“What are you talking about?”
“I know you can get me in under, well, non-academic criteria. I don’t want to get accepted because I’m your wife or you’ve always been a generous donor or because you’re the school president’s BFF. If I can’t get in on my own merit, so be it.”
“I’m surprised you think I’d do that,” he said with a small frown.
Oh dear. She’d annoyed him. “Sorry.”
“Forget it.” He sighed. “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know. Some place I have a shot at, I guess.”
“And that means places like Stanford are out, is that it?”
She nodded.
“You’re selling yourself short, you know that? You’re smart enough to get into any school you want. The consultant I’m planning to hire will help you.”
“But that wouldn’t be on my own merit.”
“Simply leveling the playing field. You think people get into top schools without help? They take SAT prep courses, get coaching on how to present themselves…”
“Pete didn’t.”
Gavin’s mouth tightened. “Pete’s unusually gifted and driven. You know my firm hires the best of the best.”
She nodded.
“Pete is probably the best out of them all. I thought I worked hard, but he’s a freak.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“A beast,” Gavin added, emphasizing the point. “Most people can’t do it. So don’t compare yourself to your brother. You’re plenty smart enough to get into college.”
Her lips parted. She’d always known Pete was smart, but she hadn’t realized Gavin thought so as well. Gavin had studied econometrics at the University of Chicago, which she understood to be quite a feat.
Amandine had once asked exactly what that was at a Lloyd family gathering, and his younger sister Meredith had responded, “It’s something a lot of ambitious, money-hungry people try to study because it can help them get high-paying jobs. Sadly, the University of Chicago has a particularly evil department dedicated to making their lives utter hell. Once the students realize the blood price they’ll have to pay, they contemplate the choice between hanging themselves or becoming lawyers.”
“Which one was Gavin?”
“He turned out to be a natural at it. Which makes him unnatural.”
Then there was Pete as a hard worker. Amandine had always known her brother worked a lot, even surprising her from time to time, but to impress her workaholic husband…that was surreal.
Then again, not any more surreal than standing in a Thai jungle, feeding bananas to a half-wild elephant and talking about the future of my education.
“If you want, we can begin going over your options and go from there.” Gavin’s voice was calm and logical, an anchor. “So you can start school after the baby’s born.”
She stopped. In her enthusiasm, she hadn’t thought things through enough. “But… What if things don’t work out?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Maybe I should go for a local community college. It’s probably more affordable.”
He studied her as he would a chart. “You’re going to go to the college you want to go to. The cost is irrelevant.”
“Gavin—”
“I don’t ever want you to give up something because you can’t afford it. So what if you go to some overpriced private college? If that’s what you want, that’s where you should go. I’ll make sure of it. End of story.” He patted Lou’s shoulder again, then turned away from her. “We should let Lou be. He probably wants to finish eating in peace.” He started toward the car.