“Yeah right, Tristan.” Mom cackles. “We both know you’ll be buying him a car simply because you won’t want him to touch your precious Ford truck.”
When I turned sixteen, Dad reluctantly bought me my jeep. And I say reluctantly because he wanted me to drive a Ford, but I wanted a jeep. He gave in and bought me my baby. It’s the same jeep I drive today. Georgia, on the other hand, let Dad have his way, and she drives a Ford F-250. The thing is huge! Dad had to have a side-step installed, just so she could get into the damn thing, but she loves it, and she loves that it made Dad happy to buy her a Ford.
“FYI,” Max says, “I’m totally okay with a Ford.” He looks at me and laughs.
“Whatever, I’m okay with being the black sheep of the family. I love my jeep. It holds my surfboard perfectly.”
“As long as it holds your books perfectly,” Dad volleys.
“You girls only have about a year left, right?” Gavin asks.
“Yep, we both have one more year to go.” Even though Georgia is a year younger than me, she’s so smart, she took extra classes in high school and graduated early, with me.
“Actually,” Georgia says. “I met with my advisor and since I’ve been taking extra classes every semester, she told me if I go full-time this summer, I can graduate early.”
“How early?” I ask.
“At the end of the summer,” she admits.
Everyone congratulates her, and she blushes, not keen on all the attention.
“I’m really proud of you, Georgia,” I tell her. “It sucks we won’t walk together, but at least once you’re done, you’ll have more time to help me with my classes.” I wink playfully, and she rolls her eyes.
“Any plans for after college?” Gavin asks.
“I want to expand my graphic and web design business,” Georgia says.
“Great goal,” Gavin says before he turns his attention to me. “How about you?”
“I’ve actually been thinking about doing a little bit of traveling,” I blurt out, having no clue where the hell that even came from. I feel everyone’s eyes hit me, and I immediately want to take it back, but it’s too late now.
“Really?” Lacie asks. “I did quite a bit of traveling in my twenties. Where are you planning to go?”
I think about this for a second. Where would I go if I could go anywhere? My mind goes to what I love most: surfing. “I would like to visit all the best places to surf: Sydney, Ireland, South Africa, Bali… I could check out the different cultures and art…”
“I heard Tahiti and Fiji are known for their surfing waters,” Lacie says.
“Yeah,” I agree. “The only places I’ve surfed are here and Mexico.”
It doesn’t get past me that my family and Alec haven’t said a word. They’re all just staring at me, most likely in shock since I’ve never once mentioned wanting to travel after I graduate. Well, that’s because I never thought about it. But now that I’m thinking about it, it actually sounds like a really great idea.
“Traveling can be expensive,” Lacie points out. “If you need any tips, let me know.”
“Thank you,” I say, not bothering to tell her that when I graduate my grandparents on my dad’s side will be giving me my trust fund. They’ve set one up for each of their grandchildren to receive once they graduate from college or turn twenty-five. It’s not enough to live off of, but it’s enough to buy a house, or in my case, go traveling. They set it up to help us start our lives. My dad used his to open his own gym.
Nobody else says anything, but I can feel Alec’s searing glare on me, as well as Georgia’s hurtful stare.
Finally Mason, who must sense the tension, speaks up. “We’ve decided to finally purchase a cabin in Breckenridge,” he says. “Mila and I are going to be heading up there for winter break with Anna.”
“Sounds good,” Alec says. “I’ll put in for it. It’s been a couple years since we’ve been.”
After dinner, Alec’s birthday cake is brought out and we all sing Happy Birthday. Then everyone gives him his gifts, while he whines that he’s too old, but thanks everyone. I save mine and Georgia’s for last.
“Here you go.” I hand him the small box. “It’s from Georgia and me.”
He opens the box and inside is a Casio Men’s G-Shock Solar Atomic watch. Georgia and I searched online for the perfect watch for a firefighter after Alec’s got messed up while on a call a while back.
“The guy at the store says it’s the perfect watch for a firefighter. It has a digital compass, a barometer, a thermometer, an altimeter, five different alarms, and is solar powered.”
“Thank you.” He leans over and kisses my cheek, then gets up and hugs Georgia.