Read Online The Misconception by Darlene Gardner - Free Book Online

him. “You were right. Drew and I shouldn’t have been wrestling in the house.”
    “Pshaw, you buy me too many things already,” his mother said with a wave of her hand. Unfortunately, it was the hand that held a knife. Jax backed up his stool. “I can do without another vase.”
    “That’s the point. I don’t want you to do without anything.”
    She paused in making his sandwich, reached across the counter and patted his cheek. He kept an eye on her knife hand while she did so. “You’re a good son, Cash, but I worry about how much you spend. That fancy place you have in town must have cost you a pretty quarter.”
“A pretty penny,” Jax corrected.
“Don’t you give me that. The price of that place was a lot closer to a quarter than a penny.”
Jax smiled. “Mom, stop. I can afford it.”
    “But are you happy with what you’re doing? When you were teaching at the high school and coaching the wrestling team, you seemed so happy.”
    Drew came into the kitchen and pulled up a stool next to Jax. “Leave him alone, Mom. He’s raking in the bucks, and that’s what life’s all about.”
    “Life’s about being happy,” she countered, slicing a tomato with a vicious chop, “and he was happy coaching wrestling.”
    “Everyone knows wrestling doesn’t pay.” Drew reached out and peeled a slice of cheese from a nearby stack. Their mother rapped his hand, but he smiled at her and popped it into his mouth.
    “Actually, that’s not always true,” Jax said. “Pro wrestling pays plenty.”
    Drew made a rude noise. “Pro wrestling? Now there’s a joke. That’s why serious wrestlers get so little respect. It’s because of guys like the Undertaker who make up moves called stupid things like the Tombstone Piledriver—”
“Did you know that the Undertaker is six feet ten?” Jax interrupted.
“—and ridiculous duos who slam dance in the ring like those Headbanger guys—”
“Mosh and Thrasher,” Jax supplied.
    “—and other guys who have these elaborate entrance acts that are just laughable. The biggest joke of all is that so-called wrestler who calls himself something like the Secret Stallion.”
    “I think it’s the Secret Stud.”
    “Yeah, something stupid like that. When he comes into the arena, he has these women who—”
    “Do we have to talk about pro wrestling?” their mother interrupted. “Can’t we have a normal conversation that doesn’t have to do with thrashing and funeral directors?”
    “Undertakers,” Drew corrected.
    “Whatever. It’s too silly to talk about.” She slapped the last piece of bread on the sandwich, sliced it in half with another tremendous chop and handed it to her eldest son. “I want to hear more about Cash’s job.”
    “My job? No, you don’t, Mom. It’s awfully boring. Bore-you-to-tears boring, in fact.”
    “How can it be boring when you’re so successful at it? You’re always jetting here and there. I swear, you’re away from home more than you’re home. And I’m not even sure what company you work for.”
    Jax rearranged himself on the stool. “It’s not a company, per se. I’m more of an independent contractor.” He played his trump card, the one that always killed the conversation before it could go too much further. “We deal in stocks and bonds, securities, that kind of thing.”
    As Jax expected, Mom’s eyes glazed over. Drew, however, looked thoughtful.
    “If that’s where the money is, that’s where I want to be,” Drew said. “Maybe I should look into majoring in finance if I don’t get into MIT. Why don’t you tell me more about it, Jax?”
    Jax hadn’t anticipated the question. He figured Drew’s interests would be more in line with Billy’s when college rolled around, and Billy wanted to do something that enabled him to spend time outdoors. Who would have guessed Drew would opt to become a financial wizard?
    “Which aspect?” Jax wondered if he could bluff his way through this from what he’d gleaned from