Mike froze, his fork halfway to his mouth. “Uh-huh.”
Noah narrowed his eyes. “No.”
Winnie’s mouth dropped.
Jess smiled reassuringly at them. “You’re too young to remember me talking about it,” she told Noah. “But I always wanted to go to law school. I even took the LSAT. I scored in the top five percent of the country, actually.”
“Oh my God, are you actually planning to go back to school?” Winnie asked. “Atyour age?”
Jess nodded. “I am.”
“What?” Mike asked, dropping his fork.
The sound of the fork made her wince, but she continued on. “I want to go back to school. You kids are getting older and you don’t need me as much as you used to,” Jessica said. “And it’s a dream I put on hold … well, I forgot about it for a while, but it was always there, I guess, and I want to go for it. I want to be a lawyer. I have to take my LSAT again, so I signed up for a prep class today.”
“Without even talking to me about it?” Mike asked.
She stared at him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I really want this, Mike.”
“I want a lot of things, Jess,” he said. “I’d love a cabin in Seabrook. I want to be a pitcher for the Mariners. I’d like to have ten million bucks in the bank, but none of those things are happening.”
“If I was a lawyer, we could get the cabin,” she said.
“Yeah, in like, twenty years, after we pay off your student loans.”
Winnie scowled at her father. “Wow, Dad, way to shit on your wife’s dreams.”
He glanced at her, then back at Jessica. “I’m not trying to shit on anything. I’m just … shocked. I thought we had a plan, Jess.”
Her heart thumping wildly, Jessica said, “I changed my mind.”
Mike’s head snapped back. “Just like that? You changed your mind? So you’re going to upend our lives so you can go back to school?”
“It won’t upend your lives. It’ll be a change, for sure, and it won’t be easy, but since the accident, I’ve seen how well you can all function without me and it made me realize that I could do it. I’ll still have supper on the table every night. Weekends can be for laundry and grocery shopping and volunteering. I’ll be busier, but you guys will hardly notice.”
“Good for you, Mom,” Winnie said. “You should do it.”
Jess smiled at her daughter, grateful to have some support. “Thanks, Winnie.”
Mike sat back in his chair. “And where are we supposed to get the money to pay for this?”
“That brings me to my second bit of news. I actually got a new job today. It’s full time and it pays better than the pottery shop,” Jessica told him. “It’s at a law firm. Well, there’s just one lawyer there. It’s a long story, but if I work for him, I’d be getting experience that will help with my application, and at the same time, we can set aside more money in the family education fund.”
“You got a … What the hell, Jessica? You went to ajob interviewtoday? When you’re supposedly too injured to even carry a basket of laundry?”
“No, it was the same day that I got in the collision. But I didn’t mean to go to an interview. It was by mistake.” She shook her head, feeling tears prick the backs of her eyes. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
Noah’s eyes were wide and he let out a low whistle. “I think Mom finally lost it.”
“I have not,” Jessica snapped.
“Wait, thefamilyeducation fund?” Winnie asked, sounding panicked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what it sounds like,” Jessica said. “The money’s there for anyone in the family who wants to use it.”
“That money is for Noah and me! Not for you!”
Jessica glared at her child, who only moments ago was on her side. “I have every right to use it.I’mthe one who earned it.”
