“Early childhood education.”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “I’ve always wanted to work with kids.”
“And you do.”
“Uh-huh. Big, overgrown kids who think they’re adults.”
“Ever wish you’d taken a different path?”
“Thinking about the hours I’m about to spend researching Spanish art history courses for one of my top psychology advisees? Yes, I do.”
I smile. “So you’ll help me?”
“It is my job, after all.” He peels a neon-yellow sticky note from a pad on his desk and scribbles something down. “Are your parents paying for this?”
“Not a dime. But when I graduate, I inherit a little chunk of money from my grandparents meant to get me on my feet. Between that and saving from my jobs since freshman year, it might be enough.”
He gives me a sympathetic look. “I’m not saying there won’t be affordable options, but there won’t be many. Not for an American. So let me research before you get your hopes up. The financial aspect is yet another factor you need to seriously consider before you make a decision. You’ve got a lot of thinking to do, Jade.”
Mark looks beaten down enough by my visit, so I don’t tell him the truth: There’s nothing to think about. I made my decision, and that’s that.
“Hey, girl,”I say to Lenni when I walk into the apartment we share, and one whiff of the air tells me she’s making herchicken-and-rice soup for dinner. Neither of us is big on cooking, but Lenni loves to bust out the fall recipes the second we enter September.
“Hey,” she greets me. She’s at the kitchen counter with her laptop open, tidy stacks of paper lined up next to her.
I kick off my boots and toss them into the pile of shoes by the door. They land a few inches short, rattling our rickety wooden plant stand, and I cringe at the sight of our little houseplant collection looking sad and wilted in their too-small pots. “Have you watered? Our babies look terrible.”
“Just did. They’ll perk up soon.”
Poor Lenni got the raw end of the deal in our roommate arrangement, but I try to make up for it in the best-friend arrangement. “Got you something.” I drop a small grocery bag on one of her paper stacks.
She digs into the bag. “Tampons?”
“Keep digging.”
Lenni smiles as she pulls out her prize of plastic-wrapped chocolate cupcakes, her favorite stress-eating snack. “What would I do without you?”
“Eat healthy?”
Lenni tears open the cupcakes. “You seem happy for a Monday afternoon.”
“Well, I broke the news to Mark and he didn’t have a nervous breakdown, so that’s a win.”
“What did he think of it?”
“Clearly not much, but he’s going to help me research programs.” I smile at Lenni’s carefully composed expression. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“You wanted him to shoot it down, didn’t you?”
She makes a noncommittal noise. “I want you to be happy.”
I reach over her shoulder to grab a handful of pretzels fromthe open bag in front of her. “I’d still do it even if he fought me on it, you know.”
“I know, and I still think it’s a little nuts. But I respect what you’re after.”
