One & Only (Canton) Read Online Free PDF

transfer from Dad, I would, but I knew that wasn’t Mom’s style. I just hoped that he wouldn’t punish her for my choice.
    Like I said, two years—especially two years away—had given me all kinds of insights. But there was no point in stressing my mother out about that. And that was why I presented the whole thing as a fait accompli . I was already registered at Canton for the fall semester. I’d given up my apartment at State, sold my crummy thrift-store furniture, and packed every single one of my belongings in the back of my junky old car to move home, Canton course schedule clutched in my hand like some sort of talisman. Whatever arbitrary reasoning my father had convinced Mom of several years ago, she wouldn’t risk my academic career. My attending Canton wouldn’t pose the slightest danger to the maintenance of our little family secret. They would soon see that I was right.
    I couldn’t have been more wrong.
    ***
    On the last night before classes started, there was a reception at the bioengineering department. Though I wasn’t really much for receptions, I figured it was a good idea to go and try to meet as many faculty and fellow students as possible before the year started. The only professors I’d had a chance to talk with so far had been the head of the department who’d interviewed me during my transfer application and two others he’d had sit in at the time. As I knew after my experiences with Professors White and Stewart, a lot of opportunities came from connections. I was a transfer student, which meant I was that much more of an unknown, even if I did come with stellar recommendations from my old teachers and a scholarship specifically due to my academic achievements. I wanted to make sure everyone in the department knew they’d made the right choice.
    I dressed with more care than usual for the reception, eschewing the usual jeans and T-shirt look for one of my mother’s sheath dresses. My mom was only just forty, and she and I wore the same size. I had her curvy bombshell figure, though I was a few inches taller. The dress was pretty but conservative—a tailored, dove-gray sheath with a boat neck and pin tucks, and it fell to my knees. I paired it with stockings and a set of low, black slingbacks. As I stood before the bathroom mirror, pulling my hair up into a twist, my mother peeked in and smiled.
    “That color’s nice on you,” she said. “Makes your eyes look almost like slate.”
    “Thanks,” I mumbled. I knew what was coming.
    “You have your father’s eyes.”
    Yes, I did. My father’s mercurial, impossible-to-pin-down eyes. Every time I looked in a mirror, there he was, staring back at me, reminding me who I was and the rules guiding my life. My ex-boyfriend Jason had once written a rather awful poem about all the colors of my eyes. And he wondered why we didn’t last.
    I applied some eyeliner and a touch of mascara. Cristina had taught me the technique—Cristina, who was still kicking ass at Cornell and had responded to my announcement about my transfer to Canton with the following text:
OMG HAVE YOU TOLD DYLAN?!?!?
    Which, of course, I had not. I was not in touch with Dylan Kingsley, I had steadfastly resisted looking him up on Facebook, and I wasn’t about to indulge in my friend’s love of drama.
    That being said, I’d definitely made sure to map out routes around campus that would bypass the environmental science department completely. I didn’t fear seeing Dylan—after all, it had been two years—but I wasn’t going to seek him out, either.
    After all, it had been two years.
    A touch of pink lip gloss, and I was done. The last time I’d dressed up this much was at my interview. Maybe I was giving the wrong impression after all. Most days, I had on a lab coat and a ponytail. At the same time, this was Canton. I hated to admit it, but I really wanted to impress them.
    I climbed into my beat-up old hatchback and drove over to the campus. I’d brought my shiny