“I want you to go back to school.”
I stare at him. “Okay? It’s not feasible right now.”
“I want you to get your pipe dream,” he says, giving me that stern, parental look. “I got mine and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Apply for schools. I will pay your way. Do not take a cent from Dad.”
“No.”
He rolls his eyes, throwing his head back. “Can you just listen to me for once? If you go to a school in the area, you stay here. If you relocate, I’ll pay for your housing. Just…go back to school, Ariana.”
“No,” I say again. I mean it.No.
“I want you to be happy. You might be happy going to work for another firm, sure. Maybe you’ll end up doing that anyway. But get your ducks in a row and chase your dreams. Don’t settle.Don’t be prideful. You’re brilliant. That pipe dream isn’t a pipe dream. You just think it is.”
“I’m going back to work.”
“Go back to school,” he orders. “If you don’t let me do this for you, I’ll start funnelling money into an account in your name, anyway. At least this way, you’re using it for what I want you to use it for.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,”I seethe.
“We both know that I’m going to get my way, so why don’t we browse a couple of schools while we waste our breath?”
I glower at him as he reappears with my laptop. He barely looks at me when he sits next to my legs, typing in a search for business programs, and starts going through them with me. One by one. For hours.
By the time Arden comes home, exhausted from work, I’ve applied to an online business program through Harvard.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
boston
I’m finishingup with the yard work and all of my morning farm duties when my phone rings. It’s Kane, and it’s a FaceTime call. I find myself smiling. I’m…excited for another phone call with my brother. How times have changed. A call from my family would typically have me on edge for days. I’ve somehow started to look forward to them.
I answer, unsurprised to see Bennett’s face way too close to the camera. He grins, breathing heavily into the receiver.
“Hey, big guy.”
“Uncle Boss!” he says, his smile taking up his whole face. “You have to see this! You ready? Watch!”
I stop on the top step of my back porch, a hand on my hip, watching the screen. He’s clearly at a rink, but it doesn’t look like there are many other kids around. He skates forward, shoving the phone into what I can only assume is Kane’s hands, and then books it back to center ice.
I watch my nephew perform some of the nastiest stick handling I have ever seen. He’s unbelievably fast. It’s the kind of natural talent that makes it abundantly clear that he’ll be in the league one day if he wants to be. I’m chuckling in disbelief by thetime he comes slamming back toward the camera, tearing the phone out of his dad’s hands, asking if I saw.
“You are going to change the game when you get up here, kid,” I tell him, and I mean it. He’s incredible. Pride oozes out of me. I hadn’t even been around to teach him. It was all his own drive and his dad’s dedication. Kane worked with him to get him this far.
“I know!” he admits, making me snort a laugh. Talented? Yes. Humble? Jury is still out. He skates away with a pleased giggle, and Kane turns the camera around, shaking his head in a way that tells me Bennett is the cause of many headaches for him.
“That’s definitely your blood in his veins and not mine,” Kane mumbles, scurrying off the ice and back to the stands.
“Ah,” I say, heading into my house. “You were a great goalie.”
“Yeah, because you and Miller never aimed to score, only to hit me,” he says, shooting me a look. “None of them ever went in.”
I break out into laughter, remembering those days. We picked on him, yes. We practically forced him to take the goalie role so we could play and practice properly. Thankfully, Kane didn’t mind it all that much. He was the best younger brother. He always had way too much optimism and was just happy to hang out with us, no matter what situation we put him in.
“You called at the perfect time. I was just coming in for a coffee.”
