Slade nodded. “I second that, and I won’t hear of you paying us rent. Maybe you’re all grown up, but to me, you’ll always be my baby girl. Anything we can do to help you return to school will be a privilege, not a burden.”

Erin released a breath and with it went all her nervousness. “I knew you’d be supportive. Please don’t think I doubted that. It just feels so weird to be thinking about quitting a good job and being broke all the time again. I thought I’d left those days behind me, and it’s humiliating to find myself with my hand out.”

“You haven’t asked for money,” he said.

“No, and I don’t plan to, but I am asking for low-cost room and board. That’s pretty much the same thing.”

Vickie dunked the cookie in her coffee. “Staying with family when times are rough isn’t the same at all. And it’s not as if you’ll be lollygagging. You’ll have some kind of job, plus your coursework at the university. Students often need a helping hand. Look at Kennedy. He works here only part-time now, but he still gets room and board as one of his benefits.”

“I know. But I won’t be on Uncle Slade’s payroll and earning the right to live here.”

“It’s your birthright,” Slade countered. “You’re my flesh and blood.”

Erin wanted to hug both of them. “Nothing will happen right away. I have to keep working at the department until I get my folks paid back for my first round of education. I’ll be settled up with them next winter. Then, no matter how upset they get, I’ll tell them that law enforcement just isn’t for me.”

Slade’s jaw muscle started to tic. “I think it’s inexcusable that they expect to be repaid for what they spent on their own daughter’s education.”

“Slade,” Vickie said softly, a note of caution lacing her tone.

He held up a hand. “I know. I shouldn’t criticize her parents, but damned if I can keep my mouth shut. It’d be different if Gordon was a blue-collar worker living from payday to payday. But he’s done well for himself. They’ve saved and invested. Their home is a showplace in a classy area of a town populated by mostly wealthy people. I just don’t get it.”

Vickie laid her hand on her husband’s wrist. “I know it bothers you, but we don’t know the whole story, and Erin’s financial arrangements with them aren’t any of our business.”

Slade patted Vickie’s fingers and reached for a cookie. “You’re right. Sorry, Erin. I just don’t understand people who make their daughter feel guilty for the help they gave her. Especially not when they go on elaborate vacations every single year.”

Erin couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re right, and I completely agree. But that’s just how they are. And in all fairness to them, paying them back was my idea. Even if I remain a cop, I’ll never feel truly independent as long as I owe them a dime. And if I quit law enforcement while still in their debt, my father will go ballistic. It’s a strange dynamic, but essentially he feels that he has a right to interfere in my life as long as I’m indebted to him.”