"If you're here to persuade me to make up with them, forget it." I didn't let him finish. "In their world, the only thing that matters is their reputation."
If I hadn't been starved for parental affection, if I hadn't genuinely missed them, I never would have moved back in with them after college. But those two years together only highlighted the chasm between us—in thinking, in habits, in values.
"Uncle Mason, do you have anything else to say?"
He remained silent.
Suddenly, my father's roar blasted through the phone speaker. He must have been listening in.
"I raised you to adulthood, and this is how you repay me? You ungrateful wretch! A person cannot be this selfish—look at what you've become!"
My mother's voice filtered through from the background. "Alright, say a little less. Gabriel is still young. He doesn't understand."
I snapped.
"Mom, I am not young. I'm twenty-five. I'm at the age where I should be getting married." My voice came out steady. Cold. "If I hold my wedding this year, have you thought about where we will live?"
I didn't wait for an answer.