There was no way when she first got married, pregnant with Julia, and then pregnant again with Sara, that they could afford culinary school.
Archie and Hope struggled to pay for rent, diapers, formula, and all that came with having a young family. But it was getting easier as the girls got older.
She was able to save more and more of her tips.
Every day she spent at the restaurant was another day her career path galvanized. She wanted her career to be about food, to open her own place someday. Or invent a food product. Or be a caterer. She didn’t have an exact plan for the next part, but she knew she needed to learn more.
That’s where Cincinnati State came in.
Hope just needed to convince Archie. He was usually irritated when he came home. She knew selling cars was hard, that dealing with customers all day was tough, and that Archie’s manager “never signs off” on the deals he tried to make.
Archie wasn’t going to be an easy sell, but she had a plan. She rehearsed her pitch to Archie in her head. In the long run, getting this education would help them get ahead. Even if, in the short term, their budget would be even tighter. She had saved, so they had, at least, some of the money for this.
Hope worked all afternoon and into the evening to make things as peaceful as possible when Archie came home. She had the girls bathed and fed already, and she poppedTheLittle Mermaidin the VHS player. They were happily “Under the Sea” when Archie walked in the door.
“Ugh, that one again, how many times? If I have to listen to it again, I’m going to break a dinglehopper off in someone’s—”
“—Archie, come on, it keeps them quiet. Sit. I made you a steak and baked potato with the homemade sour cream you like.”
Archie wasn’t into her more creative attempts in the kitchen. He liked the basics. Hope was pulling out all the stops.
Archie took a seat at the little table in the middle of their apartment kitchen. There was only space for a table for two. The four of them couldn’t all fit for the same meal.
“Wow, yeah, that looks amazing.” Archie grabbed his knife and started slicing away at the steak she’d prepared for him.
“I thought you’d be hungry. I know it’s been nuts at work.”
“Hmm, yeah.” Archie shoveled the food into his mouth, not waiting for her to sit or even checking to see if she was eating with him.
She brushed it off. She was used to him now, his quirks. He’d also been handed a lot of responsibility, just like her. She tried to remember that he’d never shirked it or tried to run away from their surprise family.
And in the end, surprise was the word. Her mother had called it an accident. That seemed wrong to her. An accident was a spill or something that needed to be cleaned up. She loved her girls; they weren’t planned, but they were her joy.
A surprise, yes, accident, no.
“I have some news,” Hope said.
Archie was scooping the sour cream onto the baked potato. His attention was focused on that, not her; hopefully, it was putting him in a good frame of mind.
“So, listen,” Archie said, ignoring Hope’s announcement that she had news.
“Okay, but then I have—”
Hope didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence.
“—I put a down payment on a house in Covington.”
“What?”
They had lived in this apartment since Julia was one. It was small but cute. She had a mom friend who lived three doors over. It was in a decent neighborhood. She didn’t need to move, not now, when she wanted to spend what little extra money they had on tuition at Cincinnati State.
“Yeah, between us, we had the down payment. So, my manager, he’s selling his ranch house in Covington. Really good schools, he said. It’s not on the market yet. I had to move fast. Luckily, we had just enough.”
“But that was both our money—”
“—Yeah, well, your part made a difference, for sure. Wait until you see it. Two-car garage, shed. It’s near Taylor Mills Elementary. So, boom. You’re welcome.”
Hope smiled, but she felt hot tears in the back of her eyes. She blinked them away. She walked over to the sink. Her appetite for the meal she’d prepared was gone.
