The Ones We Choose

"A unique marriage of love and science, Julie Clark’s powerful debut The Ones We Choose proves family is what we make it. Poignant and captivating, this is a read-in-one-sitting story!"

Auteur

Julie Clark

Texte du rabat

"The powerful forces of science and family collide when Paige Robson, a genetic scientist whose life's work examines why some fathers can't bond with their children, finds her world in upheaval: her eight-year-old son Miles is struggling to fit in at his new school and begins asking questions about his biological father that Paige can't answer--until fate thrusts the anonymous donor she used into their lives. Paige's carefully constructed life begins to unravel as the truth of Miles' paternity threatens to destroy everything she has grown to cherish. And when tragedy strikes, Paige must face the consequences of sharing a secret only she knows. As Paige slowly opens herself up--by befriending an eccentric mother, confronting her own deeply buried vulnerabilities, and trying to make sense of her absent father's unexpected return--she realizes breakthroughs aren't only for the lab"--

Résumé
Lisa Genova meets 23andMe in this exploration of the genetic and emotional ties that bind, as debut author Julie Clark delivers a compelling read about a young boy desperate to find his place in this world, a mother coming to terms with her own past, and the healing power of forgiveness.

The powerful forces of science and family collide when geneticist Paige Robson finds her world in upheaval: Her eight-year-old son Miles is struggling to fit in at his new school and begins asking questions about his biological father that Paige can’t answer—until fate thrusts the anonymous donor she used into their lives.

Paige’s carefully constructed life begins to unravel as the truth of Miles’s paternity threatens to destroy everything she has grown to cherish. As Paige slowly opens herself up—by befriending an eccentric mother, confronting her own deeply buried vulnerabilities, and trying to make sense of her absent father’s unexpected return—she realizes breakthroughs aren’t only for the lab. But when tragedy strikes, Paige must face the consequences of sharing a secret only she knows.

With grace and humor, Julie Clark shows that while the science is fascinating, solving these intimate mysteries of who we are and where we come from unleashes emotions more complex than the strands of DNA that shape us.

Échantillon de lecture
The Ones We Choose

Chapter One

If loneliness were a color, it would be the deep purple of my eight-year-old’s shirt as he walks solitary laps around the school track. Before opening the car door and letting the playground sounds crash over me, I watch him, wondering how I can fix this, or if my chance had passed long ago.

With the ache of worry that seems to always chase me, I grab my purse and slam the door, hurrying toward the picnic tables where other students are bent over board games.

“Hey, Dr. Robson,” the woman in charge of the after-school program says, offering me the sign-out book. It’s the third week of school. I should know her name by now, but my brain is stuck in a three-word loop: Miles is lonely.

“Please, call me Paige.” I sign Miles out, and she looks toward the track. My eyes follow. Miles rounds the far corner, no bigger than a matchstick.

“We set up some games, hoping he’d be interested,” she says. “He was very sweet, explaining the periodic table as he played chess. But when the game was over, that was it for him.”

I try again to remember her name, this woman who cares enough about my child to help him make friends and settle into his new school. “Thanks anyway,” I say. “He takes a long time to warm up to people.” His lack of friends shouldn’t bother me. It’s how I was as a kid, more interested in books than people. But somehow it’s different when it’s your child walking alone while other kids play, marking the time with laps, clocking the minutes until he can go home.

The woman smiles, sympathy softening the edges of her mouth.

The weight of her pity bears down on me. “There’s hope though. I’ve convinced him to go on the dads’ campout, and we’re buying supplies this afternoon.”

“That’ll be good,” she says. “Maybe his dad can do a better job of helping him find friends than I can.”

I look back toward the track and watch Miles approach. He sees me now and breaks into a slow jog. He’s still far enough away that I could explain, say there is no father, just me, an anonymous sperm donor, and my boyfriend, Liam.

But I don’t. Somehow it feels like a betrayal to share the details of Miles’s life with a woman whose name I can’t even remember.

“I hope so too,” I say.

—

I glance at Miles in the rearview mirror as we head toward Camping World. “You looked more excited when we went to the dentist last month.”

Miles’s eyes meet mine. “You weren’t forcing me to spend two nights in a tent with my dentist,” he says.

“I’ll make sure to add a couple hundred dollars to your therapy fund,” I joke.

“Can I start now?” he mutters.

Liam greets us at the entrance. “Looking good, Dr. Robson,” he whispers in my ear as he bends to kiss my cheek. Miles’s eyes skirt away from us. Even though Liam and I have been together for over a year, there are moments when Miles’s resentment crowds everything else out. In some ways I understand. It’s only been the two of us for most of his life. In that sense Liam is an intrusion, an unwanted guest, no matter how carefully I try to balance my time between them. But I want Miles to accept Liam. To not fight so hard to shut him out.

“Hey, Miles,” he says. “Ready to shop for our trip?”

Miles gives Liam a steady stare but says nothing, and I brace myself. Miles and I have had several arguments about this trip already. I think it will be a great chance for Liam and Miles to bond, away from me. Maybe meet some of the other kids at his new school. However, Miles thinks camping on the beach with Liam is just short of child abuse. But my mind traces his solitary laps around the track, his shoulders braced against the heat of the mid-September sun, and I pray the weekend will give him a friend to walk with. Just one.

The inside of the store is enormous, a cavernous space lit with bright fluorescent lights. We stand next to a display of canteens and try to find our bearings.

“Okay,” Liam says. “What’s first on the list?”

Miles looks at the crumpled paper in his hand and says, “Tent and guylines.”

“They don’t waste any time, do they?” Liam says. “Straight to the big-ticket items.”

“Why do people say that?” Miles asks, his love of wordplay edging his reluctance aside. “Did they used to pay for things with giant tickets?”

Liam laughs. “The bigger the ticket, the more it’s worth. You’d need a ticket the size of a football field just to buy a car. Imagine trying to fit that in your pocket.”

But Miles lets the sentence hang in the air and instead studies the list in his hand. “Do you think we could get air mattresses too?”

Liam shifts easily. “I’m not letting my delicate body sleep on the ground, that’s for sure.” He pauses in the middle of a wide aisle to read the signs suspended above us.

Liam’s body is anything but delicate. Though lean and narrow, he&#8…