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“I’ll see you at the airport?” Kayla cocked her head to the side.
“Yeah. I can’t imagine this will take long. I’m right behind you.” I sighed a little as she headed toward her car. I’d tried to convince her we could carpool to work and leave together, but she hadn’t wanted to hear it. Sometimes it still felt like we took a step forward as a couple and then six in the wrong direction.
“Mr. Campbell!” Trevor stuttered to a stop, panting. He waved an envelope at me. “I got in.”
“The MIT program?” I grinned and held up my hand for a high five. “Congrats. I’m not surprised though. Did you get a scholarship?”
Trevor shook his head. “No. That’s why I wanted to catch you. Did you mean it? Can you really pay for it? I know teachers don’t make bank.”
Compared to some of the families that sent their kids to school here, I was well paid. But, generally speaking, he wasn’t wrong. I was grateful that the whole billionaire thing wasn’t super common knowledge. “I meant it. I’m happy to do it. When do they need the payment?”
“All the details are in here.” Trevor thrust the envelope at me. “I figured maybe you could just bring it back after spring break?”
“I can do that.” I took the envelope. “I’m proud of you, man.”
“Really?” The incredulity in Trevor’s voice nearly undid me.
“Really.” I slapped the envelope against my leg. “I’ll take a look tonight—tomorrow latest—and get it figured out.”
“Thanks, Mr. Campbell.” He grinned at me. “I gotta bounce. Since it’s spring break, I picked up extra shifts at the Safeway. Me’n the guys are talking about getting a limo for prom. But man, those ain’t cheap.”
I chuckled. “They’re not. But they can be fun. I didn’t realize you were seeing anyone.”
Trevor snorted. “You’re not old enough to talk like that, Mr. Campbell. But Ana Garcia and me hang sometimes. I bet she’ll look fine in a nice dress at prom.”
I wasn’t going to comment on that. “Sounds like you’ve got it all figured.”
“Not all, but I’m working on it. You and Miss Jones going to chaperone together? Talk about looking fine in a nice dress.” Taylor wiggled his eyebrows.
I cleared my throat. “We haven’t talked about it.”
“Man. I hope you do. Better than fusty old Mr. Berry staring down his hawk nose like you done something wrong just for dancing.” Trevor rolled his eyes then checked over his shoulder when a car honked. “That’s my ride. Later, Mr. C.”
I shook my head a little and tucked the envelope into my bag. Should I set up some sort of official scholarship fund for the students here? It’d be a simple enough thing to do. There would have to be some kind of application process, probably. I didn’t know everyone.
And then there was the matter of keeping it anonymous on my end.
I could probably laugh off covering one summer camp for a talented student. But a scholarship program was going to invite questions.
I mulled it over as I walked to my car, got in, and started toward the airport where our plane was waiting. A quick glance at the time said I should be well within the arrival window we’d agreed on in our group text. I didn’t want to miss it and end up making the pilot come back for me.
Thankfully, traffic wasn’t awful. The Friday of spring break was usually a beast. But I’d mapped out backroads so I could avoid 95 and the Beltway altogether. The snippets of traffic reports I caught as I flipped radio stations made it clear that had been a wise decision. Everyone was leaving town, it seemed like. And if they weren’t leaving, they were coming from far away to spend their spring break seeing the sights of DC. Maybe catch the tail end of the cherry blossoms.
I couldn’t blame them. DC in the spring was fantastic.
But the white sand and turquoise water of the Caymans was so much better.
I found a parking spot at the airport, collected my bags, and headed inside. With a private plane, security was slightly less of a pain, if only because the line was shorter. Before long, I was approaching the lounge.
“Am I the last one here?” I scanned the group.
“Still waiting on Tristan. He said he’s eight minutes out.” Scott snagged Beckett as the little boy ran by, and pulled him into his lap. “The pilot’s getting everything ready for us to board. No one minds stopping to pick up my folks on our way down?”
Everyone shook their head.
I didn’t understand why Scott kept asking. We’d all agreed it was fine—a great idea, even. His parents knew all of us. We got along fine. And it’d be nice for Whitney and Scott to have backup with Beckett. Not that the rest of us didn’t pitch in and help when we could, but I appreciated that Scott didn’t just assume we all wanted to take on responsibility for him.
I plopped into a chair beside Kayla. She was chatting with Megan and Whitney about something. I didn’t want to interrupt so I looked around the lounge.
