Forever: Chapter 4

Sunday dinners at the Chambers' family were something special, and in their home, every Sunday, it was like a Christmas. Timothy's mother was always cooking food enough to feed an army, and nobody could understand why she did that when at Sunday's dinners there were only five of them: Timothy, his brother, their parents, and Valerie, who was considered a member of their family. Used to, there were six of them, but since Timothy's older brother Brian last year broke up with his high school sweetheart Carrie, he never brought another girl after her at these family dinners.

Brian was a spitting image of his father, and he was his father's pride. Unlike Timothy, he was standing strong with his feet on the ground, and he was dreaming of one day inheriting his father's business. Since Brian was a little boy, he spent all his time in the store, and when he grew up, it was logical for him to start to work there. At college, he was studying business management, and his father was proudly saying, "Something very useful for the future of the family business".

This Sunday was no different from any other Sunday. Everything was peaceful and cheerful until the moment when Timothy decided to inform his family about Valerie's job offer and how they are thinking of moving to New York in the autumn. Then everything became quiet.

"Valerie will work for some magazine, but what will you be doing, Tim? Have you calculated the monthly expenses for a living? Have you seen the prices of rent in New York these days? Do you have any idea how expensive New York is? Or do you think that her starting salary will be enough for both of you to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world?" Mathew first broke the unpleasant silence.

"Yes, dad, we know. We are not idiots," Timothy replied.

"With Valerie's salary, you both will be forced to have at least two jobs. You'll be waiting tables for a living, and that is what New York desperately needs: two more waiters."

"Dad, please..."

"No, Tim, I'm serious. I'm not living with my head in the clouds as you do."

"For a start, we have savings..."

"In a city like that, your savings won't last for a long time."

"Valerie is talented, and maybe the magazine she will be working for, or some more respected magazine will offer her a better-paid job. She'll continue to sell her photographs online, I'll work as a freelancer, and maybe I'll find a publisher for my books."

"Maybe you will, but maybe you won't. Tim, I know that both of you are very talented and very good at what you're doing. I have never denied your talents, but in New York, there are thousands of other talented artists who are waiting tables and delivering pizzas for a living. In New York, you'll squander your talents. Trust me, Tim, you won't have time to write there. Here, you have a good job, you're earning enough money for a decent living, you have time to write, and Valerie can take photographs, as she is doing it now. Don't throw that away. Before you make your final decision, I want you both to think twice about everything. Tim, I'm not asking you to stop with your hobby…"

"Hobby? Writing for you is a hobby?"

"You can't be serious. Do you think that you'll live a decent living from writing, son?"

"Mathew, please leave him alone!" Timothy's mother tried to stop the quarrel before the situation escalates.

"This is all your fault, Ellen! You were encouraging him all his life to believe in his dreams and how everything is possible."

"That is my obligation as a parent. My job is to support my children and help them achieve everything they are dreaming of, no matter how impossible their dreams seem!"

"Now I can see Tim is not the only dreamer in this family," Mathew said sarcastically.

"I'm tired of this! Why can't I have a normal family like everybody else? This was supposed to be Val's night. We wanted to celebrate her success with you, but now everything is ruined," Timothy said, and he threw the napkin on the table.

"Son, I have supported you my whole life, and I always will, but you are not a child anymore. You should accept the fact that no matter how talented you are, you won't be able to make a decent living from your writing. You should become more responsible and take your job in the furniture store seriously, because thanks to that job, you have food on the table. One day you'll get married, you'll have children, and you will have to provide for your family what I have given you my whole life: a home and security. How much have you earned from writing in the past twelve months? A hundred? Two hundred dollars?"

"2712 dollars."

"And 2712 dollars will be enough for your family to live for a year? In New York City? With 2712 dollars, you'll pay the bills, you'll eat, you'll cover your family's health insurance, you'll pay for your children's education..."

"Can I have more salad?" Brian asked, at the wrong time, and everyone looked at him.

Brian didn't want more salad. All he was trying to do was stop the fight between his brother and father, but he did it in the wrong way. He was feeling guilty because he hadn't participated in the quarrel. His duty as an older brother was to support and always to stand up for Timothy. Tonight, Brian felt that he had let his brother down because he didn't say a single word the entire evening to defend him. All he said was, "Can I have more salad?" at the wrong time.

"Val, let's go!" Timothy said, and he got up from the table.

"Please don't go, please stay for the desert! Today I've made your favorite cake, Valerie!" Ellen desperately tried to stop them from going.

"I'm sorry, Ellen. We'll come some other day. I promise," Valerie said.

