Night Road(38)

Even now, on this gorgeous March afternoon, when she should have been gardening, she was standing at the window, staring up the driveway. It was almost three-thirty. The kids had just gotten home from school. They’d torn through the kitchen like locusts and then gone upstairs.

“You’re wearing a groove in the floor,” Miles said from the living room, where he was reading the newspaper. He had had a surgery cancelled today and come home from the hospital early.

She saw a flash of white.

The mail was here.

She grabbed her coat and stepped into the garden clogs on the porch and headed up the gravel driveway. At the top of the hill, she pulled open the mailbox and saw what she’d been waiting for.

A nice thick envelope with the USC emblem on the upper left corner.

It wasn’t absolute proof, of course, the thickness of the envelope, but everyone knew it took a lot of pages to welcome a student and only one to reject.

Then it struck her. One envelope.

She let out a sigh and reached for the rest of the mail.

And there it was. At the bottom of the stack.

A second thick envelope with the same logo.

Jude hurried back down the driveway. Once inside the house, she yelled out for the kids.

“Did something come?” Miles asked, taking off his reading glasses.

Jude tossed the heap of mail on the entry table and showed him the two special envelopes. “Mail call,” she said, feeling suddenly nervous. She had to say it twice—yell it, really—and then the kids came hurrying down the stairs.

Jude handed Zach the envelope with his name on it.

Mia snatched the other envelope, ripping it open as she walked away. Not more than ten feet away, she spun around. “They accepted me!” A grin burst across her face and then faded as she looked at her brother. “Zach?” she said nervously.

Please, Jude prayed. Let it be both of them.

Zach opened the envelope and read the letter. “They accepted me.”

Jude’s shriek could have shattered glass. She launched herself forward to sweep Zach and Mia into a family hug.

“I’m so proud of you guys.” She waited for Zach to hug her, but he was too stunned to move. Finally, she stepped back, beaming at them. “Both of you at USC. It’s your dream come true.”

“We have to call Lexi and Ty,” Mia said. She grabbed Zach’s hand and pulled him toward the stairs.

“And the crowd goes wild. Come on, Mama Bear,” Miles said, coming to stand beside her. “I’ll pour us champagne.”

Jude stared up the empty stairs. “Why are we the only ones celebrating?”

“We’re not. They’re upstairs calling all their friends with the good news.”

“That blows,” she said, looping her arms around his waist and looking up at him.

“Indeed. Most of parenthood does. But we can still celebrate.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Maybe now you can relax.”

*

After last period, Lexi went to the counselor’s office. It was a small narrow room lined on all sides with bookshelves. In those shelves, there were literally thousands of college manuals.

She sat in a blue plastic chair, waiting.

At just past three-thirty, the receptionist looked up from her desk. “Lexi, Mrs. Morford can see you now.”

Lexi nodded and slung her heavy backpack over her shoulder. She walked down the narrow, college-poster-lined hallway and stepped into the office in the back. Through the window, she could see the gym and a pair of skinny kids—probably freshmen—playing Hacky Sack.

Lexi sat down opposite the large brown desk that dominated the room. Her counselor, Mrs. Morford, sat behind it.

“Hello, Lexi.”

“Hey, Miz Morford.” Lexi reached into her backpack and pulled out two thick envelopes. Inside were acceptances from the UW and Western Washington. She handed them to her counselor, who read the letters and then set them down.

“Congratulations, Lexi. Now, what can I do for you?”

“Both schools offered me scholarships. Two thousand dollars. But … look at the costs. The UW tuition is fifty-three hundred, room and board is sixty-two hundred, and books are another thousand. That’s more than thirteen thousand dollars. How can I get more help?”

“We talked about this when your grades dropped last semester, Lexi. The UW and WWU are extremely competitive schools. There are several island scholarships you can apply for, though, and you could always take out a loan. They have some really good educational programs.”

“I’d have to borrow ten thousand dollars a year. And even then I’d have to work all through school. I’d be in debt when I graduated.”

“A lot of people go through college on loans, Lexi. It’s a way of betting on your own future.”

Lexi sighed. “I guess community college isn’t so bad. I can go to the UW in two years.”

Mrs. Morford nodded. “It’s a great way to save money. Two years will go by fast. In no time you’ll be back with your friends.”

Not the ones who mattered.

Lexi thanked the counselor and walked down to her bus stop. All the way home, she worked and reworked the numbers, trying to magically refashion it all into a plan she could make work.

But there was no making it work. Short of borrowing a ton of money, she was not going to a four-year school.