"Why don't you talk to Laney about cutting your hours?" I ask. "You're working like seventy hours a week."
"It's part of the job. The law firm is taking off and Laney's not going to slow down. She pays me overtime for the extra hours. I was thinking maybe I could use that money to get you a car. It won't be anything fancy but at least you won't have to take the bus."
"That'd be great, Mom, but I don't want you working extra hours just to buy me a car. You need a day off and a full night's sleep."
She softly smiles and reaches over to put her hand on mine. "It's sweet you're worried about me but I'll be okay. It won't be like this forever."
"It will if Dad doesn't pay for college."
She looks down at her tea, swirling it in her cup. "Just give him time. He'll come around."
"But what if he doesn't? How am I going to pay for it?"
"You'll get scholarships. You have perfect grades. You may not even need any of your dad's money."
"I'm not going to get scholarships. My new school has a bad reputation. The classes are easy. They're just trying to graduate people. Colleges know this and will know I didn't have to work hard to get good grades. I would've got scholarships if I'd stayed at my old school, but now..." I glance away, not wanting to see the hurt in my mom's face. I shouldn't have said that. My mom blames herself for me having to transfer to a new school and now I just made her guilt even worse.
"Honey, we'll figure something out. I promise."
I look at her. "It's not your fault, Mom. It's Dad's. Why is he being like this? I'm his daughter. He should want me to go to college."
"He does, but he's being very childish right now. He's starting a new life and wants to pretend his old one doesn't exist. This is about him, not you. You can't take it personally. I know that's hard to do. I'm struggling with it, too, but we just need to be patient and let your father get past whatever phase he's going through and come to his senses." She pauses. "It might help if you answered his phone calls."
"I can't. I'm not ready to talk to him."
"Then don't talk. Just listen. Hear what he has to say."
I look at her. "I know what he's going to say. It's all going to be about you. He's going to say bad things about you so that I'll take his side. I'm not going to listen to that."
She sets her tea down. "If your father says something that upsets you, just tell him that. And if he continues, tell him you'll need to talk to him later. I've found that remaining calm and setting boundaries is the only way to deal with him right now. He knows I won't listen to his rants so he no longer talks to me. But with you, he'll be more reasonable. He'll listen. It may take a few times, but he will."
I shake my head. "I don't want to talk to him. Not yet."
"That's fine. Do what you feel is best." She gets up, taking her cup to the sink. "I should get to bed. I have an early morning." She turns to me. "Oh, how was the tutoring?"
"Good. Jacob seemed bored at first but he got more into it after a few minutes. I think I might be good at this."
"That's great, honey! How long did you stay?"
"A few hours, but only an hour of that was tutoring. I stayed and talked to Dean."
"Did you tell Chad about this?"
"No. Why would I tell Chad?"
She shrugs. "I just wondered. I don't remember you ever spending time with a boy you weren't dating."
"Dean is just a friend, or he's starting to be. I guess I'm not really sure what we are. He was more like an enemy when we met. But tonight he was completely different. It's like he has this whole other side I didn't know about. He's a jerk at school but tonight he was nice. He even took the bus home with me and walked me to the door to make sure I made it home safe."
Her brows lift. "Does he know you have a boyfriend?"
"Mom, it's not like that. Dean doesn't want to date me. Or anyone. He has a rule against dating."
"He doesn't date? That seems odd for a boy his age."
"He dates. He just doesn't have girlfriends."
"So he uses girls for sex," she says in an angry tone. She walks up to me. "I don't want you seeing this boy anymore. Or going to his house. Tell him to find someone else to tutor his brother."
