Chapter 22
“What do you mean you had dinner with my Muriel?” Oliver said to Amy.
“I love her,” Amy said. “She’s perfect.”
He didn’t know how he felt about his ex-wife hanging out with the woman he had feelings for.
“She saw us at dinner?” Oliver couldn’t believe it. The whole time he’d sat in Concord, he thought about Muriel, wishing things were different.
“Yes, she thought we were together again,” Amy said. “Can you imagine?”
“And she broke off the engagement?” he asked again.
“Yes,” Amy said. “She isn’t with anyone, and I think she’s kind of figuring things out.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Did you tell her you were going to tell me everything?”
Amy laughed on the other end. “No, but she could probably guess.”
He thought about his next move.
“Do you think I should call her?” he asked. Of all people, Amy would know what he should do.
“Oliver, I’d be driving to Concord if I were you,” Amy said.
“I love you, Amy,” he said. He knew she understood what their friendship meant to him. “I’m sorry we couldn’t make it, you know.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sorry, too.”
He looked around the kitchen for his keys. He had planned on going into school that day to get his classroom ready for the school year, but he had a couple weeks left until school started. Right now, he needed to get to Concord.
As he was about to rush out the door, Steven, his father, came out of the study and stopped him.
“I thought you were going to be around for lunch today?” he asked Oliver.
“Dad,” Oliver said. “When did you get here?”
Oliver looked down at his watch. It was only nine in the morning. His father probably flew there. If he waited to have lunch, he wouldn’t get to Concord until nighttime.
“I have something that came up that’s important,” he said. “I have to run out.”
“What’s so important?” Steven Abbott said, giving the look he often gave his son when he caught him doing something wrong. “I’ve invited a good friend over today.”
Steven Abbott had arrived for his annual two weeks of summer vacation at the house in Blueberry Bay and hadn’t come quietly. Everything would be about what Oliver didn’t do right.
“It’s not that I don’t want to have lunch. I need to see someone about something important.” Oliver didn’t want to wait any longer.
“Frank’s a board member of Boston General,” Steven said, and he didn’t need to say anything more. This was Oliver’s ticket back into medicine.
“Ah.” Oliver shut the door and stepped back inside the house. He could see the eagerness in his father’s eyes. He was going to break his father’s heart. “Do you think we can have an honest conversation about my future?”
Steven jerked his head back. “What do you mean?”
“I love teaching,” Oliver said, holding out his hands. “I really want to stay a teacher.”
“I know, but your heart is in medicine, ever since you were a little boy,” Steven said. “You’ve had your time to work things out, and now it’s time to go back.”
“I’m not going back to medical school.” Oliver kept his voice calm and rational. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin one of the most important relationships he had in his life, but he wanted to live his life, not his father’s. “I want to stay here and teach in Blueberry Bay, and I was hoping I could stay here with Gramps.” He paused to let it all sink in. “I really love what I’m doing and I don’t want to leave.”
Steven stared at Oliver. His grandfather hadn’t given any indication of how he felt, which made Oliver more nervous. His parents hadn’t been on board with his decision to take a year off, and he was certain they’d be disappointed if he stayed a teacher.
His father shook his head. “You have a gift and you’re throwing it away.”
Oliver’s heart crushed.
“I’m good at teaching,” Oliver said. “Really good at teaching. And I’m happy teaching.”
Steven shook his head. “You are an Abbott! We aren’t babysitters.”
Oliver wanted to argue that point more than anything. He felt like he was doing greater good by being a teacher. He was shaping the future, as cheesy as it sounded, not just babysitting. His father thought it was unfitting and beneath an Abbott to be a public servant, even worse to become a teacher, and in a middle school of all choices.
“Dad, I want to teach.” Oliver stood facing his father, hoping this would sink in. “I don’t want to be a doctor.”
“The boy’s good at it,” his grandfather said from behind.
Oliver turned around to see his grandfather standing in the doorway.
His father shook his head, placing his hand on his hips. “I won’t let you just live off your trust fund for the rest of your life.”
Oliver didn’t know much about the law but understood enough about his trust fund to know it was his and he could use it as he saw fit. “You should see what I do with the kids.”
“You wasted all my money going to medical school,” Steven said angrily.
Max cleared his throat. “Now this doesn’t need to become an argument. Oliver has a real gift working with these kids.”
“Dad,” Steven shot out. “How can you even act like you accept this as your grandson’s future?”
“It’s not my future. That’s how I accept it,” Max said clearly.
“You certainly had no trouble telling me how to run my life,” Steven said. “I specifically remembering you telling me you wouldn’t support many of my crazy dreams.”
“You wanted to be in a rock band,” Max said in a teasing manner, trying to lighten the mood. But Steven’s anger didn’t subside and his cheeks only got redder. “I made mistakes and now I can see where I went wrong,” Max said. “Don’t make those same mistakes with Oliver.”
“He has so much potential,” Steven said, slapping his hand on his leg. “You’re wasting it for a career that will earn you nothing.”
“I have to go,” Oliver said, not willing to be part of this conversation. “I’m sorry I’m going to miss lunch, but I have something very important I have to attend to.”
He walked away without listening to his father’s comments as he left. What would be the point in participating in that conversation? His father wasn’t going to change his mind. He was primarily concerned with what was best for the Abbott name, not Oliver. As much as his opinion mattered to Oliver, he wouldn’t let it prevent him from doing what was best for him and teaching was best for him.
It gave him the same purpose medicine did. He wanted to help. He wanted to give back. He had been blessed with being an Abbott. He knew the fortunes and privileges that came with his last name. Why not use some of that for good?
But the most important thing about being a teacher in Blueberry Bay…he was Mr. Abbott, surfer and science guy, who cared about the community. And he liked that guy a whole lot more than the son of Steven Abbott.
He turned the ignition and pulled out of the garage. He began to second-guess himself as he took off toward town to get to the highway. Maybe Amy had interpreted things wrong. Maybe Muriel hadn’t told him about her calling off the engagement because she didn’t have feelings for him like Amy thought.
But he didn’t slow down. He didn’t hesitate. He knew what he wanted. He didn’t need anyone to tell him.
And Oliver wanted to see Muriel, now.