“Don’t be,” her mother sighed. “This is something Julia does.”
“What do you mean, this is something she does?” Emma asked.
“Julia is very smart and usually seems extremely put together. But she can also be emotional and impulsive. She insists on having her way and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.”
Emma was shocked at what she was hearing. Especially from Julia’s mother. This wasn’t at all how she expected her to react to her daughter’s disappearance. She looked over at Julia’s father, who gave her a slightly more sympathetic expression.
“Don’t misunderstand, we love our daughter very much. She is the light of our lives. But she can be extremely headstrong. As she was growing up, we always wanted to look at it as being determined. We liked that she was driven and ambitious. She always wanted to succeed and put it in her mind that if she wanted something, she would do whatever she needed to do to accomplish that goal.”
“I can definitely see that about her,” Emma said. “Which is why I’m so surprised that this is happening. That’s why I’m so worried about her.”
“Why?” Julia’s mother asked.
“Because she was just getting her life started. She was looking forward to graduate school. She wanted a career and a future,” she said.
Julia’s mother rolled her eyes. “By career, are you talking about this nonsense about cooking?”
“She was talking about taking some culinary school classes and potentially becoming a chef. But this was always alongside her goals for grad school. She’s an amazing cook. Did you know that?” she asked.
“Julia was meant for more than cooking,” her mother said. “That isn’t the type of career her father and I envisioned for her. And it’s not the type of career we were paying for her to go to school to achieve. She was always very talented growing up. Smart. Good grades. Julia has the potential to become anything, and we ensured she had all of the paths open to her. When she brought up to us that she was considering a total shift in her educational focus and career aspiration, we saw it for what it is. A silly distraction and a waste of her potential. We let her know it was unacceptable of her to consider such a change and that she needed to focus on the plan in front of her. Apparently, this is how she chose to react.”
“You think that she ran away because you didn’t want her to study cooking?” Emma asked incredulously. “Like some spoiled child? That’s how little you think of your daughter?”
“Emma, I know this might be difficult for you to understand. Julia told us you don’t have any involvement from your parents,” Mrs. Meyer said.
Emma bristled, her spine straightening so hard it hurt. She wanted to lash out, to defend her parents against the implication so heavy in the woman’s voice. But she didn’t. This wasn’t about her. It was about Julia, and she didn’t want to push away the two people closest to her. They knew her better than anyone and might be able to help find her.
“What I’m finding difficult to understand is why you’re so angry rather than being worried about her. Julia always talked about the two of you as being so supportive of her. She always said you were proud of her and so encouraging,” Emma said.
“We are,” Julia’s father said. “We always have been. But it’s also important to us at that Julia be the type of person we know she’s meant to be. There have been difficulties, and we try not to dwell on them. But we made it clear to her that she needed to stay focused. That if she expected to have our support, she needed to keep on the right path.”
Realization settled over Emma.
“You mean, if she wanted you to continue paying her way and sending her money, she would do what you wanted her to do and be the person you thought she should be,” she said.
“Were you aware that Julia changed schools?” Mrs. Meyer asked. “Or that she started at this university after some significant unpleasantness at the last one?”
“No,” Emma said, shaking her head. “I knew she was a couple of semesters behind, but she said it was because of an enrichment program she did.”
“She was accepted into an extremely exclusive study-abroad program when she first enrolled here at Alexandria,” Mr. Meyer said, a note of pride finally apparent in his voice.
“But that was only after she left her first school and chose this one instead. We accepted the change then because she was still willing to work on an acceptable course of study and we thought it would be good for her to get away from all the distractions of the other school. The bad influences,” Mrs. Meyer said. “She has been doing well here since. But over the last several months, she’s started showing all the negative signs again. She started hinting at a relationship. She talked about this absurd career. I was concerned it would negatively impact her volunteering. A few days ago, she told us that she had big news she wanted to share with us over Christmas and would be bringing someone home with her.”
“Who?” Emma asked.
“She didn’t give us a name. We didn’t need a name. It would be unacceptable for her to bring a stranger home for Christmas, and we told her as much. It was obvious she had lost track. I was so hopeful over Thanksgiving break when she was talking about her volunteering and how well she was doing in her classes. I thought she was finding herself again. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case. And now she’s rebelling against our trying to put her back in line. I am so disappointed. And as you can imagine, hurt. And, yes, angry. But don’t waste your time with worry. When Julia is finished with this ill-fated romance of hers, realizes that cooking in a grimy, greasy kitchen isn’t
