Episode 847: Thankful

Ryley set little Miranda’s carrier on the coffee table, gentle enough not to wake the slumbering child.

“Truly beautiful,” Adria’s mother, Katherine, agreed, though she only gave the girl a cursory once over before her gaze, or maybe it was her glare, focused on Adria. “I suppose it’s better late than never meeting our granddaughter.”

“You’re not the most available people, never have been,” Adria noted. “More often than not we never even managed to get it together for holidays like this. Too bad Bassie and Justine couldn’t be here, too.”

“You know,” her mother said, “I was available the day she was born, and if I hadn’t been, I would have made myself available to oversee your care. You’d think my daughter would want her doctor mother there.”

“I didn’t leave you out on purpose, Mom, it just happened really suddenly and I was way too uncomfortable to make phone calls. I’m sure it would have been comforting to have you there talking me through everything, but it worked out, I had Ryley.”

“Not just Ryley,” her mother said, “you have no idea how it felt to hear that your harasser was in the room, yet I wasn’t.”

“Good to know confidentiality is alive and well in the medical community,” Ryley said.

“It’s also really good to know that I keep falling for this every single time, no matter how old I get,” Adria said. “Every time I think we’re going to come together and do some nice family thing, it’s a fraud. This invite wasn’t about Thanksgiving, it wasn’t even about meeting Miranda, it was about telling me I’m doing things the wrong way because it’s not your way.”

“We’re concerned. How is that man still in your life?” Her father asked.

“He’s not, we ran into each other, that’s all.” She looked to her husband, hating for him that they were stirring this up again. Ryley nodded his belief in her, so at least there was that.

“Surely you’re not working with him again,” her father said. “Now is the time to put that man out of your life and set a better example for your child by pursuing a more adult career.”

“Goodness knows if she chose med school she wouldn’t come to me for a referral,” Adria’s mom, Katherine, muttered.

“I’m not working with him,” Adria said. “I’m not working with any-”

“Acting is what she loves to do and she’s not giving that up for you again, and she’s definitely not giving it up for her daughter.”

“She should-”

“How about this?” Adria asked, sorry that her raised voice woke her daughter, but it was good for Miranda to learn early that sometimes a girl had to raise her voice to be heard. “How about everyone lets me make my own decisions. That’s something I could be thankful for today.”

Episode 848: Let's Go To Vegas