From Heartbreak to Mate

Chapter 5

Carissa gripped the armrest on the passenger door of Kyle’s truck as they followed Hailey’s SUV. The road leading to Hailey’s house was full of twists, turns, and switchbacks. It could be treacherous even in the best of conditions. What made things worse was that Kyle was not the best driver. Carissa hated to ride with him and always offered to drive, but when they were together, Kyle insisted on driving. He would insist on it even when Carissa knew the route, and he did not. It was one of the things she found least attractive about her boyfriend, but she did her best to overlook it.

“Why are you holding on for dear life, Carrie? Riding with me isn’t that scary, is it?” Kyle asked in a teasing tone.

“Just nervous because of the road conditions,” Carissa sighed with a tight smile. “But, to be fair, you don’t have the best driving record. You have totaled three vehicles in two years.”

“True, but that last one was not my fault,” Kyle said defensively. “I spun out on the wet road and was fine until another car did the same thing and hit me.”

“Still, I will be nervous until we get to John’s house. I love driving this road in the summer with all the flowers and wildlife. Winter is another story. It feels so cold and lonely. The one saving grace is that I know Alice will have either steaming mugs of coffee or cocoa waiting for us when we get there,” Carissa said with a smile.

“I still don’t understand something,” Kyle said as he kept his eyes glued to the road. “If you and Hailey are such good friends and her dad and your parents have known each other for so long, why didn’t he give you some high-class job in his law firm or other businesses after you graduated from college? I’m sure if you had wanted, he would have called in a few favors and gotten you a job with one of his buddies if you had preferred.”

“I’m sure John would have if I had wanted that, but I didn’t, and I still don’t,” Carissa said with a shrug. “I don’t ever remember a time when I did not want to be a teacher. The subject and the age groups changed as I got older, but I knew I was meant to be a teacher. It might not be glamorous, and I will never get rich doing it, but I love what I do.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kyle mumbled.

Carissa looked at him questioningly, trying to understand why he was saying this. “Where is this coming from?” Carissa asked.

“I applied to law school, and I was accepted. I start after the first of the year,” Kyle said before letting out an explosive breath.

Carissa was stunned. Kyle had not said a word to her about going to law school. He worked at John’s law firm as a paralegal. He seemed happy with that and the frequent promotions he had received. Kyle lived with Carissa, and he covered part of the bills. With him going back to school, it would be difficult for them, and he should have said something before now.

“Law school?” Carissa questioned, hoping she had misunderstood him. “That is in Missoula. That is a three-hour drive from here. How is this going to work? Did you get a scholarship or a housing allowance or something?”

“No. But I have looked at apartments online. I found one that is pretty reasonable and near one of the elementary schools, so it would be close to work for you,” Kyle said.

Carissa gaped at him in utter dismay. Kyle had planned everything without her, including her new job and home. She turned to stare out the windshield, shaking her head as they approached the Evans estate.

“I can’t just pick up and move to a different school in the middle of the year like that,” Carissa said. “We need to talk about this, but not now. All I want to do today is enjoy the party. After the way you dropped this on me, I don’t know if it will be possible, but I want to try.”

“I’m sorry. I would have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how,” Kyle said as they followed Hailey up the long driveway toward the garage.

“You should have told me as soon as you started thinking of it. Then you should have told me when you applied, and then you should have told me when you had the acceptance letter in your hand,” Carissa spat. “Instead, you waited until my school was out on winter break and are expecting me to drop everything to follow you to a city over two hundred miles away.”

The truck fell silent as Hailey pulled into the garage ahead of them. Kyle pulled up to the door to the left of where she had entered. They had done this many times before. Hailey would use her remote to open the garage door where she always parked her SUV. She would then open the bay beside her from the inside to allow Carissa and now Kyle to park out of the weather.

“I said I am sorry,” Kyle said as the door opened in front of his truck. “I admit I should have told you sooner. I also agree that we should talk about this later.” Kyle pulled into the garage, parked, and whispered, “I really am sorry. I love you, Carrie. We will figure this out, and if we can’t, I’ll put law school off until we can.”

Carissa looked at Kyle. He was sad and worried. He could never hide how he felt because his facial expressions always gave it away. She wanted to be mad at him, but seeing how broken he looked made her heart hurt.

“I love you too,” Carissa sighed. She looked at Hailey’s reflection in the side mirror as she unloaded the back of her SUV. “Come on. We need to help Hailey take things inside and take our bags to whichever room Alice will have undoubtedly assigned us. After that, we can help Alice if she needs it.”

Kyle said nothing as he and Carissa got out of his truck. Carissa retrieved her bags from the backseat, leaving Kyle to get his. She went to where Hailey was sorting through shopping bags in the back of her SUV and gave her friend a forced smile.

Hailey looked at Carissa and furrowed her brow, asking, “Are you OK? Did Kyle do something dumb again?”

“Yes, and I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Carissa said as she held out her hand to take some of the shopping bags.

“Yeah, OK,” Hailey said, not pushing as she handed a few bags to her friend.

Carissa took the bags. She gave one last glance at Kyle before hurrying to the door leading into the house and disappearing inside.

“What did you do?” Hailey whispered to Kyle after the door closed, and Carissa could not hear them.

“I told her about law school just before we got here,” Kyle admitted.

“You what?” Hailey hissed. “Why would you do that? I thought you were going to wait until tomorrow or something?”

“I don’t know,” Kyle said, running his hand through his hair. “We were talking about how Carrie could probably get a job that pays more than teaching if she asked your dad, and, of course, she wants to stick with teaching. That led me to tell her that I wasn’t happy with just being a paralegal and that I had been accepted to law school.” Kyle gave Hailey a defeated look and continued, “I then told her that I had already looked at apartments in Missoula for us, and one was near a school where she could work. That went over about as well as you can expect.”

“Kyle, for a smart man, you can be a complete i***t sometimes,” Hailey said with a scowl. “Help me take the rest of this stuff in. Maybe between the two of us, we can smooth things over with Carrie, so her day isn’t totally ruined. This is the first Christmas since her parents moved, and she can’t visit them until spring break. This is rough on her.”

Hailey pushed several shopping bags into Kyle’s arms before taking the rest herself. She slammed the back hatch closed and gave an exasperated sigh.

“Come on. We need to get inside. Most of this stuff is for the party, and Alice and the other staff are waiting for it,” Hailey said as she led the way to the door leading inside.

Kyle said nothing as he followed her. He knew he had made what was most likely the biggest mistake of his life. Now, all he could do was try to fix it.