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Chapter One

“Did you go food shopping yet? Is the food expensive? Do you understand what half of it is?”

I sed hter “Mom, I’m in Scotland, not the Amazon”

“I know but they eat things ouldn’t dare eat”

She sounded so horrified I couldn’t help my dry retort “They’re not cannibals”

A spray of soda shot paston Diet Coke as she listened toin the kitchen of our student apart room chairs that had been supplied in our cothat looked out over the courtyard of our building, the sun hitting the glass and prickling our skin with its heat Everything about the roo The accommodation was basic but it arm and safe and a million times better than I’d been led to believe it would be

“So dra, the food is a little different,” Moht”

Whether I was in Edinburgh or back ho right This was because I couldn’t cook Delia Redford was an awesohter, Andrea, so she took the fact that her youngest (that would beit up as a personal failure on her part Luckily for me, I could read and work an oven so frozen dinners kept me from starvation

“Mom, they eat pretty much e eat mostly because … you know … they’re people”

“Except their chocolate is better,” Claudiaon a bar of Dairy Milk

I frowned at her “That’s a matter of opinion”

“What’s a matter of opinion?” Moht?”

My lips twitched “Moht?”

Claudia nodded and mumbled around a ers and sed, “Hi, Delia Mom!”

Mohed “Tell her I say hi back”

“Mom says hi back”

“Your father told me to tell you that the two of you have to check in every day”

I grimaced “You didn’t make Andie check in every day when she was in Dublin”

“We didn’t have to ot soon it’s a wonder we hear from you at all”

“Well, it’s not like I’ sh—stuff”

Her tone turned sharp “Were you going to say shit?”

“Would I, a grooman of twenty years old, dare to curse in front of my mother?”

She harrumphed

I sighed “Mo you every day It’s too expensive And I don’t have time to Skype with you every day I’ll send e the week and we’ll set up a Skype chat once a week, okay?”

“You don’t have to make it sound like a chore”

“Mo to ive me a chance to miss you”

At her soft chuckle, I relaxed “I’m just worried You’re my baby and Claud is my adopted baby”

“We’ll be fine But we’ve got to go It’s induction week and Claudia and I have sos we need to do before classes start I’ll email you soon”

“But you didn’t answer my question about food”

“We went food shopping Our fridge, our freezer, and our cupboards are packed full”

“With what?”

“Food, Mom”

“What kind of food?”

I threw an exasperated “help me” look at Claudia and she instantly cried out in mock pain

“What was that?”

“Got to go, Morinned atfriend “I should switch it off before she calls back”

We jumped as the phone buzzed in ”

“I cannot catch a break Hello,” I answered

“Hello to you too,” Andie said “You’ve been gone two days You don’t write, you don’t call …”

“I just got off the phone with Moo”

“Right How’d that go? Did she give you the food chat?”

“Did you get that too?”

“When I did my study abroad? Yeah I think she thinks non-Americans aren’t from Planet Earth and that they somehow subsist on weird alien food that our bodies can’t process”

“Yeah, I’ that”