Chapter 41
“You know you don’t have to babysit me. You can go join Ryder and Daniel.
Elizabeth and I are out on the back portico watching Daniel show Ry and my dad how to fly the new drone prototype he brought with him. I found out that was what my dad and Daniel had been discussing.
Dad has contracted D & D Technology, Daniel’s company, to develop drone-delivery technology for Montgomery Pharmaceutical.
The drones would be used to deliver much needed medicines to villages and other areas that are hard to get to by other modes of transportation.
The drones would also be used to ferry vital, lifesaving supplies to people in dire situations, like lost hikers who get trapped or injured while traversing up mountains.
The technology is by no means novel, but it can always be improved upon
I reveal the cribbage box I had hidden behind my back and Elizabeth’s face lights up.
“That looks just like the one on the boat,” she surmises, taking the wooden box from me and opening it to get out the metal pegs and the deck of cards
“That’s because it is, kitten. And it’s a yacht, not a boat.
“Whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes while shuffling the cards. She shells out six cards each and places the crib between us.
Before Mom headed back inside, complaining it was too cold for her, she had hot chocolate and an assortment of mini desserts sent out for us to enjoy. I reach for a raspberry Linzer cookie and pop it in my mouth.
“With only six more months to go, have you decided which colleges you are applying to?” I ask her.
“CU or bust. That’s the only one I’m applying to.”
I figured that would be what she’d say, because that’s where the guys are going, but still.
I nudge her foot under the table. “Putting your eggs all in one basket is not wise. You’re smart enough to get into almost any university, so why limit yourself?
You could also pursue music and apply to Julliard.
Aren’t you curious to see the world? Go somewhere out of state? ”
Elizabeth lays down an eight over the seven I led with. She jumps her first peg up two holes on the cribbage board for making the sum of fifteen.
“But I’ve already seen most of the world with you,” she teases. “Besides, you could literally buy your way into whichever university you wanted, yet you took a gap-year instead.”
“True. But that’s because my future is already planned out for me. I know I’ll be taking over MP. You, on the other hand, can do whatever you want. Your future is full of possibilities.”
“So is yours, Fallon,” she counters, playing her final card, which makes a run of consecutive numbers. She jumps her peg up three more spaces.
Elizabeth rests her elbow on the table and props her chin in her palm, looking at me.
“You don’t have to work at MP if that’s not what you want, Fallon. Life is too short to be stuck doing something that doesn’t make you happy. So, Mr. Montgomery, what makes you happy?”
You. You make me happy.
“That’s what I’m still trying to figure out.”
“Your dad is a nice guy. Look what he did for me and I’m not even his daughter.
He would understand if you wanted to pursue other things in life.
I’m sure, deep down, you know that your parents only want you to be happy and have a fulfilled life that means something to you.
Even if it means you don’t follow in the proverbial family footsteps. ”
She’s right. Dad would be disappointed, but he would understand.
Maybe my idea about going to college wherever Elizabeth goes isn’t so crazy after all.
Okay, it’s a little crazy because I would be choosing the college that she and the guys would be attending as well.
But wouldn’t that make it more fun? Being someplace where your two best friends are at
“Babe! You’ve got to try this,” Ry shouts over at her.
Elizabeth puts her cards down on the table, stands up, and holds her hand out for me to take. “Ready to have some fun?”
And like every other time she has done and said the exact same thing, I take her hand and say, “Where you go, I follow.”