Page 61 of Breakaway

A pause. “I was hung-over.”

Oh, god. She met Jase’s eyes, which crinkled with amusement. She sighed. “Kyle.”

“I’m sorry, Rem, but we went out the night before…”

“When you should have been studying!”

“I did study! I swear I did. I was ready for the exam. I just went out for a while and a friend had some beer and…”

“Kyle. I can’t believe you want me to bail you out because you got drunk and slept through your exam.”

She caught Jase’s eye and he made a face at her that brought a smile despite the serious conversation.

“Remi! You have to! Please.”

She wavered. She sank her top teeth into her bottom lip and looked at Jase, whose face had grown serious. He slowly moved his head from side to side.

“What?” she mouthed at him, frowning a little.

“Don’t do it,” he said. “He needs to stand on his own two feet.”

Torn, she still hesitated.

“Remi?” Kyle said.

Jase shook his head again. “Remi, you have to let go,” he said.

“He’s just a teenager,” she whispered.

“What?” Kyle said. “Remi, come on.”

“He’ll never learn if you keep bailing him out.”

Who was he to tell her how to handle her family? He was nothing but a big kid himself, with no responsibility whatsoever. What the heck did he know about being a parent?

He watched her, though, head tilted thoughtfully, his steady eyes full of intelligence and concern. Hell. He was right.

“No. Sorry, Kyle. You’re old enough to be on your own at college, you either get yourself out of this or you face the consequences.” Her stomach clenched. Even though she knew it was the right thing to do, it was hard, gut-wrenchingly hard.

“Good job,” Jase said when she hung up.

She bit her lip and looked at him across the table. “I hate that. I know I have to do it, but…the stupid thing is, I’m the one who’s going to pay the consequences of the extra tuition for him to do the course again.”

“Make him pay it. Tell him to get a part-time job.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I guess he could. But I want him to do well at school.”

He shook his head, but smiled at her. “You love your brother and sister, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“And you like to be needed.”

She eyed him warily. “I suppose.”

“D’you ever think maybe you enable them by helping them out all the time?”

She frowned at him. “What are you saying?”

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