Andrew raised his eyebrows. “We’re fifty miles from Whitehorn on a two-lane farm road, Darcy. Is there a problem?”
“No. Really. I’m fine. How’s Dirk?”
“Making great progress.” Andrew leaned back in his chair. “Some things are easier for him to grasp than others. You know our goal here is help our students be as self-sufficient as possible in the real world. Dirk will never be a CEO of a major company but, as I told you when he first arrived, I think there are a lot of opportunities for him. Now that I’ve worked with him for six months, I don’t see any reason to change my opinion. If anything, I’m more confident.”
“Thanks.” She fidgeted with the strap of her purse. “I’m still going to be able to make monthly payments, right?”
“Absolutely.” Andrew chuckled. “Actually, you’ve caught me in the middle of putting together a financial aid package for you. Now that Dirk has been here long enough for us to evaluate him, we’re going to start the process of applying for scholarship and grant money.”
“You can do that?” she asked, not daring to hope.
“We can try. We don’t talk about it as an option when we get a new student because there are restrictions. One of them is how much the student can be helped. Our belief is that Dirk will be about ninety percent self-sufficient by the time he leaves here. He’ll be able to hold down a job, live on his own and, within reason, support himself. That and the fact that he doesn’t have any financial resources makes him eligible.”
Darcy bristled. “I pay for things. I’ve never been late with a tuition payment.”
“Hey, don’t make me the bad guy. The foundations we work with don’t consider you a primary source of income. You’re a sibling, not a parent. This is a good thing. It makes Dirk more eligible for funding.”
“Oh.” She considered the information. “I’m not going to start planning a trip to Hawaii or anything, but if we could get some financial aid, it would really help.”
Andrew nodded, his expression turning serious. “I know you’re hanging on by a thread, Darcy. Don’t give up. I’m guessing within six months, we’ll have funding for at least three-quarters of his tuition.”
“That would be terrific,” she admitted. “Some months it’s difficult to pay all my bills.” If the funding came through she might actually be able to save money for an emergency.
“We’re not cheap,” Andrew admitted. “I like to think we’re worth it.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “What else is wrong, Darcy? You don’t seem to be your normal, cheerful self today.”
She shrugged. “Just life. You know—there’s always something.”
“I’m a professional. I’m willing to listen.”
“That sounds really tempting, but you’re Dirk’s counselor, not mine.”
“I’d like to think we’re friends. Talk to me.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. There’s this guy.”
“Ah. A matter of the heart. I should have known.”
“I don’t know if this qualifies as a ‘matter of the heart.’ More like a confusing situation between people who are friends.”
And lovers, but she wasn’t comfortable confessing that. “He lives next door. We’ve hung out a few times.” Did sex qualify as hanging out? “I thought we were getting along great, but last Monday he turned weird on me. I don’t know. He mentioned some big case at work, but I’m not sure I believe him.”
“What kind of work does he do?”
“He’s a detective. He worked in New York for a while, but he was injured on the job. I guess he left to recover and now he’s here. He grew up in Whitehorn.”
“Sounds like he’s made a lot of adjustments. First to the big city and now to coming home. How long has he been back?”
“A few months. I think a suspect shot him.”
Andrew frowned. “That can’t have been easy. Do you know any of the details of the shooting?”
“No. Just that he was in the hospital for a while and then in rehab.” She thought about the scars on his body. “One gunshot was to his thigh, the other his torso. I know that no major organs were hit, but I think it was pretty close.”
“Facing one’s mortality is never easy. Especially if his injuries were serious enough to cause him to leave his job.”
Darcy considered Andrew’s statement. She hadn’t thought about the reasons for Mark’s return to Whitehorn. “I don’t know if he came back because he couldn’t physically do the job, or if it was something else.”
“Neither is going to make him feel good about himself,” Andrew told her. “Men frequently define themselves by what they do. If your friend couldn’t do the job he loved, he would need some time to get used to that reality. If he left because he didn’t want to deal with the pressures anymore, then there are different things going on. Either way, he’s in for an adjustment.”
