End Of The Road: (A Clean Romance Novella) (Women's Adventure in Alaska Romance Book 3)

by Renee Hart

  And even after taking out the costs of college, I'd have more than a hundred grand left from the inheritance. About twenty of that would go to my credit card debt, but the rest would be a nice nest egg. Maybe enough for a down payment on a house, then I could set the rest aside for Ariella's college fund.

  “Your stepmother and I could help out with Ari,” Dad said. “I work from home now, so I could keep an eye on her while you're in classes. Maybe kick her ass at some Gears.”

  “Thanks. I'll think about it.”

  ***

  I gave it some serious consideration over the next few days. When I had some time in between my work shifts and running errands, I looked up some schools in the South Jersey area. Rutgers had a pretty good reputation, though I doubted I'd be able to get in. I looked up my local community college and browsed through their programs. None of it seemed too hard, except for the fact that I hadn't been in school for nine years, and I wasn't sure how I'd do. I'd done well enough in high school, A's and B's, and maybe the occasional C when I just wasn't trying hard enough. Community college wouldn't be too hard. It would more be a matter of finding time for it without the rest of my life falling apart in the process.

  I headed into Ari's room and sat next to her on the bed. “Ari, I want to talk to you.”

  “Ugh,” she said, pausing her XBox game. “Here we go.”

  “Oh, come on. Give your mom a break. This isn't a bad talk.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “If this is about porn, eww, I don't look at that stuff anyway.”

  “How do you even know what porn is?” I frowned at her.

  “Mom, come on. It's the internet.”

  I sighed and leaned back, banging my head against the wall. Oh, the joys of raising a millennial child.

  “Okay, no porn. Remind me to have you teach me how to install parental controls on your computer.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Sure, okay Mom.”

  I knew it would be a waste of time. The kid knew more about using computers than I did. But then, she'd grown up with them. I always came to her when I found a virus or something on my PC.

  “Okay, but seriously. I want to talk to you about me going to college.”

  She shrugged and unpaused her game. “Go for it.”

  I put a hand over her controller. She yanked it away. “Gosh, Mom, you made me die!”

  “Can we talk for a minute, please?” She paused the game again, giving me an impatient look. “I'm thinking about going back to school. I need to know how you feel about that.”

  “It's cool with me.” She shrugged and pushed her glasses up her nose. “We get money when you graduate, right?”

  “If I can graduate, yes.”

  “Cool. So do it.”

  “You know it's going to mean more work for you.”

  She gave me a wry look. “Why? I've got my own homework.”

  “I meant around the house. I'll need your help keeping up with things around here.”

  “I already do that,” she said. “I do my laundry, and the dishes, and yesterday I cleaned the bathroom.”

  “You did?” I hadn't noticed, and I suddenly felt bad for that. “Well, I'll have to give you a raise in your allowance. Or, well, give you an allowance.”

  She grinned real big.

  “After we get the money.”

  “Oh, fu—” I shot her a sharp look and she laughed. “Fudge. That'll be forever!”

  “Well, it's the best I can do. So, are you seriously okay with this?”

  “Yeah. Can I play my game now?”

  I got up and rubbed her head, making her squeal. “Yeah, kid. Sure. Enjoy being young while you have the chance.”

  “I hate it when people say that.” She unpaused her game, a look of deep concentration on her face as she started killing whatever alien monsters she was fighting. “Old people can play games too. Grandpa does.”

  “Hey, I play games!”

  She looked at me like I'd said something stupid. “Mom, you play Wii. Wii games are for babies.”

  “I like the Wii.” I frowned, realizing I sounded like a dork. It wasn't my fault I liked Mario Kart better than all of those violent shooting games Ariella and her grandfather played.

  I headed back to my room and looked over the community college website one more time. “Well,” I said to myself, “I guess we're doing this then, aren't we?”

  I started filling out the online application, feeling a sense of dread.

  Chapter 5

  Getting myself enrolled in classes turned out to be easy enough. The community college accepted all applicants, so my past grades weren't a factor. And I didn't need to worry about financial aid or anything like that, since the trust took care of my expenses.

  When I went in to pick up my books the week before classes started, I found out a way to milk the trust for some extra stuff, even though I was only supposed to be able to use the money for school supplies.

  It turned out that the college bookstore was a full-fledged Barnes & Noble, so in addition to selling textbooks, they sold novels, coffee, and computer supplies. They also had a variety of clothing with the school's name and mascot on it. I decided as soon as I walked in that all of that counted as “school supplies,” so I started stocking up on everything I could.

  By the time I made my way to the register, I had my books for all three classes, a few novels, an excessive amount of pens, printer paper, notebooks, and office supplies, plus a bunch of sodas, bottled water, snacks, and other miscellaneous goodies. And I raided the clothing section for everything I could find, both in my size and in Ari's.

  The poor fellow behind the counter looked at my massive selection and said, “Wow. You know if you want, I can just ring up the shelves and counters and you can take the whole store with you.”

