Page 31 of A Case of You
“And how did he getthat?”
“The same way anyone else gets it—a tick bite. He was helping his sister’s friend move up in New Hampshire, and her dogs had ticks.”
“Oh. Carla Edmonton’s sister has that…”
And Stuart let her ramble for five minutes about people he doubted he’d ever met, or if he had, that he didn’t remember.
At least she wasn’t telling him he was going to Hell.
For now.
Once she’d run that conversational weasel through the wringer, Stuart hoped they’d taken a turn for the better, until she veered onto the topic of grandchildren.
“Kevin started playing high school football this year. We go to every game.” That was Jake’s older son, and an obnoxious bully of younger kids last time Stuart had seen him.
“That’s…nice. Emma is a fantastic swimmer. She’s on her high school team and it looks like she might earn herself a scholarship to college for it.”
“Who’s that?”
“My step-daughter.”
“She’s not your step-daug—”
“Yes, Mom, sheis. I’m one of herdads, and that’s whatshecalls me and Jeff, okay?”
“I think it’s horrible you’re exposing a child to that lifestyle, but my opinion doesn’t matter. Hopefully her mother has her in a good church. Why would she want to play a sport to get into college? How will she find a husband like that?”
A few things hit Stuart at the same time. A mixed bag of revelations and memories that nearly took his breath away.
Of remembering the way their parents basically ridiculed Eileen when she’d talked about trying to get financial aid to go to college. How they told her if she wanted to go to trade school to be a hairstylist or nail tech or something, fine, but they weren’t putting her throughcollege.
What boy would want a girl smarter than him?
Then how would she get married?
How Eileen had retreated to her room in tears.
How he’d heard his parents derisively talking about a cousin who’d graduated college with a doctorate in mathematics, acting as if she were some sort of traitor to the family.
Their own relief when he’d mentioned going to school after high school, and he’d told them he wanted to be an electrician.
How they’d said they were glad he wasn’t wanting to waste money oncollege.
The word almost spat, as if it was something dirty, unclean.
How neither of his parents had high-school diplomas.
How he’d overheard an argument between his cousin, Mark, and Mark’s wife one night when she’d talked about her maybe taking some accounting classes at the community college so she could apply for a different position at the warehouse she worked at. Mark had been against her spending the time and money to do it, even though it would mean she could make more money later.
And how Stuart realized most of his family’s circle of friends thought exactly the same way, their lives centered around working, usually agriculture-based jobs, family, and church.
How anything outside those spheres was belittled as a waste of time, energy, money, or all of the above. Trying to better oneself meant you didn’t thinktheywere good enough.
You were seen as “elitist.”
This all flashed through his mind in an instant.
“Because she’s smart, mom. She’s literally a genius. They gave her an IQ test and she was able to join Mensa.”
