Claire hadn't just enjoyed a free trip—she'd actually managed to turn a tidy profit, too.
To anyone else, it would have sounded unbelievable.
At the end of the trip, Claire insisted on covering all their travel expenses, effectively giving each of her friends a thousand-dollar windfall. It wasn't exactly a windfall, but
it more than covered their week's expenses. In effect, everyone had just taken a week long vacation without spending a dime.
If Claire had given them more, the gesture would've felt awkward, even
embarrassing. But a thousand dollars? That was pocket change to them, so they all accepted it with easy smiles.
Call it sharing in her good fortune.
With the trip behind them, everyone was in high spirits as they made their way back to Apex. By then, the final exam scores and university placements were only days away.
With only two days left before the announcements, their class chat was as lively as ever. Everyone was nervous, messages flying back and forth at all hours.
Claire didn't show up empty-handed. She had picked out thoughtful gifts and local specialties for Pandora, Edison, and Jenny: Jenny received a jade-green bracelet, Pandora a necklace and earring set. Edison got a deep-red gemstone, a ruby. Dewitt had brought her to a jewelry workshop to choose the pieces.
None of these were extravagant gifts, but they were chosen with care and affection.
Claire also brought back treats for Barry and her fellow lab mates—coffee, regional snacks, little tokens from her journey. Even her homeroom teacher got a share. For Claire, it was just her way of showing appreciation.
Delivering all those gifts took a whole day. The day before exam scores were released, Claire finally made it back to her family's place in the countryside.
She had gifts for Pearce and Patti, too—one set she'd bought herself, and another sent by Dewitt. When Pearce and Patti heard that Claire had visited Montara and seen their son, they were clearly delighted.
"How's Dewitt doing out there, then?" Patti asked eagerly. Their son only came home every couple of years; he'd visited the year before last, but then skipped last year entirely.
She worried about him, even if Pearce pretended not to. His eyes, though, gave him away.
"I think Dewitt's doing really well," Claire said, pulling out her phone. "I took some pictures and videos here, let me show you."
She let them watch.
Dewitt appeared
in the video as laid-back and mischievous as ever, telling his parents not to worry and assuring them his business was taking off making promises that he wouldn't let the family down.
When the video ended, Patti dabbed at her eyes. "Dewitt was always a free spirit. When other kids were studying, he'd be off finding new ways to have fun."
"Every holiday, he'd just disappear on us. Only Pandora believed he'd ever become someone Pearce and I just figured he'd end up with some dead-end job to pay the bills."
"We thought he'd one day bring home a girl, settle down, and get married, like everyone does."
“Now that he's overseas, I just hope he doesn't bring back a wife we can't even talk to," she finished, a little gruffly.
Patti's views were conservative. The thought of a foreign wife unsettled her.
Claire, thinking back, realized Dewitt didn't seem to have any romantic entanglements at all. She smiled,
trying to set Patti's mind at ease net
"Honestly, there's no one around him right now. He's about as single as they come, so there's zero chance of him coming home with a foreign bride."
But that answer only worried Patti even more.
To her, that might be even worse-marrying an outsider at least meant he was settled with someone. Staying single forever? That was a parent's real nightmare.
"He'd better not turn out like Edison," Patti muttered under her breath.
Edison was already well past thirty and only just started dating.
If Jenny hadn't come along, who knew how long he'd have stayed a bachelor?
Claire couldn't help but laugh. “But Edison's doing just fine now, isn't he?" Patti shook her head. "You're still so young. You don't get it. Edison's only just started dating—at this rate, we'll be lucky if we have grandkids in a year or two."