The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

18. Samantha

After tea, Emma and I went for a walk to the library to drop off the books I'd taken out and read over the holidays. I was pretty much all packed and ready to head home in the morning. Excited and sad at the same time. Taylor and Brittany had given me their emails and WhatsApp numbers and we'd traded Instagram account names as well.

"I can't believe you go home tomorrow already,"
Emma said. I laughed.

"My second day you didn't even want me here," I laughed.

"I know," Emma said. "I'm sorry."

"You said as much. Don't worry about it," I smiled.

The librarian smiled as Emma and I walked into the building.

"There's my favourite American!" He said. "Here for more books?"

"Sadly, no," I said. "I'm going home tomorrow."

"Pity," he said with a smile. "I was quite enjoying getting to know you."

"Same, Daniel," I smiled.

"Well, I do hope you'll be back to visit soon," he said. "And when you do, I expect you to have read those books I recommended."

I laughed.

"That huge long list you gave me? I promise I'll try to put a dent in it but I can't promise I'll finish it.  Then again, I don't know the next time I'll be here."

"Well, you have a safe flight. You can always email the library to get in touch with me and get more book recommendations. Or tell me what you think of the books I've given you to read."

I thanked Daniel and Emma and I left the library. We walked home past the pool to stop at the snack bar for popsicles.

"Mummy and Daddy think you should stay and come to Saint Sebastian's," Emma said.

"I know. But my friends are back in Ohio, and my parents. And my sister."

"They're not your real parents," Emma said. "They're your adoptive parents. Daddy is your real family."

I frowned.

"My parents are my real parents. They've been better parents in the last two years than my birth dad ever was."

"But they're not your blood. We are."

"True. But they chose to adopt me. And took me in when I was just a strange and scared kid who climbed into their backyard to escape Stanley. They take care of me. They love me and I love them."

"Sure, but what happens when they have another baby?  Will they still want you around?"

"Of course!" I exclaimed. Now I was getting mad. "Why wouldn't they?  They had Rosie and I'm still around."

"But they went to California without you and asked for you to stay here instead of waiting for you to come home and go with them."

"My dad had to do something for work and probably visited some of his friends for a couple of days. They haven't seen Rosie since she was born."

"I dunno. I think if they really wanted you around, they would have waited so you could have gone with."

"Sometimes my dad has deadlines that he has to meet. Or the management team only has specific dates they can be available. It doesn't bother me that they went to California without me."

Emma shrugged.

"Mummy and Daddy would never go away without you along. Daddy wound change his meetings to make sure you could join."

"Well, my dad has a different job than yours. His schedule isn't always one that can be easily changed. Except when I had my accident last fall and he cancelled the last few shows to come home for me."

Emma shrugged again.

"You could get into Oxford if you came to Saint Sebastian's," she said.

"I don't want to go to Oxford," I said.

"You could probably get into Harvard, or Yale. Or any of those big schools in the US.," she said.

"Emma, I don't know why you're trying to sell me on going to school here, but I'm going home tomorrow and I'm starting high school in a couple of weeks with my friends at home. My mom is buried in Ohio. My family is there. So please. Stop trying to sell me Saint Sebastian's. I'm sure it's a good school and you'll be awesome and I have no doubt you'll get into Oxford if that's where you want to go. But I'm not staying to go to school here."

"But I won't get to see you as much," Emma said.

"I know. But we can still go our FaceTime calls and you can tell me about your sleep-ins."

"It won't be the same," she sulked.

"No. I know. It won't.  But I'll be back to visit."

"When?" Emma asked.

"I don't know off hand. Maybe we'll come back in the winter. Or for spring break again. Maybe my dad will tour here again and I can come with."

"Maybe. I wish you could stay though. It would be so cool if we went to the same school. I could tell my friends that my cousin is in Upper School and her dad is famous," she said.

"You can tell them that anyway. Except the upper school part."

Emma laughed a bit.

We got back to the house and Benji almost literally attacked me.

"Do you have to go home tomorrow?"

"Not you too!" I laughed.

"The children have really loved having you here," Aunt Carol said. "Are you sure we can't convince you to try a term at Saint Sebastian's?"

This was getting ridiculous.

"Thank you, Aunt Carol, but I really want to go back home. I miss my parents and my friends and my sister. Not necessarily in that order," I smiled.

"It's a shame. I checked and they have a spot for you if you wanted."

"I'm sure. I need to get home. And with that said, I'm going to go make sure I've packed everything."

I went upstairs and went into my room to check I had everything ready to go. My passport was in my backpack along with my computer and chargers. Just my phone charger was still out so I could charge my phone overnight. I'd packed all my clothes and laid out my clothes for the flight. I'd just shove my pyjamas and today's clothes into an outer pocket on my suitcase for laundry when I got home. Aunt Carol had done all my clothes so I didn't have to do a ton of laundry when I got home.

I lay down on my bed and snapped a picture to post on Instagram.

'Sad to be leaving London, but can't wait to get home to my fam. #lastnight

I posted the picture.

Taylor and Brittany commented almost immediately.

@TaylorBofLondon: "We'll miss you!"

@BritTheBrit: "Please stay!"

I smiled. I would miss them.

Uncle Mark poked his head into my room.

"All packed?" He asked.  I nodded.

"And you're sure we can't convince you to stay," he winked. I rolled my eyes.

"Dinner is ready," he said. "Your aunt has gone all out. We're giving you a traditional English Sunday roast dinner. Roast, Yorkshire pudding, and trifle for dessert."

I smiled and followed him down to the kitchen.