  I laughed and handed him my credit card, which I had to use to pay until I got the reimbursement from the trust. “Let's just say I want to make sure I don't forget anything.”

  “Hey, whatever works, right?” he said, flashing me a cute smile. He started ringing everything up and organizing it all into bags. When he finished he asked, “Do you need help getting this to your car? I can't imagine carrying all of this.”

  I looked around at all of the bags. It had taken be quite a few trips through the store to gather it all together, and I wasn't looking forward to hauling it all out to my car. “Yeah, actually, that would be great.”

  “Wait here a second,” he said. He went into the back, then returned with a supply cart. He helped me load everything onto it, then pushed it out the door for me while another employee took over at the register.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You saved my back a lot of hard work.”

  “Happy to help,” he said. “So, you just starting out here?”

  “Yup,” I said. “Well, I did a semester at Rowan University years ago, but my credits expired. So I'm starting fresh.”

  “Good for you,” he said. “What's your major?”

  I winced, always hesitant to answer that question, even though it was the most common question everyone asked you when you were in college. “I don't know yet, really. General education for now, and I'll figure out what I want to do once I've tried a few classes.”

  “That works.” He shrugged. “Like half of people change majors partway through college anyway. As if people can be expected to decide at eighteen what they want to do with the rest of their lives.”

  I laughed. “How did that old song go? Something about the most interesting people in their forties still don't know.”

  “I don't remember that one,” he said.

  I winced again, feeling like I'd just betrayed my age. That song had been popular sometime in the late 90s, when I was in middle school. This guy had probably still been in diapers.

  “I'm Conner, by the way,” he said when we reached my car. He offered his hand and I shook it.

  “Donna. Thanks again for your help. I really appreciate it.”

  “No p
roblem. I'm glad to help.”

  He helped me load the bags into my trunk and my backseat. Then we stood there awkwardly while I wondered if I was supposed to tip him or something. I made my living off tips, so I tried to be generous with others.

  “Well, maybe I'll see you around campus,” he said. “And I don't know if you're into any extracurriculars, but if you like poetry, the Lyrical Alliance does readings in the rec center every Thursday.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I might just check that out.” I liked poetry. I was no good at it, but I could enjoy it.

  When I got home I had Ari help me unload everything. She was excited that I'd brought her a twelve-pack of grape soda, though she got a grumpy look on her face when I showed her the new clothes.

  “Eww, Mom. Blue and yellow?” She held up one of the shirts, frowning at it.

  “Those are the school colors. I think everything is blue and yellow.” I dug through the bags. Some were white or gray, but with a blue and yellow logo. There wasn't anything in green, and I knew that was Ari's favorite color.

  “And what's this supposed to be?” She held up a pair of sweatpants and showed me the picture on the right leg.

  “A bird, I guess. Oh! I think it's a road runner. That's the school mascot.”

  “Lame.” She tossed the sweatpants aside and headed for her room.

  “Well, deal with it,” I said, tossing an armful of clothes at her. They burst against her back and rained down to the floor. She laughed and squealed, waving her arms to ward off any further attacks.

  “Everything's going to be college-themed for awhile,” I said. “This stuff was basically free. So you'd better start loving blue and yellow real quick.”

  She rolled her eyes at me, but she gathered up her new clothes and took them to her room. I made a phone call to the lawyer about submitting the receipt for the trust. I was able to scan the receipt and email him a copy, and after I gave him my bank account information, he set up a direct deposit to reimburse me for the purchases. And luckily, he didn't say anything about the extra purchases.

  “So,” I said into the phone, “can I buy whatever I need to from the campus, and that's okay?” I hated having to jump through hoops to get access to my own inheritance. But I'd do what I had to do. It would be a few years before I could expect to graduate and access the whole trust.

  “Anything within reason,” he said. “Legally, I have final say, as keeper of the trust. But I don't see any reason to be a hardass about it. Just don't send me a receipt with something really frivolous on it, like a widescreen TV, and I think it'll be fine.”

  “What about food?” I asked. “Like, from the school cafeteria.”

  “Of course that will be fine,” he said. “Your grandmother's will specified that the funds could be used for room and board. Even if you're not living on campus, any food purchased would certainly still qualify.”

  “Excellent,” I said. “Thank you.”

  I hung up the phone and grinned. The campus had a few different eateries, with everything from salads to pizza to cheesesteaks. Plus there was a little convenience store that sold packaged goods. I wouldn't be able to substitute that for going to the grocery store, but I was determined to eat on campus whenever I could, and bring home as much as I could from the campus stores.

  “Hey Ari, get dressed,” I said, calling into my daughter's room. “We're going out for pizza.”

  “Really?” She stuck her head out the door. “Awesome.”

  She didn't complain when she found out the pizza place was on the college grounds. To a nine year old, pizza was pizza.

  Chapter 6

  By the time my first day of classes came, I was actually pretty excited about this whole thing. I'd managed to get all of my classes scheduled on Monday and Wednesday, and I'd made arrangements with my boss to have off from work those days.

