Caroline had been saving for her daughter’s college fund since Angela was born. But after a classmate of Angela’s reveals that she’s not actually enrolled in college, Caroline must uncover what her daughter is doing and what she used the money for.
Children are always going to break your heart. This was something that I learnt the hard way after trusting my daughter, Angela, completely.
Since Angela was born, I began saving for college. I needed to know that irrespective of what life threw my way, that I would be able to educate my child.
“I think you can wait until she’s a little older,” my husband, Holden, said. “We can do it together.”
“You can add to her college fund later,” I said, looking at my baby girl. “But I’m going to start from next month. I wasn’t able to study, Holden. And it was because we didn’t have the opportunity to do so. Angela is going to get that opportunity.”
“Okay, Caroline,” my husband said. “You start it now, and I’ll add to it in a year. The house will be paid off, and I’ll be able to put that money into the fund.”
He squeezed my hand in reassurance, and I knew that we would both do anything to give our daughter the entire world.
But maybe I should have paid more attention to Angela when she graduated from high school.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you with your college applications?” I asked my daughter when we went grocery shopping one day.
“Yes, Mom,” she said, adding a bottle of juice to the cart. “I can handle it by myself. But thank you for offering.”
So, I left her to handle the application process by herself. She was an ambitious and responsible kid, so I thought that she could handle it with her eyes closed.
“I may ask you to read my application essay, Mom,” she said one evening as I was cooking dinner. “But there’s still time to get it done.”
I didn’t think much of it and gave my daughter her space to navigate it.
And then one morning, she came into my bedroom and asked me to transfer all the money that we had been saving for her college fund.
“Sure, darling,” I said. “I’ll go down to the bank later today and sort it out.”
“Thanks, Mom,” she beamed. “You’re the best!”
Looking back, that was my first mistake.
Recently, I ran into her classmate, Trina, and her mother, who I knew went to the same college as Angela. They had also gone to the same high school.
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