Free Viking Bay by M. A. Lawson Page B

she didn’t want her daughter going off on some rant about U.S. foreign policy. She got up to fetch a second helping of Jessica’s minestrone soup, trying to think of a way to switch the subject to something else, when Jessica said, “Kay, there’s something really important I need to talk to you about”—and Kay’s first thought, because it had been on her mind so much lately, was:
Oh, God, please don’t tell me that little son of a bitch knocked you up?
    â€œWhat is it, honey? You know you can tell me anything.” Now nuclear fusion and the possibility that Callahan had lied to her were the last thing on her mind.
    Jessica gave her a strange look, like:
Why on
earth
would you say something like that
?
    â€œI had a meeting with Mr. Tanaka yesterday,” Jessica said. “You know, my guidance counselor at school. You met him.”
    Kay remembered Tanaka, a tall, good-looking guy who seemed like he might be fun.
    â€œYeah, I remember him.”
    â€œWell, he said if I wanted to and if you agreed, I could probably skip my senior year and go to college. He graduated from Duke and has some pull with the school. In fact, he comes from a really rich family and they donate a lot to Duke; I don’t know why he’s teaching at a high school. Anyway, he said if I spent the rest of this year on a tailored curriculum, he’s about ninety percent sure they’ll admit me next year, and they’ll give me some kind of partial scholarship. He knows I want to be a doctor, and these days it takes about twelve years with pre-med, med school, internship and residency programs, and he says I’m just wasting my time in high school. He said the sooner I can get through the pre-med stuff and into medical school, the better. And he’s not doing this just for me; he’s working with four other kids who want to go into medicine or medical research. The thing is, I’d be leaving home, of course, and Duke’s pretty pricey even with a partial scholarship.”
    Kay was so relieved that Jessica wasn’t pregnant, she almost blurted out:
Thank God!
    â€œHey, if that’s what you want,” Kay said, “then I’m all for it. And as for the money, don’t worry about it. I’m making a decent salary and we can take out a loan if we need to. Whatever. We can afford it, and you can’t pass up Duke. It’s one of the top schools in the country.” Actually, the only thing Kay knew about Duke was that they produced great basketball teams. “But do you think it’s the right thing to do from a social standpoint? You know, going to school with kids older than you, not having the whole, uh, high school experience.”
    â€œThey’d be like
one
year older than me,” Jessica said. “It’s not like I’d be some ten-year-old savant on campus.”
    â€œYeah, well, that’s true.” Plus, she was always bragging about how mature Jessica was, and now she was acting like if she skipped the senior prom she’d turn into an agoraphobic wacko.
    Kay couldn’t help it, but another thought occurred to her. If her daughter was in North Carolina, living in a dorm, Kay could go back to living by herself and she wouldn’t have to worry about explaining things to Jessica when the Callahan Group sent her someplace like Afghanistan. Or when she wanted to invite a man, like Eli Dolan, over to spend the night. God, she was a lousy mother.
    In an attempt to do the right thing, as opposed to the selfish thing, she said, “Okay. But I need to talk to Tanaka myself and make sure this really is the best thing for you.”
    â€œSure,” Jessica said. “I’ll let him know and we’ll set something up. You going to be around next week?”
    â€œYeah. At least I think so.” She was fairly sure she’d be in town because she’d be prepping for Ara Khan’s visit—unless they decided to do the