Free Major Renovations (Ritter University #1) by Vanessa M. Knight Page A

spinning fans the only noise. Expected to be a doctor . She never thought she’d have anything in common with Ski. But here they were, both fighting the life plan their fathers’ had laid out for them, probably before they were even born.
    “My dad wants me to run his company.” She picked at the burger on her plate.
    “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
    “Yeah. But he wants me to do it permanently.”
    “And that’s not what you want.”
    She opened her soda and took a drink. Is that what she wanted? Shit. What she wanted didn’t matter. “I don’t know. I don’t think I was ever given a choice. No one ever asked. It was just expected, so here I am. But no, I don’t think it’s what I want.” Did she say that out loud? She hadn’t admitted that to anyone.
    She’d avoided saying the words out loud because then she might have to face the truth. And how do you tell your father you want something other than what he’s built with his bare hands? How do you walk away, when you know he’ll work himself into an early grave?
    “What do you want?”
    “Honestly? I apprenticed with an electrician last year and I loved it. Creating light where there is none, powering a home. It was amazing.”
    “Then do that.”
    “I’m the daughter of the woman who left him. His ultimate let-down. And I remind him of it every day, just by breathing. I can’t walk away.” Red crawled up her face. Way too much sharing. Soda and exhaustion. Not good. It was like high-fructose corn syrup-infused truth serum.
    “He told you that?”
    “No, but I can see it in his eyes.” She sighed. She’d come this far, she might as well tell him everything. “He misses her, and he tells me all the time I look just like her. There’s this sad longing stare he throws my way, when he thinks I’m not looking. It kills me. I can’t just walk away. His health is failing and he’ll lose it all.”
    “Why don’t you talk to him?” He dropped his feet from the table and stared at his hands. “Although, I’m not the best resource on fathers.”
    “So, would your dad be disappointed if you don’t become a surgeon?”
    “That’s an understatement.”
    “Well— What do you want?”
    “Want? I don’t know. But see these hands?” He showed her his broad palms, and then the backs, with their large knuckles. “These are not the hands of a surgeon. Large. Bulky. What’s so funny?”
    Large hands. That meant large— okay, not going there. She thought fast and said, “I can’t picture a big guy like you with tiny bird hands.” She frowned as Ski’s face fell. Damn, she didn’t want to hurt him. She laid a hand on his arm, sending fire tingling up her own arm at the heat of his skin. “That’s a compliment.”
    “If I’m not a surgeon, what am I?”
    “An ER doc. A pediatrician. A gynecologist.” She laughed as his mouth turned up at the corners. That smile. Num . T hose lips just melted her insides. “You’ll do whatever you want to do.”
    “Yeah, but what do I want to do? If I go into medicine, I have six more years of college and no clue if this is what I want. I mean, think about it— when a person gets a degree in economics, they leave school and get a job. If they hate it, they get a job doing something else. I’m committing to a life of medicine with every year. That’s it. No changing my mind.”
    “So, you have commitment issues.”
    “I guess.” His eyes roamed over the can in his hand. “I guess that’s why I switched majors.”
    “Really?” She stuffed the last bite of her burger in her mouth. That was a gutsy move on his part. She wished she had the guts to make a change. “How did your dad take it?”
    “I haven’t told him yet.”
    Ahhh . “Maybe he’ll understand.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “Like your dad would understand?”
    Touché. She nodded, acknowledging the point.
    “It’s just a big decision.” He shook his head.
    “You’ll make the right choice, brainiac.” A yawn escaped her