She was crying now.
“You weren’t.”
Brooke reached behind the podium.
She lifted a large envelope.
“We also found out that because we’re adults now, we could make one decision without asking anyone else’s permission.”
I stared at her.
Lily smiled through tears.
“Three decisions, technically.”
The audience laughed.
I didn’t.
I couldn’t move.
Then the university president gestured toward me.
“Mason Carter, would you please come forward?”
“No,” I whispered.
Mrs. Coleman would have pushed me if she had still been alive.
She had passed away four years earlier at eighty-six.
I could almost hear her.
Get up there, you fool.
Someone beside me touched my shoulder.
“Sir, I think they mean you.”
I stood.
My legs barely worked.
I walked toward the stage.
Halfway there, Brooke came running down the stairs and grabbed my hand.
“What did you do?” I asked.
She was crying and laughing.
