Page 73 of Double Fault

If she still wants to learn, maybe Maddie and I could learn Italian together. I don’t want to push it if it would make her sad, but it wouldn’t hurt to at least broach the topic.

Ebba props one elbow on the table and rests her chin in her palm. “As cliché as it sounds, how have you been?”

I huff a laugh. “Pretty good. From what I’ve gleaned, life is about to get more hectic now that we’ll be in Europe for a while. Do you always travel with Elias?”

She straightens, eyes bright. “Yes. I’m a social media influencer, so I post about my travels. About fashion and makeup tutorials. That kind of thing.”

“Oh, wow. That’s neat.” And so vastly different from the path I’ve chosen in life. I can’t even imagine what it must be to live the way she does.

She laughs at my response. “You sound like my parents. It’s not a traditional career choice, but I enjoy it.”

“Oh, no—it’s not…” I blow out a breath. “It’s fascinating, really?—”

She waves me off. “I get it. I’m not offended.”

With a sigh, I slouch, eager to find a topic that won’t make me put my foot in my mouth. “Whimsy couldn’t come today?”

“No.”

The server sets our coffees in front of us, and we both give him grateful smiles.

“My brother has her running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Poor girl. I love my brother, but he’s a pain in the ass to work with.” The grin she wears is half annoyance, half affection. “I don’t know how she deals with him. She swears she loves it, but the twenty-four seven stressed-out look on her face says otherwise.” She picks up her tiny cup of coffee and brings it to her lips. After a small sip, she closes her eyes and moans. “Elias would be lost without her. He gets so worked up over the dumbest things. Like suddenly he’ll claim his socks don’t feel right and he has to have new socks right that second.”

“Wow,” I laugh, bringing the cup to my lips. “He sounds like a diva.”

Ebba’s responding laugh is tinkling, like the sound of bells. I’m pretty sure when I laugh, I sound more like a donkey about to keel over.

“Oh, he totally is.”

“Can I have a coffee?”

Turning to Maddie, I rest my hand on top of hers and give her a sympathetic smile. “The last thing I need is for you to ingest caffeine and bounce off the walls more than usual.”

She giggles. The girl knows I’m right.

“But you can have a sip.” I extend my cup to her.

“Thank you.” She takes a tiny sip, her face pulling into one of pure disgust, just like I figured it would. “That’s nasty. Why do you guys drink that?”

Ebba lifts her cup like she’s making a toast. “To survive.”

“Bleh.” Maddie sticks her tongue out. “I don’t want to be an adult.”

“Enjoy being a kid as long as you can. Trust me,” Ebba tells her.

Breakfast is delicious, and when Ebba drops us off at Noah’s house, she promises to take us to another of her favorite restaurants soon.

Right away, Maddie and I get her schoolwork started. She’s fairly independent, really only asking for my help when she’s struggling with something. It’s strange for me, as a teacher, to not be putting together lesson plans to teach these things to her, instead relying on reading and having discussions. Though I suppose I haven’t been actuallyteachingsince I graduated, so it shouldn’t feel that odd.

The thought brings with it reminders of the mountain of school debt looming over me. It’s laughable, how I poured all that money and time into an education, yet I can’t even secure a job in my field. At least this gig means I can put a big dent in what I owe.

A couple of hours later, once school is finished for the day, we lie out in the back garden, each with our own book.

That’s where Noah finds us, his hair damp, making it nearly black. He looms over us, casting a shadow, his hands on his narrow hips and his lips curled in amusement.

“I wondered where you two were.”

Maddie slams her book closed, jumps to her feet, and throws her arms around his middle. “Daddy!”

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