Page 53 of February

“I might regret this, but does she have any reason other than she wants you to go to Columbia?”

“No.”

“Okay. I’ll have my assistant book you a flight and a hotel room, but you’re staying in the Four Seasons with me, and we’ll do a day trip to LSU. Is that good?”

“That would be awesome,” he said, sounding excited. “I want Tulane more, anyway, like Grandpa.”

Monica loved that Aaron still called her Mom and her dad Grandpa. She was technically his stepmother, but she’d been with Lily for a decade and had watched him grow. She’d taken care of him, went to his soccer and baseball games, even when Lily couldn’t, and she’d wanted to help him with college, but Lily had been insistent that he was going to Columbia, so she’d stayed out of it.

“I’ll have something booked and sent to you, butyouhave to tell your mom about this. Tell her she can call me to talk it through if she needs to.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he replied.

They said their goodbyes, and Monica returned her attention to Bridgette, who was drinking her coffee and pretending she didn’t overhear the conversation.

“That’s Aaron.”

“Your son? How old is he?”

“He’s eighteen,” Monica replied before she picked up her knife and fork.

“College choices? I heard Tulane and LSU.”

“Yes. His other mother wants him to stay in New York. She went to Columbia, so she wantshimto go to Columbia. His other mother doesn’t really care where he goes, but she hasn’t been abig part of his life since their divorce. Lily had primary custody when we got married.”

“Sorry; how many mothers does he have, exactly?”

“Oh.” Monica laughed. “He’s technically my stepson. Lily was married before me. They had Aaron together.”

“Ah,” Bridgette said. “So, you two never had kids? Not that Aaron isn’t your kid; just that–”

“I honestly never saw myself as a mother. If Lily didn’t have Aaron already, we wouldn’t have had kids together. So, no. I love Aaron like he’s my own, though.”

“You sound close.”

“We are. Sometimes, I think Lily had Aaron with her ex because she wanted something else to brag about, not because she really wanted a kid. Aaron had nannies until he was ten. I finally had to convince her to let them go, and I stepped in when I could so that he felt like he had a parent. She wants him to go to Columbia and then Harvard Law, like she did, but at least right now, Aaron doesn’t want to be a lawyer.”

“You sound like you might be his only hope,” Bridgette noted.

Monica chuckled and said, “I just want him to be happy. If it was Columbia that he wanted, I’d want him to have that, but he’s been insistent that he wants Tulane or LSU. My dad met your grandfather at Tulane, and Aaron is close with my father.”

“Why LSU?”

“My mom went to LSU.”

“So, they were rivals?” Bridgette smiled.

Monica laughed and replied, “I guess so.”

“I went to Tulane, you know?”

“I remember,” Monica said before she took her first bite. “This is heaven.”

“I told you,” Bridgette said, pointing her fork at Monica’s plate. “Amazing, right?”

“Can we come here tomorrow, too?”

Bridgette laughed and said, “It won’t be the special tomorrow.”

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