Emily sat, fighting with herself. She knew what Mark was saying was right. She knew she really could be hurting her son's future success by not letting him go to the better school but she really didn't want to be in any more debt to Mark.
"I can understand your points and you are right," she finally conceded.
Mark looked a little bit smug at her words. She held her hand up to let him know she wasn't finished speaking. The smile dropped away.
"I said I can understand your point, however if you expect me to compromise, you need to be willing to, also," she said, staring him in the eye, to make sure she was getting her point across.
"What kind of compromise?" he asked suspiciously.
"If Trevor is going to go to a fancy school, then I insist on contributing to it. We already have no expense here and I receive a generous salary. I'm sure the tuition is a lot, so you'll cut my salary in half." She thought that would make an acceptable solution for them both.
"No way," Mark told her, with no room for compromise on his part.
"Then it's no deal," Emily added, just as unbending.
They both stared again at one another, trying to break the other person. When Emily refused to back down, Mark finally held up his hands in defeat.
"Okay how about your salary gets cut by one hundred a week, not half," he said. When she started to shake her head he cut her off.
"Listen, if he's going to a private school there are extra things you are going to need. You'll need your salary," he tried to reason with her.
Emily hadn't even thought about an added expense. Mark wasn't going to tell her about the extra fees for field trips and such. He would just make sure the school contacted him directly, because if she knew any of that she would insist on breaking herself to pay them. He didn't understand her; the money wouldn't even be missed by him. He was frustrated with her and at the same time impressed with her independence.
"I guess we could try it out," she reluctantly conceded. "But Mark, if the kids there make him feel bad about himself because he's not rich like they are, he's not staying. I would rather he have a public school education than for him to ever feel like he isn't good enough," she said emphatically.
"Emily he'll fit right in. He already has a best friend he'll be going to school with and he's outgoing and social. He'll be friends with every kid in the school," he told her.
"Okay, when does registration start?" she asked.
"We can head up there tomorrow. We'll take the chopper over to my dad's and then drive in. I have been promising Trevor for a while to take him on a ride."
"I think it would be just fine to drive," she said nervously. She was terrified of heights and not a fan of flying in anything, let alone a tiny helicopter, which only remained in the air because of a couple of steel bars spinning around.
"Don't be such a chicken. You'll love the view and it's only about a fifteen minute ride but we'll probably take the scenic route," he added with a wink.
Emily shuddered and resigned herself to having to do things she'd never done before.
"Come on, Mom. It's time to go," Trevor said as he paced around her bedroom while she finished the last touches of her make-up.
"I'm hurrying," she lied.
"Mark said you were dragging your feet cause you were afraid to go in the helicopter," Trevor said, like he couldn't believe that were possibly true.
"Well Mark doesn't know everything."
"Yes he does, Mom," Trevor said, as if she had lost her mind. "He's the smartest guy in the whole wide world."
Emily cleared her throat to keep from laughing and followed her son out of the room. She really was terrified to go on the chopper ride but there was no way she was admitting that to either her son or to Mark. They would both tease her mercilessly over it.
"All ready?" Mark questioned when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Emily glared at him, as he tried to wipe the wide grin from his face. When he started to cough, she wasn't fooled into thinking he wasn't laughing at her.
"I just think it's silly to fly there when it's not that long of a car ride," Emily had to say. She knew it was a lost battle but had to try one more time to not get into that helicopter.
"Ah Mom, you're just no fun."
"Don't worry Trevor. She'll have a great time once we're up in the air. I'm an excellent pilot," Mark told him.
"You're flying it?" Emily gasped in horror.
"Do you see any other pilots around here?" Mark answered with his own question.
"I just assumed you had one come in," Emily said. She hoped he had, anyway. She knew he could ride a horse better than anyone but she wasn't so sure he was capable of keeping them up in the air.