Timothy took Valerie's hand, and they left the room without saying goodbye to anyone.

"Are you happy now? Why couldn't you just leave them to eat their dinner in peace? I've cooked all this food for nothing! How could you let them go home hungry? They're busy, and they don't have time to cook. I want one day a week Tim and Val to have a proper meal, but you have to ruin it!" Ellen said to her husband, with an angry tone.

"Ellen, I'm sorry, you know that I am, but all I want is the best for him," Mathew tried to apologize.

"You chose a strange way to show him your love and your support."

"If I didn't love him, he'd never be working in our store. Who will hire him? Do you know what he is doing all day at work? He is reading books, and he is writing. Going to work for him is like going to a library. At work, he brings books, his computer, and a notebook to write his ideas. Since he works in the store, he hasn't sold a single piece of furniture. Once, while he was writing, the customers asked him about the price of a table, and he told them to wait for him to finish with his writing. I don't know if they had to wait for him to finish a chapter or the whole book. I'm afraid to leave him alone in the store because if he focuses on his books, the people can take out all the furniture from the store, and he won't notice. When I'm leaving him alone, he is always calling Valerie, and he is closing the store. I don't want to think about what they are doing alone in there. Two days ago, I was returning from the bank, and when I got back, I found the store closed. Immediately, I knew that he was not alone, and I was right. He was with Valerie. I left them in peace to continue with what they were doing, and I was standing for half an hour, with Roberto, from the grocery shop, waiting for him to open the store again. Ellen, what else do you want me to do for him to prove to you that I love him?"

"I want you to call him and to apologize to them both. Now!"

Timothy didn't say a single word to Valerie from his parents' house to the beach. He got more upset when his phone began to ring, and he saw it was his father. He thought, "Does he have something more to add tonight?" and he ignored the call.

Walking barefoot on the beach, hand in hand with Valerie, made him calm. It was the end of May, and the weather was hot. After they arrived on their beach, they sat down in the sand.

"Peace, finally! I'm sorry about tonight, Val!" Timothy said.

"You don't have to apologize, Timmy. None of this that happened was your fault."

"I know, but I feel guilty. We didn't finish our dinner. Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? If you are hungry, let's go to a restaurant."

"I've already told you, I'm not hungry."

"Have you seen how it looks every my day at work? I don't know how I'll go to work tomorrow. I wish my father was more like yours. Your father always supports you, while my father always finds a way to discourage me."

"Your father loves you, and he only wants what's best for you."

"Yes, but it would be nicer if he showed me a little of support. Val, I can't give up on my dreams. That's who I am."

"I don't want you to give up on your dreams. I won't let you give up! If everyone gave up that easily, there would have never been written millions of books, and millions of other works of art would not have existed. Promise me that you'll never give up, no matter how hard he tries to put pressure on you or discourage you. Promise me that!"

"I promise!"

"Good! Don't you ever forget what you've promised me."

"You don't know how much your support it means to me. If I didn't have you, I would give up on everything a long time ago."

"But you know, your dad has a right, at some point."

"Yes, I know."

"With our incomes, we are living cozy lives. We can afford an apartment in a good part of the city, we can put some money aside, and we can travel. Every year we are going to London, and this year for New Year's Eve, we were in Paris. We won't be able to have a nice life like this in New York. As a freelancer, I won't be able to earn a third of the money my father is giving me, literally for doing nothing. The good salary is the only thing that keeps me working for him."

"In New York, maybe we will have a nicer life from the life we have now. Maybe you'll find a publisher, you'll become a famous writer, and you will earn millions from your books. And maybe I'll work for the best magazines in the world. If not, we can always come back here."

"Val..."

"No, seriously, I can live with much less than we have now, but the only thing I couldn't live without is you. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't met you."

"Me too. Without you, I would be completely lost. Val, I'm not an idiot. I'll work tirelessly just to provide you everything you'll need in life, and you'll never miss a thing, I promise."

"I already have everything I need in my life. You are everything I need, Timmy."

"You have me, and I'll always be yours, but, still beside me, you'll need food, a place to live, you'll need clothes, you'll need money to go out with your friends... You see, I'm not everything you need. Nobody can live only from love."

"But if I had a fortune, and I didn't have you, my life would be empty. You're giving sense to my life."

Timothy didn't know what to say to that. She was right, but he was right, too. Nobody can live only from love. He looked at her, he smiled, and he kissed her forehead.

"What would I be doing without you, Val?"

"Probably you'll be sitting at this place, only with some other girl, telling her the same."

"No, I don't think so."