Winnie looked utterly panicked. “But if you use it, there won’t be enough for us.”
“So, we make adjustments. Instead of going to school out of state, you can live at home. That’ll cut the costs back for all of us.”
Winnie’s face turned red. “Oh my God! Are you just doing this so I won’t move away from home?”
“Of course not. This isn’t about you.”
“You know my dream has always been to go to Stanford!”
“Winnie, it doesn’t matter which college you go to. It’s just a means to an end. What matters is what you end up doing with your life. In my case, it’s going to be practicing law.”
Winnie’s eyes welled up with huge tears and she looked over at Mike. “Dad, say something. You can’t let her do this to me!”
Mike raised his hands in the air in surrender. “I wouldn’t want to shit on her dreams.”
“But she’s shitting on mine! It’s not fair!”
Jessica told herself to remain calm. “Winnie, I know this is upsetting for you. It’s a change of plans. But I promise you, it’ll be okay. In fact, you might even appreciate living at home while you’re in college. It’ll be so much less stressful.”
“No, I won’t! I don’t want to live here anymore. I hate it here.”
“Even so, you’re always welcome to stay.”
Winnie glared at her through angry tears, then she gasped. “Oh my God, what if we end up at the same school?!”
“We might,” Jess said with a shrug. “But it’s not like we’d even be in the same classes or something. Probably not even the same buildings.”
“But I don’twantmy mom at college with me! That’s … insane!” Winnie shouted. She shook her head. “No. No, this isn’t happening.”
“I know it’s a lot to adjust to, but really in the big scheme of things, it’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is!” Winnie yelled, standing up. “It’s ahugedeal. It’s awful. No! Do not do this!”
Jessica looked up at her daughter. “What happened to ‘good for you, Mom. You should do it?’”
“That’s before I knew you wanted to ruin my life!” Winnie stormed off. A few seconds later, her door slammed.
Noah looked delighted, most likely at the idea of his sister being so upset. He sat in his chair, scooping his supper into his mouth with a grin. At least someone was happy. Jessica pushed her plate away, her appetite completely gone.
As soon as Noah finished his meal, he stood up and said, “Thanks for supper. That was … really great.”
“You’re welcome,” Jessica said, even though she didn’t like what he was thanking her for.
As soon as he left the room, Mike got up and went to the fridge. Cracking a beer, he tipped it back and sucked down several long gulps. “I can’t even… Talk about piss poor timing, Jess,” he said, shaking his head slowly at his wife. “You know what’s been going on at work, and my mom just had a stroke, and now you’re dropping this bomb on me?”
Jessica straightened her back. “The thing is, Mike, there will never be a good time, so if I don’t get started now, my entire life is going to pass me by without me having ever done anything important.”
“Raising our family is important, Jess. Isn’t it?”
“Of course it is,” she said in a curt tone. “I gave up everything to raise our family. But they’re almost grown. They don’t need me like they used to. Now’s my chance to get back what I gave up.”
“But we were going to retire in ten years and travel. What about that?”
“We’ll still travel, but it’ll be when I have vacation time.”
“So, I’ll retire and be wandering around the house alone all day waiting for you to come home?”
Jessica’s heart squeezed at the thought of him puttering around the house alone, but then a competing voice in her head told her not to fall for it. “Ordon’tretire, or take up some hobbies, volunteer, get out and do stuff while I’m out working. I don’t know. You’ll have an entire decade to figure that out.”
