Then I saw the line printed in bold.
PAID IN FULL.
I looked up at her.
“What is this?”
Jane bit her lower lip.
Behind her, two of her closest friends were already smiling.
“Come with me.”
She took my hand and led me through the courtyard toward the parking area.
I kept asking questions.
She refused to answer any of them.
Then we turned the corner.
And I stopped walking.
Parked beneath a flowering dogwood tree was a silver sedan.
Nothing extravagant.
Nothing flashy.
But clean.
Reliable.
Beautiful.
A large red ribbon stretched across the hood.
I stared at the car.
Then at Jane.
Then back at the car.
“No.”
Jane smiled.
“Yes.”
“No, Jane.”
“Yes, Mom.”
I shook my head rapidly.
“You cannot buy me a car.”
“I already did.”
“With what money?”
That was when the Dean appeared behind us.
He was holding his graduation cap beneath one arm and smiling like a man who had been waiting for this exact moment.
