If you didn’t know any better, you’d probably think someone had died. My parents, Claire, and I are all seated around the kitchen table in silence, waiting for the inevitable phone call, and all of their previous optimism has gone. I guess that’s what happens when you can’t avoid reality anymore: When the ugly truth finally sinks in, it’s impossible to keep being idealistic.
Did you really think it would be that easy? I want to ask them. Did you really think I would find a mate after spending eighteen years being the most useless person in the pack?
But I don’t say anything, partly because I don’t want to upset them further, and partly because I know it won’t do any good. Instead, I’m left to wait in tense anticipation of what we all know is coming.
Claire is the first one to break the
