Too far to drive.
Too busy.
I remembered defending him.
“You know he’d come if he could.”
Now, I wasn’t so sure.
“The last time I asked, he got mad,” Harper said.
“What did he say?”
Her eyes dropped.
“Harper, I can’t drop everything whenever you want me to. I’m working to PAY for that college.”
I winced.
“Did you argue?”
“No. I stopped asking.”
Then she told me what was really bothering her.
A few days earlier, she’d noticed that her next tuition installment was still outstanding.
Graham handled those payments from our joint savings.
She’d asked him about it.
“He told me he’d already done it.”
“Maybe he did.”
“That’s what I thought,” she answered.
She showed me her student account.
The amount was still listed as due.
“Maybe it takes a few days.”
“Again, mom, that’s what I thought.”
Her voice was flat.
“But?”
“I don’t know. Something about it bothered me.”
Now it bothered me too.
That night, while Graham watched television downstairs, I opened our banking app.
Then I found it.
Graham HAD made the payment.
The amount matched Harper’s tuition installment exactly, and the university name appeared beside it.
Relief washed over me.
There was no missing money.
I sent Harper a screenshot.
“Dad did pay it. Call them tomorrow. It must be an accounting problem.”
She replied, “Okay.”
The next morning, Harper called the student accounts office.
Twenty minutes later, my phone rang.
“Mom… they found Dad’s payment.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
She went quiet.
“Harper?”
