Page 6 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
“We understand,” Cal said, stepping forward to clap Finn on the upper arm, as if he were about to embark on a perilous journey and making Finn wonder if he’d be better off going with the guys to McElroy’s and letting them attract women for him. It’d get these two off his back, but the truth of the matter was that he wanted to register for classes and before he did that, he wanted to give his cousin Dylan a call.
“Thanks for understanding,” Finn said with a grave nod. He’d have to go out and disgrace himself one of these days to keep Mike from worrying about him.
He grabbed his coat off the peg by the door and headed toward the side exit. Behind him he heard Karl, Cal and Mike shutting down the office in preparation for dinner out followed by the evening game. He was glad his grandfather had good friends, because it was going to make it easier when Finn informed him that he wasn’t going to be with the store forever.
After returning home, Finn signed into his newly created account at Eagle Valley Community College and registered for two evening classes, figuring that would allow him to ease back into school without affecting management of the store. He finished his registration, then got to his feet, feeling a surge of energy. No, make that energy coupled with unexpected anxiety.
What in the hell had he just done?
When he’d walked across the stage wearing his mortarboard twelve years ago, he’d sworn that he’d never subject himself to anything close to a formal classroom again. Yet here he was, wading in.
For a good reason.
He opened a beer, turned on the game and tried to focus, but even though the score was close, he kept going over the pros and cons of his plans for his future. Maybe he should have used the money he had coming due to his military service to dive in with both feet and do a four-year college program instead of a couple of courses at the local community college. That would show commitment. Was signing up for only two classes a wishy-washy approach to his new life?
Finn didn’t do wishy-washy. But on the other hand, he couldn’t just abandon his grandfather on short notice...although he had a feeling that if he did, Mike would wish him Godspeed and hire someone to do his job at a lower salary.
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Action erupted on the screen in front of him, the announcers went crazy, and Finn opened his eyes again. His team had pulled ahead. Cool. Karl was probably going nuts because he hated Finn’s team. Finn smiled faintly and took a long drink, wishing he was enjoying the moment more.
Finally he reached for the phone and dialed his cousin’s number. Dylan answered on the first ring.
“I’m going back to school,” he blurted as soon as his cousin had said hello.
“No kidding.” Dylan sounded stunned at his announcement and he didn’t blame him.
“Yeah. I am. I want to become an industrial arts teacher with an emphasis in automotives.” There was a long stretch of silence. “Hello?” Finn finally said.
“Yeah. I’m here. I just thought I heard you say you wanted to be a teacher.”
“Not a real teacher. A shop teacher.”
“Last time I heard, they were real teachers.”
“What I meant was that I want to teach hands-on skills that kids who don’t go to college can use in life.”
“You want to be a teacher.”
“Strange, huh?”
“I gotta say that I never saw this coming. What does Mike think?”
“I haven’t told him yet.”
“Why not?”
“I...don’t know.” Fear of failure maybe?
“What school are you going to?”
“The community college let me in. I got official notice last week. I’m only taking two classes. I thought it best to start slow.”
“Definitely. Especially after...uh...” Dylan gave a discreet cough and Finn filled in the blank for him.
“I did crappy in high school?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“I had no reason to do well. Now I do.” And his grades hadn’t been that bad. He’d graduated with a high-C average. He’d actually excelled in math, the only class he’d truly enjoyed. The rest had been more a chore than anything, but again, now that he had a reason to learn, he’d do better.
