Page 6 of A Case of You
Grace sat back, arms crossed over her chest, and cleared her throat as she stared at Emma with a Domme-worthy glare, if he’d ever seen one
Brandon tipped his head and stared at Emma, waiting her out.
“I want to know where Grace is going first,” Emma eventually mumbled.
“I know this is likely aduhkind of question, but why?” He directed the question to Grace, knowing at this point she was his best and fastest source of answers.
“I’ve applied for scholarships,” Grace said. “She’s trying to hold off applying for scholarships until she sees where I get approved first, even though I told her that she shouldn’t do that, because she needs to apply where she wants to go.”
This was starting to feel like a table tennis match. He focused on Emma again, who finally groaned. “I’d really like to go to USF in Tampa,” she said.
“You know you can apply to multiple schools and then choose not to go to the others if your first choice accepts you, right?”
“See?” Grace wore a smirk. “Exactly whatItold you. And yes, I have applied to USF. I’ll probably go there regardless, because it’s in-state and close to home. I’m pretty sure they’ll accept me.”
“But what if you get into OSU or something?” Emma asked.
“You applied to Ohio State?” Brandon asked Grace.
Grace shrugged. “My aunt and uncle live up there, and they have a great medical program. But so does USF. And I won’t be going to OSU unless I land a full academic scholarship there, which is doubtful. I’m an out-of-state student and I can’t afford to go there if it’s not a full-ride scholarship.”
Brandon understood part of this was Emma looking at the problem emotionally, because of her relationship with Grace, rather than logically and logistically.
He opted to take the wiser path to approach the topic. “Honey, you know Grace is right.”
“I know,” Emma mumbled. “But it’s not like I have to decide right this minute.”
“That’s true,” Brandon said. “Except if you wait too long to start applying for scholarships and grants and entrance, you might not be able to get what you really want.”
She hunkered even farther down in her chair. “I know.”
Grace leaned in and reached across the table to pat her hand. “Even if we don’t go to the same school, we can still FaceTime and stuff. You might be sick of me by the end of next school year. Hopefully not, but Pop is right, and you and I both know it.”
Those were three words he never grew tired of hearing:Pop is right.
“I didn’t get to go to college when I was your age,” Brandon said. “I went to work. I had to earn my degree part-time and in the evenings after I married your mom, while working full-time and then raising you. I would have preferred to go to college right after high school. Learn from my mistakes.”
Stuart joined them in the kitchen. “He’s still asleep. I was careful getting out of bed.” He leaned in for a kiss from Brandon. “Thanks for pulling rank on him.”
“Kinda what I do.” He let out a yawn and pulled out his phone to check the time. “Holy cow, I didn’t realize it was that late.”
“I was thinking we sleep in my room tonight so we don’t jostle him,” Stuart said. Usually, most nights, they all slept in the master bedroom. But Jeff and Stuart each had a room of their own, because they needed a place for their clothes and belongings. The fifth bedroom wasn’t a guest room, but more a multi-purpose room with a day bed that Grace used when she slept over.
Considering how many clothes, toiletries, and other items the girl stored in there, it might as well be Grace’s room.
“You read my mind.” Brandon draped an arm around Stuart’s shoulders. “You two don’t stay up too late, okay?”
“We won’t,” Emma said. “We’re almost done.”
The men headed to the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Brandon stretched out on the bed after undressing. “So how bad is he? Really?”
Stuart didn’t need sock puppets. He shrugged. “He was mumbling about he how should look for a job and go back to work. Both Nate and I shut him down and told him he needed to stop thinking about work and focus on healing. Jeff said something about maybe going to work part-time for Brooke.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen, at this rate. Besides, if the doctor wants to put him back on a PICC line, he won’t be able to work doing something like that.”
Stuart stripped and climbed into bed with him. “Do you want me to call in tomorrow and take him to the doctor?”
Brandon reached up and cupped his cheek. “No, I already told them I wouldn’t be there. Besides, he’ll steamroll you, buddy. You know he will. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get more than a little Dommy on his ass to take it easy.”
