If I didn’t feel so painfully awkward, I’d laugh. It never occurred to me that I’d feel this way about having too much money. Noah and I grew up knowing how to sidestep conversations about money. We had excuses ready to go if and when someone invited us to an event we couldn’t afford. We had tricks, like just ordering water or going to restaurants that had free breadsticks.

Beau is rich beyond anything I could have imagined back then.

He’s rich beyond anything most of the people at this table can imagine.

I won’t have to worry about affording a house or a dorm room or an apartment. I’m pretty sure Beau could donate enough money to the college to have a building named after him.

I’m not going to say a word of that to Megan. I know some of where she’s coming from. I know what it’s like to be priced out of nice apartments. At the same time, I would have loved to stay in a dorm. A dorm with friends would have been paradise for me.

“Oh—Jane’s thinking about that online program, aren’t you?” Grace says, her voice carefully casually. She’s smoothing this over for me. “She’s got family in Eben Cape.”

Megan perks up. “That’s right. Eben Cape’s gorgeous. That little downtown. The ocean.” She gets a gleam in her eyes. “Are you saying we could have a meetup there? Maybe a spring break getaway? I’d love to go cliff diving at some point.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Wouldn’t you rather go to Florida? Or anywhere warm?”

“We could do a finals week retreat,” Megan says. “If you have a living room floor we could crash on. Study all night. Party all day.”

“Sure,” I say. That does not sound like a good way to study for finals, but Megan’s eyes sparkle. What do I know, anyway? Maybe people learn better when they have fun at the same time.

Maybe everything is better when you have a group of friends like this one.

“You have to come to our meetups,” Grace says. “I don’t care if you’re doing the online thing. You’re not going to abandon us.”

“Yeah.” Pete leans forward over his microbrew. “You’re not getting out of playing soccer with us. Everybody has agreed to at least one match in the fall. Everybody but Kevin.”

“I have goals,” Kevin insists. “I won’t have time. Not if I want to make the dean’s list.”

“Don’t you want to be well-rounded?” Pete needles. “Nobody likes a doctor who doesn’t have any hobbies. Come on. You can kick a ball around with us once a week.”

This feels good. Cautiously good.

She has family in Eben Cape.