Oh, good.” Lucy let out an audible sigh of relief. “Once we saw your stuff, we really had our hearts set on you.”

Okay, well, that filled me with all sorts of warm fuzzies. Yinz liked me. They really like me!

But then she said, “Just make sure to keep up all of your grades. We pride ourselves on only hiring animators with MFAs. And I would hate to rescind a job offer, especially for someone as talented as you. But, ironically, the working-class founder of Yinz is kind of snobby that way. Luckily, you’re graduating from RhIDS. He won’t even let us interview candidates from the no-name schools.”

She laughed, and I weakly laughed with her.

Working with the elite of the elites sounded like a dream come true. But if I didn’t do my thesis presentation, it wouldn’t happen.

I had to figure out how to change my thesis presentation date since asking Victor to give me a reprieve wouldn’t work. Just the opposite. He probably relished the thought of ruining everything I’d worked for as much as I relished the idea of finally getting out from under his thumb.

I could barely pay attention in my Advanced Character Design seminar after that. Maybe I should ditch the rest of today’s classes, I thought as I walked out of the classroom. I could pick up an order of Chicken Gang Jeong and Seoul Beef Soup from my favorite Korean restaurant and maybe catch up on all those watching assignments for my World Animation History elective.

The buzz of my secret phone interrupted those thoughts. I fished it out of my Aggretsuko tote and found it lit up with Byron’s number.

I frowned. Byron never called me. I was always the one who called him.

“Hey Ronny, is everything okay?” I asked as soon as I picked up.

In my heart dropped when he answered, “No, everything’s not okay. It’s mom.”

18

VICTOR