Scott

My immediate reaction upon seeing Kelsey Wegman was shock. The little girl from next door had turned into a real beauty. One who was unfortunately greeted with the worst kind of news. Like me, she only had her father. Our fathers were as close as brothers. The thought of losing either one of them was disconcerting. Now as we walked towards the cafeteria, I had to deliver a different kind of news. The kind that I knew in her position I’d want to know about, but wouldn’t be happy to hear.

“Okay Scott, spill it. What’s going on?”

At least she didn’t beat around the bush. Her green eyes leveled with mine, a dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose hinting still at her youth. “It’s your father. He doesn’t have medical insurance.”

Her eyes rounded like saucers. “What do you mean? He works for your father’s company, of course he has insurance.”

I absolutely hated this. Because what I was about to say would break her heart. “He opted out. We didn’t know until he was admitted this morning. He hasn’t had insurance in three years.”

“But why? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. Do you have insurance?”

“Yeah, they have this school program because there’s a hospital there. He told me I should sign up. Oh shit. It was three years ago. Why would he do that?”

“Probably to avoid the premiums, to save money.”

“But why?”

I waited. Waited for it to sink in. It didn’t take long. “For my tuition. Three years ago. The timing. Crap. Why didn’t I see it? But he said he had a college fund for me.”

“My dad and I were discussing it, and this is the part we want you to know. We’ll pay for the hospital bills, whatever it takes.”

She was already shaking her head. “That’s very generous, but we couldn’t possibly. I can um, I can see about getting a line of credit on the house.”

I winced and knew the moment she saw it.

“What? What else?”

“There’s already a second mortgage on it.”

“But, but I thought it was close to being paid off.” She stood up pacing. “This whole time he said that everything was covered. He kept going on about how proud he was for his little girl to be the first in his family to go to college. He said even with the out-of-state tuition that it wasn’t a problem. He lied.”

“I’m sorry. My dad didn’t agree with me telling you this part, but I’d want to know if I were in your shoes.”

She leveled me with a look. “Are you kidding? I definitely want to know. First things first, I’m withdrawing from school. Then I’ll need to start working. Well, obviously I’ll ask your father for a job. I mean I have my CDL and can drive my dad’s routes for the next few weeks.”

“Whoa, whoa, you can’t withdraw. You’re a semester away from graduating.”

She shrugged. “This is more important. I can finish locally at a university this summer maybe.”

“I can’t let that happen, and you can’t work for my dad.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m the one in charge of operations. I’m running the company right now.” At least temporarily, as I’d agreed to try it for my dad’s sake. Ultimately, I had no interest in taking over my father’s business, but I knew it meant a lot to him to at least give it a go for a couple months, before I made a final decision.

“I thought you were living in New York?”

“I’m on hiatus. The trucking business is under my control for the moment.”  I wondered if she could see the regret in my eyes.

Her eyes simmered with temper. “You would seriously dump all of this on me and yet won’t give me a job?”

Shit. I hadn’t thought this through, because I knew in a heartbeat my father would have. “I don’t want you to quit school. Like I said, my father and I will cover - ”

She put her hands on her hips. Hips that I might add were in perfect proportion to her shapely thighs all encased in black yoga pants. “Would you take it? If the positions were reversed would you take the money? Would you go back to school knowing your father had mortgaged the house and gone without medical coverage, to be able to pay the tuition.”

She had me there. “No. I wouldn’t.”

“Then let me drive my father’s truck. I’ll take his routes for the next couple of weeks. If I don’t do something to help pay the bills, I’ll go crazy.”

I sighed. “He’ll go crazy knowing that you’re trying to work it off.”

“Then we don’t tell him. We just say I’m doing some routes for the holidays. I drove with my dad last summer, and the one before that. This would be no different, except I’d do the routes solo.”

Yeah with the exception that she was now my responsibility, and I didn’t like thinking of her out on the roads alone. Which was sexist I realized as there were plenty of female truck drivers. But just the thought of her, out on the road with all of those guys, made me tense with a strange protectiveness. They’d be all over her.

“I’m sorry. The answer is still no.” Even as the words left my mouth, I knew I was in for a fight.