Night Road(31)

Jude pointed at the ring.

“Ah. Exquisite.” The saleswoman unlocked the glass case and withdrew the piece. “It’s a Bazrah. One of a kind.” She offered it to Jude, who slipped it on her forefinger.

“It would make a beautiful graduation gift for my daughter. What stone would you suggest setting in it?”

The woman frowned in concentration. “You know, I don’t have children, but if I were buying my daughter a ring like this, I think I’d want to extend the experience. Perhaps you could choose the stone together.”

Jude loved the idea. “How much is it?”

“Six hundred and fifty dollars,” the saleswoman answered.

“Ouch.”

“Maybe you’d like to look at something less—”

“No. This is the ring I want. And could you show me some watches? For my son…”

Jude spent another thirty minutes in the store, waiting for the inscriptions to be finished, then paid for her purchases and left.

She drove down to the waterfront and caught the three o’clock ferry. At just before four, she was back on Pine Island, turning onto Night Road.

At home, she found Mia seated at the dining room table, with her laptop open, watching something on the screen.

“I overacted in Our Town,” Mia said miserably. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? USC will hate this.”

Jude went to Mia, stood beside her. “Go to that scene in Streetcar, when you were on the balcony. That’ll blow them away.”

Mia took out one CD and put in another.

“How was school today?”

Mia shrugged. “Mrs. Rondle gave us a pop quiz. So lame. And they announced the winter play. Romeo and Juliet, set during the Vietnam War. I can get the lead, which is cool. Zach is gonna take Lexi home after practice, but he’ll be home for dinner.”

Jude rubbed Mia’s back. “What do you think about Zach and Lexi being together?”

“I bet it’s killed you not to ask me that before.”

Jude smiled. “A little.”

Mia looked up. “It’s scary … and sorta cool, I guess.”

Jude thought about Mia before Lexi, when her daughter had been like a scared, fragile turtle with her head tucked deep inside her shell. Mia’s only friends had been fictional. Lexi had changed all that. “Whatever happens between them, you and Lexi have to stay honest with each other. You have to stay friends.”

“After Zach breaks up with her. That’s what you mean.”

“I’m just saying…”

“I’ve thought of it myself, believe me. But … I think he really likes her. He talks about her all the time.”

Jude stood there a minute longer, trying to figure out how to best bring up the other thing on her mind. Finally, she decided to just do it. “There’s one other thing…”

“What? You want to ask me again if Tyler and I are doing it? We’re not.” Mia laughed.

“I remember the first time I fell in love. Keith Corcoran. Senior year of high school. Just like you. I didn’t know until Keith kissed me how falling in love could be like riding a waterfall into warm water.” She shrugged. “No one talked to me about it. Grandma is a pretty buttoned-up woman. All she ever said to me about love was that it derailed a woman. So I learned on my own and, like everyone, I made some mistakes. And the world is more dangerous now. I don’t want you to sleep with Tyler—you’re too young—but…” She went over to the second drawer beside the stove, opened it. She took out a small brown bag and handed it to Mia. “These are for you. Just in case.”

Mia peered into the bag and saw the word condom printed on a brightly colored box. She gasped and clamped a hand over the bag. “Mo-om. Gross. We haven’t done anything.”

“I’m not saying you’ll need them. In fact, I hope you don’t, but you know me. And I can see that you think you do love him.”

“I don’t need these,” Mia mumbled. “But thanks.”

Jude looked down at her daughter. Touching her chin, she forced Mia to look up at her. “Sex changes everything, Mia. It can be great for a relationship when you’re ready—older—but it can be napalm when you’re not ready. And baby, you’re not ready. Just so you know.”

*

By mid-November, every kid in the senior class was stressed out. The high school hallways were filled now with kids talking about colleges. Families spent weekends on the road, visiting campuses and talking to admissions counselors and trying to find the perfect fit.

Lexi’s concerns—and stresses—were less complex. She didn’t have some endless bank account from which to draw money, so her choices were limited to state schools. And sadly, since she’d fallen in love, her grades had dropped. It wasn’t much, just a tenth of a point, but in the dog-eat-dog world of college admissions, that was appreciable. Lately, when she was at the Farradays’ or out with Zach and Mia and Tyler, she felt like some visitor from another country, unable to really comprehend their conversations. They all talked about USC and Loyola and NYU as if they were shoes you could point to and purchase.

Lexi could hardly comprehend that kind of confidence.

She stared down at the paperwork in front of her. Columns of calculations taunted her. No matter how hard she tried, there wasn’t going to be enough money. Not for a four-year school. If she didn’t get a governor’s full-ride scholarship, she was out of the race.