I called the boys. They thundered down the stairs. I turned the laptop around, and I watched their eyes move across the screen and widen.
“Mom!”
“I’m going back to school,” I said, and my voice shook.
Kevin walked in with grocery bags and stopped in the doorway. “What happened?” I pointed at the screen. He set the bags on the floor, crossed the kitchen in three steps, and hugged me hard. “I’m so proud of you,” he murmured against my hair.
Last night I found the twins at the kitchen table, doing their homework without being told. I stood in the doorway for a while, just watching. Noah chewed his pencil. Ethan tapped his foot.
“I need someone to show me how to use the college’s online learning portal,” I said.
Noah grinned. “Finally. Something we know better than you.”
They pulled out a chair between them. For the next half hour, my fifteen-year-old sons patiently explained passwords, course pages, and assignment uploads, correcting me kindly each time I clicked the wrong button.
