“Days?” Jake cried. “You’ve known about this for days and didn’t bother to say anything to me? Why?”
Straightening in his chair, his father looked at him. “Jake, you have worked so hard for this and it kills me that your mother and I can’t do this for you. If we had been smarter with our money or if we started saving sooner…”
“We’ve been over this a hundred times, Dad. I didn’t want you to do this for me. I wanted to do this on my own! It’s important to me!”
“There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, son.”
“Bullshit! If that were the case you would have asked for money when we were struggling all those years!” he argued. “Where do you think I got this from?”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Jonah said, but there was no heat behind his words. “Look, you may not want to hear this, but that’s too damn bad. The fact is that there is no scholarship. You can keep looking around for financial aid and maybe you’ll get lucky but you’re short on time, Jake. Now, we’re willing to help with that end of it – we’ll continue to make calls and reach out to all those college foundations who help with this sort of thing. Your aunt and uncle are willing to let you live with them rent-free for your first semester…”
“You already told them about this? Before talking to me?” This was unbelievable. Standing, he kicked the chair out from beneath him and paced the kitchen. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
They were both silent for a moment before Jonah cleared his throat. “You could…you could talk to Zeke. You know he offered to…”
“No. Absolutely not,” he replied firmly. “There’s no way – especially not now – that I would ask him for that.”
Jonah’s shoulders sagged. “Jake, I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m sorry! I’m so damn sorry! This is all my fault and…”
Yeah, they’d been over this enough times and Jake didn’t care to go there again. It wouldn’t matter. The bottom line was that he was screwed. There wasn’t money for him to go away to school and it was just his rotten luck that he got scammed like this with the scholarship. His parents couldn’t co-sign for any student loans and if he wanted to try this on his own, he’d have to wait another year to take them out of consideration. Another year wasn’t the end of the world, but he knew if he waited, he’d lose the motivation and simply quit.
Then he wouldn’t have to worry about things with Mallory. There would be no move to Colorado for him to worry about. He’d be able to go up to New York and see her whenever he wanted to and nothing would have to change.
His heart beat hard in his chest as he thought about it. It would solve so many problems and the best part was he would be able to wipe the sadness from her eyes that he’d seen earlier.
He’d be the one to put a smile on her face.
And at the end of the day, it was really all he wanted.
Even if it meant missing out on the one thing he’d been working his whole life for.
11
“You came!” Mallory cried, running across the yard to hug her brother. Sam quickly swept her up in his arms and spun her around.
“Surprise!”
Pulling back, she asked, “Why didn’t you mention this to me? I thought you said you had plans.”
He placed her back on her feet and took a step back. “Yeah, well…Mom really wanted to be here for the parade and picnic and all that crap and…you know…she didn’t want to drive alone, so…”
She took pity on him even as she laughed softly. “So you were a good son and offered to take the ride with her.”
Sam looked mildly embarrassed and started looking around the yard. “Is it just me or does this look like the entire town is coming over?”
Nodding, she glanced around. “I believe we sent out invites to around a hundred people so…a good portion of the town will be here for sure.”
Cursing under his breath and raking a hand through his hair, he started to walk away when Mallory stopped him. It was obvious that something was bothering him and as much as she didn’t want to push, she figured talking about it might help.
“Oh, man…you didn’t invite the pastor of Pop’s church did you?”
“That’s kind of an odd question…”
He sighed loudly. “Look, did you or didn’t you?”
Mallory frowned at him. “Um…I believe we did but I can’t say for sure if he’s coming. Why?” Then it hit her. “Oh, no…what did you do?”
Another sigh. “It’s nothing. Just a misunderstanding, trust me. I just don’t want any trouble here at the party.”
“I hardly think a pastor is going to cause any trouble, Sam.”
He glared at her. “Right. But I will?”
She leveled him with a hard glare.
“Just…it’s nothing,” he said with a hint of frustration. “It’s fine. I’m fine. And I’m sure everything today will be…”
“Fine?” she finished for him.
His lopsided grin was a refreshing change from his scowl, but Mallory wasn’t completely fooled. And judging by his rather haggard and tired appearance, she’d say he wasn’t fine at all.
“What’s going on with you? When was the last time you had a decent night’s sleep?” she asked.
“It’s summer vacation. I’m not going to sleep it away.”
Before she could comment, Jake walked over with a big smile for her and she noticed the slight falter in his steps when he spotted Sam. He recovered quickly and held out his hand to her brother when he was close enough.
“Sam! I didn’t hear you were coming in for the celebrations!” The two shook hands and Mallory noticed her brother seemed way more relaxed than he did a minute ago.
“Yeah, I was just telling Mal I decided to take the ride down with Mom. We’re only gonna be here for a couple of days, but…” He shrugged. “Hey, you up for going out tonight? Maybe get a few drinks?”
“Uh…” Jake said, hesitating. He glanced at Mallory and for the life of her, she had no idea what to say.
Unfortunately, her brother did.
“What the hell?” His voice was low and fierce and before she could stop him, Sam was lunging at Jake. “My sister? Seriously? What the hell is the matter with you?”
Mallory tried to get between them and calm Sam down, but when her brother shoved Jake, Jake shoved right back.
“Yeah, me and your sister,” Jake snapped. “And everyone around here is cool with it, so back off!”
They hurled insults at each other for several minutes – including Mallory – until Pops came ambling over. “That’s enough!”
All three of them instantly froze before stepping apart to face Pops.
“We have guests arriving and I’d rather the three of you not be the entertainment,” he said firmly. Looking at Sam, he said, “Now I’m sure you’re more than a little shocked about the turn of events here, but starting a brawl is not the answer. Seems to me you have some pent-up aggression over something else and this was a convenient target.” Sam made to answer, but Pops shut him down. “Get yourself under control before I have to bring your cousin Mason over to show you how a young man is supposed to behave.”