  I got dressed early the Wednesday of my first class, feeling a bit weird that I was starting my week in the middle. But thanks to the Labor Day three day weekend, there had been no classes on Monday.

  I shoved my books, notebooks, and other supplies in my brand new backpack, which, like everything else, had the school's logo featured prominently on the back. When Ari pulled on her backpack, I grinned at her and said, “Hey, it's like we're twins.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Mom, come on.”

  “You're supposed to be supporting me. I'm nervous about my first day.”

  She adopted a mocking tone and said, “Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends and get straight A's!” She rolled her eyes at me and walked out the door.

  “Hey, you're taking all the fun out of this parenting thing, I hope you know that.”

  I dropped her off at school, then drove off to my first day of college. I ended up getting to class about thirty minutes early, since Ari's school started so much earlier than mine.

  I took a seat, then figuring I needed as much of a head start as I could get, I pulled out my textbook and started reading the first chapter. I knew this sort of made me a nerd, but I didn't care. I wouldn't be graduating until I was in my 30s, so I figured I might as well embrace my education and make the most of it.

  I'd screwed up college the first time round. Oh, I'd had a good reason and all. I had never regretting putting Ariella first and sacrificing my education and career opportunities for her. But I was determined to get it right this time.

  When the other students started arriving, I immediately felt out of place. Sure, I wasn't that old, but twenty-seven feels like forty-seven when you're surrounded by teenagers. A few of the other students looked like they might be in their early twenties, either students who had started late, or those that were taking some classes a bit out of order. But most of them looked fresh out of high school.

  The one thing I was grateful for was when I saw a familiar face. “Hey,” I said, waving at the guy I recognized. “You work at the bookstore, don't you?”

  The guy who'd helped me carry my stuff out that first day walked over and took a seat next to me. “Hey, funny running into you here. Donna, right?”

  I smiled, glad he'd remembered my name. Though I realized I didn't remember his. “Yeah, uhh...”

  “Conner.”

  “Conner, right. I knew that.” I looked down at my book, feeling a bit awkward. “I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous. This is the first time I've been in a classroom in almost ten years. Unless you count parent-teacher conferences.”

  “Oh, you're a mom?”

  I nodded, wondering how many other mothers were in the class with me. Unless there were other women here who'd gotten knocked up in high school like I had, I was betting there weren't any. “I have a daughter. She's nine, going on fifteen.”

  He laughed. “Wow, you don't look old enough to have a kid that old. I mean...gosh, I'm sorry. That didn't come out right.”

  “No, you're fine,” I said. “I should take it as a compliment.”

  The teacher ended up being almost ten minutes late, but Conner told me that was pretty typical with some of the professors here.

  The first class ended up being nothing special. It was a history class, and after going over the syllabus and discussing the types of papers we'd be writing this semester, the professor started on a lesson that didn't seem any more complex than what I remembered from high school.

  I was grateful for the easy start, though I was a bit daunted by the idea that I had to write an eight page paper later in the semester. I hadn't written anything longer than an email in years.

  When we were packing up our stuff at the end of class, Conner asked me, “So, what other classes are you taking?”

  “Well, I've actually got like an hour and a half off before my next class.” I dug through one of my folders until I found my class schedule. “Then I've got Comp 101 at 12:15, and Math for Stupid People at 2:00.”

  “Math for Stupid People?” He gave me a quizzical smile.

  “Well, I asked my adviser for the easiest, most basic math cou
rse I could take to meet gen ed requirements. I'm not a math person.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Math is easy. Most people just teach it wrong.”

  “Yeah, easy for you to say.”

  “So, if you're off for a little bit,” he said, “want to go grab some early lunch?”

  I checked the time on my phone. I hadn't had time for much of a breakfast, and I would definitely need to eat something before my next two classes, since they were back to back. “Sure. Sounds good.”

  We headed to the cafeteria and I loaded up my tray with way more food than I could actually eat. Most of it was stuff I knew I could take home later: miniature bags of chips and pretzels, lunch-sized cups of applesauce, granola bars, and snack packs of peanut butter cracker sandwiches. I added a salad and a sandwich to eat for lunch, and grabbed several bottles of soda.

  “Wow,” Conner said. “Hungry?”

  I laughed and blushed, handing the cashier my card. “Stocking up on stuff to take home later. It's a long story.”

  “Ahh, gotcha. I know some people that do that when they're on a meal plan paid for by their parents. Stock up on whatever you can while the parents are paying for it so you can save your cash for other stuff.”

  “Well, my parents aren't paying, but that's the basic idea.”

  We found a table near the windows. I dug into my salad, hungrier than I'd thought I was. Conner and I made small talk for a bit about classes, our jobs, and that sort of thing. Though, inevitably, the conversation eventually made its way around to awkward subjects that I didn't know how to explain.

  “So,” he asked, “what made you decide to come back to college? I mean, most of the people I know come here right out of high school.”

  I decided not to go into the whole complicated story about Grandma's will, I gave him the abridged version. “My Grandma died last spring. She left me some money to use for college. So I decided it was time to go back.”